Ala Wai dredging awaits hearing
By James Gonser
Advertiser Urban Honolulu Writer
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| The final phase is near for the Ala Wai Canal dredging project.
Advertiser library photo |
The state Department of Health published a draft notice of permit Monday for the work, which would allow the contractor to dredge the 400-foot-long section of canal and take an estimated 1,825 cubic yards of sediment to the airport's reef runway for disposal. The sediment is expected to contain chlordane, which was Hawai'i's termite ground treatment of choice until it was banned for commercial use in 1988.
Publishing the notice initiates a 30-day public comment period on the work. Following the public hearing, Health Director Dr. Chiyome Fukino will decide whether the work will be allowed to proceed.
"As soon as we can get the permit approved, the contractor will be able to mobilize and get his crew back to work," said Andrew Monden, branch chief for the Engineering Division Project Planning and Management branch of the state Department of Land and Natural Resources. "We would like to start as soon as possible."
In the meantime, contractor American Marine Corp.'s crews and barges have been sitting idle for about a month waiting for the permit. The delay could drive up the cost of the $7.4 million project to taxpayers, according to Monden.
"It will come under negotiation with the contractor," Monden said.
The plan for the sediment has been approved by the federal Environmental Protection Agency. The plan calls for taking the dredged material to a lined pit at the airport, drying it and mixing it with a cement binder. It would then serve as structural fill at the airport.
A DLNR representative will attend the meeting to give detailed plans for the dredging, transport and placing of sediment at the reef runway.
• What: Public meeting on issuing a special waste landfill permit for the final phase of dredging the Ala Wai Canal. • Who: State Department of Health • When: 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. July 11 • Where: Moanalua High School cafeteria. • Information: Call the Health Department's Solid and Hazardous Waste Branch at 586-4226.
State Sen. Suzanne Chun Oakland, D-13th (Kalihi, Nu'uanu), opposes the plan, saying further tests are needed to make sure the sediment does not contain other hazardous materials before it is placed at the airport.
Public meeting
"We'd like the sediment remediated before anything is removed," she said. "There are different ways to do it biologically that the department is refusing to use."
Work began Aug. 22, 2002, to dredge the 2-mile canal to a depth of 6 to 12 feet, removing two decades of sediment and debris that have left the waterway only inches deep in sections.
As of last month, about 200,000 cubic yards of sediment had been take to a federally approved ocean dumping site 3.8 miles off the airport, according to Neil Williams, project manager for American Marine.
