Cleanups in
Waipahu criticizedThe city is not doing enough
to address health concerns at
two sites, two senators say
The city should move faster to address environmental and health concerns at its Waipahu incinerator and landfill sites, two state senators said.
Ron Menor (D, Mililani), chairman of the Consumer Protection Committee, and Rosalyn Baker (D, Honokohau-Makena), chairwoman of the Health Committee, said that not enough is being done about heavy-metal contamination at the sites.
In a letter sent Wednesday to Steve Chang, chief of the state Solid and Hazardous Waste Branch, the senators cited several city consultants' reports.
For instance, they said, a Jan. 8 report by Edward K. Noda and Associates called for additional testing to determine the extent of arsenic, cadmium, chromium and lead in soils at the sites and said "there is significant exposure risk at the site for children, unless the elevated levels of metals are properly addressed."
Another consultant, EnviroServices and Training Center, said in an April 23 report that the heavy metals were above Environmental Protection Agency standards for residential areas.
Menor acknowledged to the Star-Bulletin yesterday that there is a higher EPA-recommended cleanup standard for residential areas than industrial work sites, but said he thinks the higher residential standard should be used.
Although the former incinerator is used now as a base yard for city parks and Refuse Division workers, the city has long-term plans to convert it into a training facility for visiting soccer teams.
The city would clean the incinerator building to the higher residential standard if it were developed for use by children, but not before then, city Environmental Services Director Frank Doyle has said in the past.
Under state environmental rules, the city should have submitted detailed closure plans for both the incinerator and landfill a year before they were closed. The landfill was closed in 1991, the incinerator was closed in September 1997 and the city still has not given the state detailed closure plans, Menor said.
In a prepared statement yesterday, Doyle said: "I want to point out that we are working closely with the Department of Health regarding our closure plan for the ash landfill. We have cleaned up the site and will continue to do the responsible thing to protect the health and safety of the people on this island."
The Health Department fined the city $542,459 on May 30 for illegal dumping after an inspection on Feb. 27 found stockpiling of propane gas tanks, burial of crushed household appliances and construction and demolition waste at the incinerator site, and disposal of bricks from the incinerator into the nearby closed ash landfill.
As required by the state, city crews hauled away tons of crushed waste. Metals testing was done as part of the cleanup.
Chang told the Associated Press that the state is pursuing its enforcement action with the city and is awaiting the city's work plan for the cleanup, which is due Aug. 30.
"In fairness to the city, I'm not saying they haven't done anything," Menor said, but "I'd ask the DOH to really begin imposing a timetable on the city."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
