Halawa mercury source awaits cleanup
By James Gonser
Advertiser Central Bureau
More than two months after high levels of liquid mercury were found throughout a Halawa housing project, the building believed to be the source of the mercury has not been cleaned of the toxic substance.
Advertiser library photo • March 16, 2001
Mercury was discovered at the Pu'uwai Momi public housing project March 12. The contamination was widespread, as investigators found mercury in common areas and in 71 of the project's 260 apartments. Many of the nearly 1,100 residents were forced to find alternate housing. Some families had to live in a Red Cross emergency shelter at Halawa District Park Gymnasium for nearly a week.
The pump house near Pearl Harbor's Richardson Field may have contained as much as 1 1/2 gallons of mercury.
Gary Gill, deputy director of the state Department of Health, said an abandoned pump house near Pearl Harbor's Richardson Field is the most likely source for the mercury contamination. Mercury was carried by curious children to the housing complex and to many smaller spills found at several sites across O'ahu.
Gill said that to clean the pump house quickly, the Health Department will probably move soon to get the work done and worry about who will pay for it later.
"Rather than waiting for somebody to step forward or being forced to come forward, in order to expedite the cleanup and make sure it takes place in a timely manner, we may coordinate the cleanup ourselves and bill the responsible parties, whoever they are determined to be," Gill said. "There are potentially multiple responsible parties."
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 pumping house has belonged to the state Department of Defense since February, when the title was turned over by the state Department of Land and Natural Resources.
After the contamination was discovered, the state erected a 7-foot-high chain-link fence, topped with barbed wire, around the pump house to stop further contamination. Metal screens were bolted over windows and doors, and a second layer of barbed wire was being installed on the ground inside the fence to increase security.
Gill said the ultimate responsibility for cleaning up the mercury could be resolved in the courts years from now. He has said that under federal law, the Army Corps of Engineers was responsible before the initial transfer from the military.
"It's not so simple as other spills where there is a single property owner or a single business that was operating and spilled something," Gill said. "In this case you have a property that was passed between various agencies, one agency put the stuff there and another agency owned it when the stuff spilled."
In related news, Carroll Cox, president of Enviro Watch Inc., a local chapter of a national environmental watchdog group, has asked the Environmental Protection Agency to open an investigation into the cleanup effort.
EPA spokesman Dean Higuchi said Cox called the agency's San Francisco office last week and asked that the appropriate parties be held responsible for the health risk to the public.
Cox is sending documents on the spill to the EPA, but they have not yet arrived, Higuchi said.
"He made a citizen's complaint about the mercury incident, not an official lawsuit or document. He wants somebody from the agency to take a look at it and they are waiting for him to get them more information," Higuchi said. "Then we will decide what action is necessary."
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.
Gill could not say when the cleanup of the pump house will begin or how long it might take to complete the work.
