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Group Memory - July 10, 2006GROUP MEMORY EIS Public Scoping Meetings Welcome and Introductions, Meeting Overview, Purpose, and Guidelines Adoption The facilitator welcomed and thanked everyone for attending this Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) Public Scoping Meeting for the Waimanalo Gulch Sanitary Landfill Expansion (herein after referred to as Waimanalo Gulch). The purpose of the meeting is to obtain a list of concerns and issues from the community that need to be addressed in the EIS process. The facilitator explained that comments made at these meetings will be recorded on the newsprint at the front of the meeting and asked that the persons making the comments make sure that they were recorded accurately. Questions will be answered time permitting. Questions not answered will be posted on the City and County’s website along with answers. The web address is (www.opala.org). The following people were in attendance and introduced: Wilma Namumnart from the Refuse Division of the Department of Environmental Services; Brian Takeda and Kevin Polloi from R.M. Towill Corporation, who is serving as the City’s EIS consultant; and Paul Burns and Russell Nanod of Waste Management of Hawaii. Councilmember Todd Apo was also acknowledged as being present in the audience when the meeting began. Representative Michael Kahikina arrived later. Handouts provided included the meeting agenda, a tentative EIS public input schedule, and comment forms. Written comments will be accepted until August 10, 2006 by sending the comment forms to the address provided on the form (City and County of Honolulu, Department of Environmental Services, Refuse Division, 1000 Uluohia Street, Suite 212, Kapolei, Hawaii 96707). (Comment time has been extended to August 30 due date change of Kapolei public scoping meeting, to avoid conflict with the Kapolei Neighborhood Board meeting.) It was explained that four EIS Public Scoping meetings will be held on the following dates: (1) July 10th at Nanakuli High and Intermediate School; (2) July 11th at Benjamin Parker Elementary School; (3) July 26th at Kapolei Hale (changed to August 10); and (4) July 27th at Mission Memorial Auditorium. Once the public scooping meetings are completed, an EIS Preparation Notice will be posted in August/September 2006 on the website with a link to the document, and a 30-day public comment period will be provided for community members to send in their written comments. The anticipated completion date for the Draft EIS (DEIS) is the end of 2006 / early 2007. DEIS Public Workshops will be held within 10 days of publication of the DEIS. Once these workshops are completed, a 45-day written comment period will begin prior to the EIS being finalized in mid-2007. An overview of the meeting agenda was posted and reviewed by the facilitator and included the following: · Meeting Overview The following meeting guidelines were presented by the facilitator and accepted by the group: · Courtesy to each other. Remarks by the City and County of Honolulu, Department of Environmental Services, Refuse Division Wilma Namumnart of the City and County of Honolulu’s Department of Environmental Services explained that the public scoping meetings are intended to identify the community’s concerns that should be addressed in the DEIS. Waimanalo Gulch Sanitary Landfill is the only operating City landfill for rubbish and H-POWER ash on the island of Oahu. This is an island-wide issue, so preparation of the EIS must involve community input at an island-wide level, including communities that are directly affected because of their close proximity to the landfill, and other communities that are located further away but are also reliant on the landfill. Two of the four public scoping meetings will be held in the Leeward/Waianae region at Nanakuli High and Intermediate School and Kapolei Hale, while the other public scoping meetings will be held at the Benjamin Parker Elementary School in Windward Oahu and at the Mission Memorial Auditorium in Honolulu. Permits for solid waste operations are issued every 5 years, with the current permit for Waimanalo Gulch expiring in May of 2008. A number of events have occurred since 2003, when the last EIS for the expansion of the Waimanalo Gulch Sanitary Landfill was completed. We acknowledge that some want the landfill to close by May of 2008. However, in 2006, Mayor Hanneman vetoed Bill 037, which sought to close the Waimanalo Gulch Sanitary Landfill. Reasons cited for his decision were that a new landfill site will not be ready by 2008, and for the foreseeable future, the City needs to have a landfill site that is able to handle municipal solid waste, H-POWER ash and other refuse that cannot be further reduced, recycled, or reused. Waimanalo Gulch was determined to be the best alternative from an environmental and cost standpoint. Thus, the focus for the four Public Scoping meetings is to identify the concerns and issues that should be considered in the EIS process for the expansion of this facility. Last fiscal year, Oahu generated over 1.5 million tons of rubbish, of which over 600,000 tons was converted to electricity at H-POWER, about 500,000 tons were recycled; over 200,000 tons went to private landfills, and the remaining tonnage was sent to the existing municipal landfill at Waimanalo Gulch. Every day approximately over 1,500 tons of refuse and H-POWER ash must be landfilled. This need and its importance in maintaining public health and safety is the reason for seeking the expansion of Waimanalo Gulch. Development of Scoping Issues and Questions/Comments: ISSUES: The following issues were raised for inclusion in the DEIS: Questions/Comments: The following questions / comments were raised by community members: Q: What is going into the private landfills (PVT, etc.) and
who regulates the safety of the materials disposed of in these
sites – cars and other contaminants? Q: Land Use Commission and City Planning Commission said to close Waimanalo Gulch in light of this how are you proposing to expand it and keep it open? Q: What is the status of DOH violations? C: Waimanalo Gulch should be closed C: Need to change the politics and political leaders C: Government officials not representing us C: I have opposed dump sites in Nanakuli for 21 years C: Need to separate ourselves from this system and decide for ourselves C: There has been a lack of follow through on promises that were made Q: The data that is available regarding tonnage and composition is different from year to year and this lack of consistency creates a moving target that is hard to work with – why is this? C: Against operations at the landfill C: Department of Health should take a good look at the health impacts C: Tired of listening - Mayor needs to keep his promise Q: City is waiving planning and permits without community input - all promises have been broken – why is this? C: What happened to the Blue Ribbon Committee results? C: Landlords cannot afford upgrades to cesspools; causing homelessness. Q: Where is the protection for us? Q: Is the ash permit separate from the landfill permit? Q: Is the EIS expansion for ash and municipal solid waste (MSW)? C: Nobody wants to see this expansion C: You tell them that “Aunty Aggie wants $2 million per year to Waianae Coast from the administration” C: Want another $2 million per year from the City Council Q: What is the status of the ideas presented to Mayor Harris
regarding alternatives C: Reality is that it may stay open – so if it stays open, then it needs to become the best landfill possible C: Frustration that no one is doing anything with what the community is saying. |
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