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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0521.051 2002-2004 MAY-28-04 FAI 11:32 AM CofH Clzrical Center FAX:808 933 1529 PAGE 1 r~E9~r 2~s 1~ "Trash '.Calk" C" COUi i, , , The sky is not falling. }3ut the Hilo landfill needs to close soon. The County needs to ac:t now. The Hilo landfill will reach capacity soon. Present estimates are sometime in 2006. Failure to act now will wind up costing all of us money and iacrease the number of trash-filled trailers traveling our roads. The Milo landfill needs to close not only because it is reaching its capacity, but also in order to protect groundwater. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has concluded that landfills like the one in Hilo, do not adequately protect our health and environment. County officials have developed a solid waste plan to comply with EPA a~~i llepartment of health regulations. Among the plan's goals arc to minimize the cost to taxpayers and to protect the environment. County officials have decided that a Sort Station would help us manage our waste. ' A Sort Station will provide a centralized place in east Hawai i where recyclable items can be sorted from the garbage. Recycling reduces the amount of trash that needs to go into the Hito landfill thereby extending the life of the landfill. The longer the landfill's life is extended, the fewer trailers of garbage that need to be transported up the IIamakua coast and through Waimea. When the I Iilo landfill closes, the Sort Station will allow the County to consolidate trash into fewer trailers fot transport to Ri uanahulu. In fact, the Sort Station should reduce projected trash traffic to Pu'uanahulu from more than 90 trucks a day down to ] 0 - 12. An aggressive recycling program reduces fresh trailer traffic, saves money, saves landfill space, creates private sector jobs, increases economic diversification, and creates valuable commodities. It also buys the County time to determine whether expensive high-technology solutions can be effective. Honolulu, Kauai and Maui have struggled unsuccessfully for years to find alternatives to landfilling. Many Big Island residents have voiced objections to an incinerator -tike II-Power in Honolulu. In any case, it will be years before such an expensive plant could be built given the cotnplexities of financing, permitting, construction and community acceptance. Those are some of the reasons that the County's F,nvironmental Management Commission supports the County administration's plan to build a Sort Station now. The commission is made up of a diverse group of citizens: engineers, tree-huggers, former government officials, government critics, West Iiawai i and East Hawaii residents. 13ut we all agree that the Sort Station is acost-effective meets of addressing the impending crisis. Unfortunately, severe! well-intentioned Councilmcmbcrs think they can saes money by delaying the administration from building the Sort Station. They think that a private vendor will build one for us. They may be right -AND we will still wind up Comm. Na S Z~•S ~ ,I oaf. To: Fief. Cate MAY-28-04 FAI 11:33 AM CofH Clerical Center FAX:608 933 1529 PAGE 2 paying for it anyway, someway or another, The cost will be passed on to us either in (heir contract, or in increased landfill tipping fees that trickle down to all consumers. Private vendors operate on profit, not charity. It is pure fantasy to think that a private vendor will pay for and build a Sort Station by next May given the complexities in the government's procurement process as well as the public's ambivalence about paying for technologies that arc expensive, polluting, or unproven. If the Council cuts the Department of Environmental lylanagement's budget, or even puts the money in their (:ontingency Fund, the real effect will be to delay operation of a Sort Station by a yeaz. F,very day that the Council delays construction of the Sort Station will be a day of that much more gazbage filling the Hilo landfill Deferring construction will also severely limit our options and alternatives should the waste technologies that are being considered, fail to materialize as represented. Time is of the essence. Every day of delay means we aze day closer to having 90 trash trucks hauling trash from Fast Hawaii to West Hawaii. And every day of delay risks increased oversight by the Department of Health. The sky is not falling. But the landitll is filling up. The time to act is now. This viewpoint is submitted on behalf of the members of the Environmental Management Commission, and unanimously supported by our members, at our most rentnt meeting on Wednesday, May 26, 2004: Sincerely, Riley W. Smith, PF„ Chair, Environmental Management Commission David Kimo Frankel, Vice Chair Marjorie Eruvay, Member Sam Kawamura, Member Arnold Okamura, Member Hul;lt Ono, PE, Member Lorraine Stahr, Member (absent) Sam Sumner, Member Caroline Witcher, Member