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THE SENATE |
S.C.R. NO. |
86 |
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TWENTY-THIRD LEGISLATURE, 2006 |
S.D. 1 |
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STATE OF HAWAII |
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RESOLUTION
REQUESTING THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH TO REPORT ON THE STATUS OF ITS LITIGATION AGAINST Waste Management of Hawaii, Inc. and City and County of Honolulu.
WHEREAS, the Waimanalo Gulch Sanitary Landfill in West Oahu is a municipal landfill owned by the City and County of Honolulu and operated by Waste Management of Hawaii, Incorporated, that accepts on a daily basis:
(1) Over fourteen hundred tons of municipal solid waste from county collection routes and transfer stations, private collection companies, and residential and commercial haulers; and
(2) Nearly four hundred tons of ash from the nearby H-Power plant; and
WHEREAS, a recent Department of Health order issued to the City and County of Honolulu and Waste Management of Hawaii, Incorporated, lists eighteen violations of the operating permit for the landfill, including, for example, the following violations:
(1) Exceeding the landfill's allowed height;
(2) Allowing too much leachate to collect at the bottom of the landfill liner, raising structural stability concerns;
(3) Failing to cover garbage daily with soil on at least twenty-seven working days;
(4) Failing to submit annual operating reports on time;
(5) Failing to report overfilling in a timely manner;
(6) Failing to place soil on the H-Power ash portion of the landfill for more than a year;
(7) Allowing excessive liquids in landfill sump pumps for more than four months;
(8) Failing to measure and maintain records of liquid levels in landfill sump pumps for more than a year;
(9) Failing to record the location of asbestos disposal and maintain records for over six months;
(10) Failing to monitor methane gas and maintain records for two years; and
(11) Failing to comply with other conditions of the landfill's permit; and
WHEREAS, in the areas surrounding Waimanalo Gulch Sanitary Landfill there are thousands of residences, many businesses, a resort hotel, schools, and much development and construction activity; and
WHEREAS, the people in those areas, and the people working at the landfill, are interested in the protection of their health and the environment and the progress and results of the Department’s enforcement case; now, therefore,
BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Twenty-third Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2006, the House of Representatives concurring, that the Department of Health is requested to prepare an interim and final report on the status of the litigation between the Department of Health, State of Hawaii vs. Waste Management of Hawaii, Inc. and City and County of Honolulu (Docket No. 05-SHW-SWS-004); and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Department of Health is requested to submit an interim report to the Legislature no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2007 and a final report no later than one hundred twenty days after the case is resolved; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Director of Health, the Mayor, the Managing Director of the City and County of Honolulu, and the President of Waste Management of Hawaii, Incorporated.
Report Title:
Waimanalo Gulch Landfill; Health Impact; Litigation Status