Four members of the Mayor’s Task Force on Landfill Siting say that Waimanalo Gulch should have remained on the list with the other four sites — Ameron Kapa'a Quarry in Kailua, Makaiwa Gulch, a site referred to as Nanakuli B and a quarry in Ma'ili.

Anderson left the meeting right before the vote, saying he was disappointed.

"I personally feel that it is irresponsible to walk away from a landfill that has over 20 years’ capacity," Anderson said. "Land is too precious in Hawai'i to walk away from a site that has been despoiled and take another site and do the same."

Committee member Todd Apo, vice president for corporate operations for Ko Olina Resort, which is directly across from Waimanalo Gulch, led the move to remove it from the list. He pointed out that Frank Doyle, city environmental services director, has said the administration will not support using the site past the deadline to close it in 2008.

While some committee members argued that the decision to close the landfill was political, Apo said the decision to close Waimanalo Gulch was made over a two-year period.

The City Council will have the ultimate decision on where to place the landfill and is not bound by the recommendation of the task force. It is expected to name a site by June 1.

Today’s meeting was expected to be a showdown. After a contentious meeting Nov. 21 the committee was deadlocked.

Unless a final draft report is submitted to the city today and a site chosen by June, the city risks losing the state permit that extends the use of Waimanalo Gulch through 2008.

Few present at the previous meeting had seemed hopeful that a final site recommendation would be made. Waimanalo Gulch is a major focus of the dispute.

The day before that last meeting, Ko Olina developer Jeff Stone sent a letter to a number of city officials, including Doyle, reminding them that the city has promised that the Waimanalo Gulch site would be shut down as of 2008.

Stone’s letter said that based on those promises, large companies, such as the Marriott International, have invested millions in the resort. Should the landfill be expanded after 2008, it would pose a financial threat to those investors, Stone said.

The letter demanded that Doyle convey to the committee members "the potential liabilities that exist by continuing to consider Waimanalo Gulch as a potential new landfill site."

Thielen, R-50th (Kailua, Mokapu), favors leaving Waimanalo Gulch on the potential site list. She has said she regards Stone’s letter as threatening and an interference with the panel’s task.

Thielen opposes the selection of Ameron Kapa'a Quarry as a potential site. She says that the committee has finished its job because the mayor, in convening the panel, asked the advisory group to "help the city establish site selection criteria and recommend one or more sites to the City Council for approval."