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The Honolulu Advertiser

Posted on: Tuesday, November 18, 2003

EDITORIAL
We need incentives to host a city dump

A city advisory committee has less than two weeks to name potential sites for a new landfill on O'ahu, and until June to choose the finalist.

If the deadline is missed, the city risks losing a state permit to extend use of the Leeward Coast's Waimanalo Gulch Sanitary Landfill through 2008.

That means the pressure is on.

So far, the five sites identified as most suitable are the Ameron Kapa'a Quarry in Kailua and four sites in Wai'anae, including the present Waimanalo Gulch.

While we hesitate to endorse any particular site — at least not until we hear full community input — we suggest the decision-makers weigh the social and economic impact as carefully as they do technical feasibility.

For example, Leeward sites such as Makaiwa Gulch and Ma'ili might make sense from an engineering standpoint. But a landfill sure as heck won't help the area's property values, air and soil quality and community esteem. The region is already host to Waimanalo Gulch, H-Power and a sewage-treatment plant.

That said, Kailua used to host the Kapa'a Quarry landfill. Still, as far as affluence goes, the area is miles ahead of Wai'anae. Then again, why not build a landfill in East Honolulu, which has been largely spared of any down-market industry?

The fact is, the question of where to place O'ahu's second landfill is your classic NIMBY magnet. Communities are hardly going to vie for a city dump without getting anything in return.

Which is why it makes perfect sense to compensate whichever community ends up with the landfill. The trash, after all, comes from the entire island.

That compensation could be anything from waived fees to community improvements. If there are no benefits to hosting a city dump, how can we expect communities to consider one, let alone welcome it with open arms?