GARY T. KUBOTA / GKUBOTA@STARBULLETIN.COM
Lahaina resident Manu Vakalahi, with son Fine and daughter Lavinia, said yesterday she is worried about dust blowing from the site of the old Pioneer Mill, which closed in 1999.
Dust from old
sugar plant worries
Maui neighborsThe EPA reports high
levels of arsenic and
lead at Pioneer Mill
LAHAINA >> Manu Vakalahi worries about the dust that sometimes blows into her driveway from the old Pioneer Mill Co. site, a location where some soil has been identified by federal officials as containing high levels of lead and arsenic.
"We worried because we have a lot of kids," said Vakalahi, whose household has 10 children, including six of her own.
Along Kahua Street, across from the former sugar cane processing industrial site, homeowners are uneasy about the contents of the dust and find some of the results of testing in February disturbing.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency officials have scheduled a meeting for 7 to 9 tonight at the Lahaina Civic Center to discuss the test results, which were released yesterday.
Federal environmental officials said results of the sampling indicate far less contamination at Pioneer Mill, which closed in 1999, than at similar facilities in Hawaii. But they found two sample locations in a storage area with lead levels up to 1,420 parts per million, well above the 400-ppm level of contamination that the EPA considers acceptable.
They also found a high level of arsenic, about 104 parts per million, exceeding the acceptable level of 22 parts per million.
Federal official Dana Barton said the three samples were the only ones out of 50 samples from the site that exceeded levels that require remediation action.
She said the contaminated samples were not near the houses.
"It doesn't feel like people will be affected," Barton said.
Barton said a toxicologist will be at the meeting to answer residents' questions, and there are no plans to conduct tests of residents.
She said the lead samples, possibly residual from vehicle batteries, were taken about 250 to 350 feet from the nearest house.
Barton said the arsenic sample was taken about 200 feet from businesses facing Honoapiilani Highway, and she does not know the reason for the high levels of arsenic.
"It's an anomaly," she said.
But she said officials had taken samples randomly where they thought there might be contamination and that she planned to recommend more samples be taken to determine the depth and extent of the contamination.
Officials also planned to have plastic sheeting placed over the contaminated sites and to have fencing installed so the soil does not blow off-site.
Some residents fear the health effects of the dust on their children, whether or not it contains hazardous chemicals.
On bad days the wind blows dust across the road into residences.
Residents point out that Pioneer Mill installed cloth fences along the southern section of Kahua Street more than a year ago after residents complained to state health officials about the dust.
But they said no fence was installed on Kahua Street along the northern section of the property, closer to the location where the contaminated samples were detected, and the dust continues to blow into their residences.
Residents at adjacent David Malo Circle said they were also worried about the soil that was excavated from the Pioneer Mill site and deposited along the fence line near their homes a couple of years ago.
Pioneer Mill said at the time that there was no hazardous waste in the soil and that although the soil contained some diesel fuel, diesel fuel was not considered a hazardous waste.
Sophie Mataafa, a resident on Mill Street, said the dust blew into their homes for months before Pioneer officials put up a cloth fence.
"They should be testing here for contaminated soil," she said.
Barton said the testing did not include looking for the presence of petroleum products.
State health official Melody Calisay said the testing also did not include a search for the presence of asbestos.
Vakalahi, whose house is across from vacated Pioneer Mill buildings, said she feels the cloth fence should be extended down to her residence so that it helps to halt dust blowing from the industrial site.
James Walker, a resident, said he feels more samples should be taken inside and around the mill that check for substances that might cause respiratory problems, especially after water was used to shoot down white insulation from the ceiling during a mill cleanup.
Walker said the chalky white substance, mixed into the soil, occasionally blows toward his residence.
Thomas Nishida, 62, said he still has bottles of the dirt he collected from his driveway that came from the Pioneer Mill site and hopes to have the dirt analyzed some day.
Pioneer Mill officials were unavailable for comment on this year's testing by federal officials.
