Posted on: Monday, July 5, 2004

Tainted dirt to be removed in Hilo

By Kevin Dayton
Advertiser Big Island Bureau

HILO, Hawai'i — A potential environmental hazard left behind after a tsunami heavily damaged Hilo in 1960 is finally slated for cleanup this month.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the state Department of Health plan to begin work July 12 to dig up and haul away several thousand cubic yards of contaminated dirt from an area near the flood control levee built as part of the Alenaio Stream flood control project.

The dirt is tainted with oily polyaromatic hydrocarbons, which are similar to the compounds found in tar and asphalt. The soil is to be trucked to the West Hawai'i Sanitary Landfill at Pu'uanahulu.

The history of the site goes back to old Hilo, when a company called the Hilo Gas Company was operating downtown near Ponahawai Street.

The company hauled crude oil by rail line from the port through Hilo to its plant near Ponahawai, where it would extract cooking gas from the oil and sell it. Hilo Gas began operations about 1918, but was wiped out by the 1960 tsunami.

The operation had two large storage tanks 60 or 70 feet in diameter, and contaminated dirt was discovered at the site of one of those old tanks many years later by workers on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' Alenaio flood control project, said Mike Cripps, state on-scene coordinator for the project for the state Department of Health.

The Army Corps attempted to clean up the site using bio-remediation techniques, but was only partly successful. Finally workers were given permission to dig up the tainted dirt and encapsulate it in a plastic liner known as "the burrito" to temporarily store the dirt.

A similarly contaminated area was later found next to the retention pond of the flood control project, presumably from the second storage tank.

Since the area is vulnerable to both tsunamis and flooding, the Health Department plans to clean up one site, while the EPA cleans up the other, Cripps said.

The "Hawai'i Island Burrito Project" is expected to take three to four weeks, according to an announcement by the county.

Workers on the job will wear protective clothing, but that does not mean the public will be at risk, according to an announcement by the county.

The EPA will monitor the air quality at the site, and will use a foam to minimize the odor, but people in the surrounding area may notice a smell from the contaminated soil similar to mothballs.

The EPA and state officials are planning community meetings to discuss the project July 14 at 7 p.m. at the Aupuni Center Conference Room at 101 Pauahi St., and July 15 at 7 p.m. at the Waimea Civic Center.

Reach Kevin Dayton at kdayton@honoluluadvertiser.com or (808) 935-3916.