Coverup is alleged in Pearl Harbor spill of mercury
By James Gonser
Advertiser Central Bureau
Carroll Cox, president of EnviroWatch Inc., says that state and federal agencies knew mercury was present at an abandoned pump house near Pearl Harbor's Richardson Field and that it should have been cleaned up long before children took the toxic metal from the site in March.
Cox charges that a cover-up is going on to divert blame for the spill.
The agencies deny the allegations.
Cox has asked the Environmental Protection Agency and the Honolulu Police Department to investigate possible criminal violations related to the March 12 mercury spill at the Pu'uwai Momi public housing project.
In the wake of the incident, 71 of the project's 260 apartments were found to be contaminated. Since then, a number of spills have been discovered at locations across O'ahu.
Cox said the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the state Department of Defense (Hawai'i National Guard) and the state Department of Land and Natural Resources knew mercury had been spilled at the pump house by Aug. 2, 2000.
Cox has copies of several documents that he said support his claims, including:
• A report from an Army Corps of Engineers site visit conducted Aug. 2 and Sept. 19, 2000, that mentions a "spillage of mercury" near the northwest corner of the building.
• Minutes from an Oct. 5, 2000, state Department of Defense meeting saying "vandalism has caused an additional contamination of mercury" at the pump house.
• A March 29 e-mail from Hawai'i National Guard spokesman Maj. Charles Anthony to Maj. Gen. Edward Correa Jr., U.S. Army, adjutant general, Hawai'i National Guard, discussing how the mercury spill occurred.
Further, Cox said, it is a violation of federal law to not report the release of hazardous substances to the National Response Center.
"If you find mercury or a chemical in a reportable quantity, then you must within 24 hours report it to the National Response Center," Cox said. "They didn't do that."
Cox also said the Department of Defense filed a false burglary report March 10 to "obscure and cover up the failure of federal and state agencies to comply with hazardous waste reporting requirements."
Anthony said the Hawai'i National Guard did not know what was inside the pump house before March 12, and there is no cover-up.
"The first we knew the extent of the problem was when state Department of Health went into the housing area and started cleaning up," Anthony said.
Asked about the documents in Cox's possession, Anthony said EnviroWatch is taking bits and pieces of information and leaping to erroneous conclusions.
Anthony also said the guard did not report the burglary and that police took it upon themselves to investigate the mercury spill after the March 12 contamination.
Doug MaKitten, spokesman for the Army Corps of Engineers, said it was noted in the minutes of an O'ahu Veterans Affairs committee that mercury was found during a site visit to the building, but it had been estimated to be less than an ounce and therefore reporting it to the EPA was not necessary.
"In August 2000, we visited the site to get a rough estimate on the cost to take down the building based on what may or may not be in there," MaKitten said. "At that time we noticed some spatters of mercury on the floor. Our folks estimated it at less than an ounce. According to federal requirements it has got to be a pound or more before we would actually report it to the EPA or anybody else.
"From our perspective, we looked at these spatters and said it is less than an ounce and mentioned it at the meeting to the folks we had been working with and thought that was sufficient."
There was no intent to create a coverup of anything found at the pump house, MaKitten said. In fact, the Army Corps of Engineers was investigating the site to see if any toxic materials could be traced back to Navy occupation, which would allow federal money to be tapped to help with any necessary cleanup.
An HPD spokeswoman said the department is looking into the EnviroWatch allegations, but no investigation has been opened.
The Navy has estimated that as much as 1 1/2 gallons of mercury may have been left inside the switches and gauges at the old water-pumping station, which was deeded to the state in 1962.
The pump house has belonged to the state Department of Defense since February, when the title was turned over by the DLNR.
Gary Gill, deputy director of the state Department of Health, has said mercury was most likely carried by curious children to the housing complex in March and to many smaller spills found since at several sites on O'ahu. Gill said the Health Department will probably move soon to get the pump house cleaned up and worry about who will pay for it later.
Elemental mercury is an odorless liquid metal. It can cause burns to the skin and eyes; if inhaled, it can lead to pulmonary edema and damage to nerves and kidneys.
