Kailua urged to unite to keep Kapa'a Quarry from becoming landfill
By Eloise Aguiar
Advertiser Windward O'ahu Writer
KAILUA — Community leaders urged Kailua residents last night to mobilize if they don't want Kapa'a Quarry to become O'ahu's next landfill.
About 40 residents attended a meeting on the issue last night at Kailua District Park. Jim Corcoran, a member of Kailua Neighborhood Board, said more voices need to be heard at the public hearing on the issue in Kailua, set for March 30,
"If you care about Kapa'a Valley, you have to make your voices heard," said Corcoran.
He said people from Leeward O'ahu are organized and appear in large numbers any time the issue of landfill sites is discussed. Kailua must do the same, he said.
Kapa'a Quarry, overlooking Kawainui Marsh, is one of four possible landfill options before the City Council, which must choose a site by June 1 unless a move by Councilman Rod Tam to delay the decision is successful. The other proposed sites are in Ma'ili, Nanakuli and Makaiwa Gulch, all on the Leeward Coast.
Ameron Hawai'i, which owns Kapa'a Quarry and is mining rocks from it, said it would cost $43.5 million to move its operations to a quarry across the road.
Even then, there is no space to set up the processing or the pond needed to collect water for mining operations, said Wade Wakayama, president of Ameron.
The 220-acre quarry is good for another 10 years and has $75 million in rocks yet to be mined, Wakayama said.
Once it is mined out, the site will be used to store material from the site across the road and will also be used to capture water used for processing, he said.
"We don't want that to be a landfill," Wakayama said.
Ameron has hired an expert to calculate what the cost would be to the building industry, said Linda Goldstein, Ameron environmental and community relations manager.
The domino effect would weigh on the industry for years, Goldstein said.
The environment also would be affected, said Eric Guinther, a water-quality specialist who conducts ecological tours in the marsh.
The area surrounding the quarry has two landfills that no longer operate but still affect the marsh, he said.
While there are environmental issues associated with all the sites, the quarry has the added problem of heavy rainfall — some 50 to 60 inches a year, or two to three times that of the Leeward areas, Guinther said. Plus, the quarry is adjacent to Hawai'i's largest wetland.
"The marsh is getting runoff from the existing landfills, so it's already under some insult," he said. Guin-ther also said the existing landfill is leaching, causing nutrients to flow into the marsh and leading to undesirable plant growth that is crowding out habitats of water birds.
Modern landfills are lined, so the city will collect the rainwater but will have to handle it somehow, Guinther said. "It's not something you can just pump out of there," he said.
Once fully operational the landfill would accept 1,400 tons of material a day, Corcoran said, or about 140 truckloads.
At least one resident said he had an open mind about the landfill and wanted to hear more about options. Buck Ashford said rubbish has to go somewhere and no one wants it in their area.
"I'm not against having it here, but I want to find out what the alternatives are and which alternatives are more reasonable," Ashford said.
Kane'ohe resident Ray Sweeney said he would hate to see anything put above the marsh that could harm it. Citizens had battled for decades to save the area from development and now are working to improve it.
Groups such as the Kailua Hawaiian Civic Club, the Kawai Nui Heritage Foundation and 'Ahahui Malama I Ka Lokahi are preserving archaeological sites and improving the marsh for bird habitat.
Sweeney said the city should use other means to dispose of O'ahu's rubbish.
"If we use technology the way it should and can be used, landfills will be a thing of the past," he said.
Reach Eloise Aguiar at eaguiar@honoluluadvertiser.com or 234-5266.
