Posted on: Saturday, November 27, 2004

ISLAND VOICES

By Mike Gabbard

It would be wrong to create a new landfill anywhere on O'ahu. It would also be wrong to continue dumping all of O'ahu's trash across the street from a world-class resort that is the economic engine and one of the largest job providers for the Leeward Coast.

It's time to face reality. There is no acceptable site for a new landfill on O'ahu. We need to face this fact and take the only logical step: ship O'ahu's trash off-island. It is not a pipe dream; it is a real option that the people of Kailua, East O'ahu, the Leeward Coast and every other community on O'ahu will benefit from.

Some people have said that it would be "immoral" to ship our trash to isolated areas of the Mainland that are much more suitable for landfills. But I say it is more immoral to break the promise to citizens to close down Waimanalo Gulch by May 2008.

It is more immoral to place a landfill in Nanakuli town smack dab in the middle of a community and directly upwind from a major shopping center, healthcare clinic, a residential area, a church and a planned senior center.

It's immoral to put a landfill within a stone's throw of Ma'ili Elementary School, and right next to a residential community.

It's immoral to destroy an established quarry business that is critical to the construction industry on our island.

It's immoral to place a landfill at Makaiwa Hills, destroying yet another beautiful valley, and situating the landfill upwind and across the road from an established kama'aina community at Honokai Hale.

And it's immoral to put a landfill in Koko Head, one of the scenic treasures in East Honolulu.  

The people of Wai'anae don't want a landfill. Nor do the people of Kailua. Or Hawai'i Kai. And they are all correct in their observations: Their community is not the right place for a landfill. It's time the people of O'ahu and our leaders see the people of O'ahu as one community. We the people of O'ahu need to do what's best for our whole island rather than what's only in the interest of our individual zip codes.

We should stand together and declare with one voice: "No more landfills on O'ahu." And our political leaders need to have the courage to take this bold step.

There are two companies that are vying for our garbage, Pacific Rim Environmental Resources and Idaho Waste Systems. Pacific Rim's proposal would use Roosevelt Landfill, located in an arid and isolated part of southern Washington state, which ensures little to no impact on the surrounding environment. The landfill has a permitted capacity of 230 million tons, and the company has received federal approval from the USDA's Animal Plant Health Inspection Service to ship our trash to Roosevelt.

The Board of County Commissioners of Klickitat County, the Klickitat County Department of Health and the state of Washington's Department of Ecology have all offered their support of this project. Roosevelt Landfill already has a proven track record of accepting out-of-state waste, with four cities in Alaska shipping their garbage there.

Idaho Waste Systems would use Simco Regional Landfill, which is in Elmore County, Idaho, 22 miles east of Boise, on 2,200 acres. The permitted capacity: 210 million tons, and the company proposes shipping 300,000 tons of our waste, but can ship all 600,000 tons. It is coming up with a plan to ship the waste at a fixed cost for 25 years. It would use barges (Sause Brothers), which dock at Longview, Wash., and then send it by rail to Idaho.

"Ship it Out" may not be the last word on O'ahu's solid-waste disposal problem, but it certainly is an interim, viable alternative while we work on a cost-effective, permanent solution. Ultimately, we need a global solution that includes diverting and eliminating a majority of the volume from our waste stream through enhanced recycling efforts, composting and common-sense product packaging as well as incorporating alternative technologies. As these other variables come into play, we would reduce the amount of trash being shipped off-island, perhaps completely eliminating the need to do so.

So I'm calling upon all the people of O'ahu from Koko Head to Ka'ena Point, Kailua and the North Shore and Kapolei and every place in between to stand together in the spirit of aloha: "We don't want a landfill in our neighborhood and our neighborhood is O'ahu. So let's ship it out." If we speak loud enough, the politicians will hear us.

Mike Gabbard represents Honolulu City Council District 1. He also authored the city's policy prohibiting landfills from being sited over O'ahu's fresh-water aquifers. Gabbard's "Ship It Out" resolution (04-114) was adopted unanimously at the City Council's June meeting.