Update on methane work slated
By James Gonser
Advertiser Urban Honolulu Writer
The state will discuss what it is doing to make its new "Fishing Village" complex at Piers 36-38 at Honolulu Harbor safe for businesses and customers by removing methane-contaminated soil and gas from the site.
Public meeting on state's methane-removal plan for Piers 36-38, Honolulu Harbor. • Jan. 8, 6:30 p.m., Pu'uhale Elementary School cafeteria. • For information on the project, call John Peard of the state Health Department at 586-4249, or ask for a copy at the State Library's Hawai'i and Pacific Section counter. • Submit written comments through Jan. 23 to John Peard, State Department of Health i HEER Office, 919 Ala Moana, room 206, Honolulu, HI 96814.
The state's $17 million fishing village across the highway from Nimitz Center was designed as Hawai'i's version of San Francisco's Fisherman's Wharf or Seattle's Pike Place Public Market. The envisioned tourist magnet is expected to open next summer after a three-year delay because of problems with methane gas in the ground.
Methane meeting
The state is expected to spend about $1.4 million to remove contaminated soil and take other measures to ensure the methane concerns are addressed, said Scott Ishikawa, spokesman for the Department of Transportation, which is overseeing development of the complex.
Ishikawa said methane-contaminated soil is being removed and an impermeable barrier put in place. Pipes are being installed to allow gas to escape from the ground up to the roof tops.
"Methane is lighter than oxygen so it will float to the surface through the vent pipes to the roof and goes into the atmosphere," Ishikawa said. "It keeps the methane fields from accumulating to a point where it may become a danger."
Similar work was done at the old garbage dump sites in Kaka'ako and off Kapa'a Quarry Road in Kailua, he said.
The piers were in industrial use for decades and huge fuel tanks and underground pipes were on the site. The primary source of the methane gas is "anaerobic decomposition of petroleum hydrocarbon residues in the soil," according to a state Health Department report.
A group of private companies studying pollution in the harbor area detected the problem, but it remains unclear whether the methane resulted from fuel spills or landfill material buried on the site.
A monitoring system will be set up to ensure more gas doesn't build up on the 16-acre site.
Construction work is ongoing for the United Fishing Agency's new fish auction facility at the site, one of two anchor tenants along with Pacific Ocean Producers.
United Fishing Agency manager Frank Goto said the new auction facility will cover 18,000 square feet and is expected to open early next summer. The new site will more than triple the 5,000-square-foot facility at Kewalo Basin where anglers and fish dealers have bought and sold fish in the early morning hours for more than 30 years.
Goto said the site for their new building is not affected by the methane contamination.
"In our case it hasn't had any adverse effect on our building because we're out of the contaminated area," Goto said.
Pacific Ocean Producers, the largest fishing vessel handler in the state, is building a facility that will accommodate both commercial and recreational fishers. A 20,000-square-foot shop will sell everything from boat generators and pipe fittings to rods and reels. There also will be 4,000-square-feet of administrative space and a 3,000-square-foot restaurant.
The 32,000-square-foot multiuse building will provide commercial space for fishing-related companies.
Ishikawa said the cleanup work will run through about mid-spring at the site of the multipurpose building as well as on the soil where the Pacific Ocean Producers project will be.
Reach James Gonser at jgonser@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-2431.
