Scrap metal firm faces $202,900 fine
By Christie Wilson
Neighbor Island Editor
The Department of Health is seeking $202,900 in penalties against Maui Scrap Metal Co. for operating without a solid-waste management permit for nearly three years.
In a separate complaint, health officials are seeking $41,160 from an O'ahu family for allowing junk to pile up on their agricultural lot in Wai'anae.
Both parties have asked for a hearing to respond to the complaints.
The Maui company was the subject of enforcement action in March 1999 and July 2000 for expanding its storage yard to a second parcel across the street from its Waikapu facility without obtaining an additional permit and for letting too much material accumulate, said Lene Ichinotsubo of the Health Department's Solid & Hazardous Waste Branch.
Those complaints resulted in a December 2000 consent agreement in which Maui Scrap Metal agreed to fix the problems. Ichinotsubo said yesterday that the company had not completed corrective actions outlined in the agreement.
Roger Apana, head of the company, was unavailable for comment.
Ichinotsubo said Maui Scrap Metal also let its solid-waste management permit expire, and the latest complaint alleges that from March 31, 2002, to Dec. 11, 2003, the company was operating without the required permit.
She said her office does not have staff on Maui to report on the current situation at the Waiko Road scrap yard, but as of last July, the facility contained an estimated 1,000 tons of junked cars, 400 tons of abandoned appliances, 12,000 tires, 200 tons of tin cans and 250 lead acid batteries, with approximately 3,000 tons of scrap iron stored across the street.
Last Oct. 21, the Health Department sent a warning letter requiring Maui Scrap Metal to stop accepting additional solid waste and close the facility, or to submit a complete permit application. Ichinotsubo said no such application has been filed by the company.
The enforcement action is on hold pending the hearing to allow the company to contest the penalties.
Maui Scrap Metal has been the scene of a number of fires over the years as materials have piled up, and company officials have had difficulty finding someone off-island to process the scrap metal.
In recent weeks Hawai'i Metal Recycling of O'ahu brought in workers and equipment to begin clearing the site of some of the junk.
In the O'ahu case, health officials filed a complaint against Edward Fong, the James K.F. Fong Trust and the Dorothy F.M. Fong Trust for alleged violations at an agricultural lot at 87-1683 Kapiki Road in Wai'anae. The allegations include mismanagement of solid waste, operation of an unpermitted solid-waste management system, and improper disposal of solid waste.
Ichinotsubo said the Fongs have allowed derelict cars and other materials to pile up on the property, which includes a piggery. The junk includes 90 vehicles, a dozen 55-gallon drums of used oil, 50 55-gallon drums of asphalt, 50 drums of aircraft oil, a number of drums containing dry cleaning chemicals, as well as lead acid batteries, compressed gas cylinders, propane tanks, and 5- and 1-gallon containers of paint.
The Fongs also requested a hearing on the complaint, but in the meantime have cleared about a third of the waste from the property, Ichinotsubo said.
The Fongs were unavailable for comment yesterday.
Reach Christie Wilson at cwilson@honoluluadvertiser.com or (808) 244-4880.
