With plans underway for using Olowalu as a disposal site for massive amounts of ash and debris from the Lahaina fire, some experts question how well-equipped the area is to handle the toxic waste and whether the facility can comply with federal regulations governing hazardous waste containment.

Olowalu, a small community five miles south of Lahaina, is where the Board of Land and Natural Resources last week approved construction of a new landfill to hold an estimated 400,000 tons of ash and debris.

Community members are concerned there may be contaminants including volatile organic compounds, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, heavy metals, polychlorinated dioxins and furans, all of which can harm human health.

Because many of the estimated 2,200 structures that burned in Lahaina were older buildings, the ash is also likely to contain asbestos, arsenic and lead. The death toll from the fire stands at 99, with all but one victim identified. Four people are still missing nearly three months after the blaze.

The Hawaii Department of Health plans to start testing the Lahaina ash next week, according to a department spokesman.

Last month, DOH released results of ash samples taken from Kula, where a fire on Aug. 8 destroyed at least 19 homes. The results showed extremely elevated levels of arsenic, and elevated levels of lead and cobalt. The DOH said Lahaina’s ash composition is likely similar.

Some dioxins were also found in the Kula ash but not at levels considered a significant risk.

At last week’s land board meeting, Shayne Agawa, director of Maui County’s environmental management division, said that the waste disposal site in Olowalu will be double-lined with impermeable materials and monitored for leaks for 30 years.

He called it “the Cadillac of disposal sites.”

But some are questioning whether Maui County is equipped to handle such a large volume of toxic waste at a location a few hundred yards from the Pacific Ocean. Olowalu’s nearshore waters host the country’s largest population of manta rays and a world-class reef system.

In 2017, the Olowalu reef was declared a Mission Blue Hope Spot for its rich diversity of rare and unique coral species. The reef “acts as a nursery to replenish and populate the reefs of Maui, Molokai and Lanai,” according to Mission Blue, a global ocean protection organization founded by Sylvia Earle, a legendary oceanographer.

Given the area’s marine sensitivity, a growing chorus of voices is raising concerns about the proposed landfill.

“What happens when there are failures? What happens if it leaches into the water table long after these decision-makers are gone? This is what keeps me up at night,” said Randy Awo, former chief of the state Division of Conservation and Resources Enforcement.

The state Division of Aquatic Resources raised similar issues at last week’s land board meeting. Aquatic biologist Russell Sparks expressed concern about the possibility of toxins leaching into the ocean and bioaccumulating in the fatty tissue of fish.

Dawn Chang, the board’s chair, agreed. “Our concern is impacts to the nearshore waters,” she said.

The board unanimously approved the site, however, after hearing strong assurances from the contractor, Agawa and others.

“People are rightfully concerned. Any strategy to handle this waste needs to consider not just what happens 20 years from now but indefinitely,” said Wayne Tanaka, executive director of Sierra Club of Hawaii.

There’s also the question of whether such toxic ash should remain on the island at all or be taken to a disposal site already designed and engineered to standards of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, a federal law that regulates hazardous waste.

Only 21 landfills exist in the U.S. that meet the RCRA standards for hazardous waste, categorized as Subtitle C. This would include solvents, industrial materials and construction byproducts such as asbestos.

Only eight are permitted to handle disposal of material contaminated with polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, according to the EPA.

Prior to 1979, electrical transformers often contained PCBs, chemicals that can cause cancer and a range of other health problems. When burned, PCBs create dioxin, an extremely toxic substance.

During the Lahaina fire, Hawaiian Electric had 300 of its 575 transformers in West Maui burn or be destroyed, the company’s chief executive, Shelee Kimura, said at an August news conference.

Hawaiian Electric spokesman Jim Kelly said Wednesday that of all those, there was one pre-1980 transformer that did contain PCBs but the amounts were at non-detectable levels. The remainder of the utility’s transformers were built after 1980 and did not contain PCBs, according to the company.

The DOH conducted ash sampling and analysis in Kula and “did not find any organic compounds that were at a level of concern,” said Ed Rivera, a spokesman for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, by email.

According to the Sierra Club of Hawaii’s read of the lab results, dioxin levels in the Kula ash results were slightly higher than what’s deemed to pose no significant risk for unrestricted land use. But the levels were within the range of what’s typical of incinerator ash, burn pits, wood treatment operations that use pentachlorophenol, and pesticide mixing areas associated with former sugarcane operations, according to Hawaii’s dioxin guidance document.

Two EPA officials said in an interview that DOH is the lead regulatory agency for the design and operations of the Olowalu disposal site, which they noted will be built under the terms of a state emergency proclamation.

Asked how Hawaii’s emergency proclamation will affect the Olowalu landfill design or operation, both Adrienne Priselac, assistant director in the land, chemicals, and redevelopment division, and Steve Wall, a landfill enforcement expert, deferred to DOH.

“That’s something the state issues so you’d have to speak to the state on what that entails,” Wall said.

No one from the Department of Health was available for an interview.

In an email, EPA spokesman Michael Brogan said the Olowalu landfill will be constructed under an emergency proclamation issued by the state under its authority by the Emergency Powers Act “for expediency given the exigencies of the situation.” 

Under an emergency proclamation issued by Mayor Richard Bissen, the county is able to suspend certain environmental protections that would typically apply during normal circumstances. The same applies for an emergency proclamation issued by Gov. Josh Green.

Scott Crawford, marine director for The Nature Conservancy of Hawaii and Palmyra, said emergency proclamations will likely preclude the need for an environmental assessment of the landfill, a process that allows the public to comment on a project but adds significant time.

The conservancy has not taken a position on the landfill but is concerned about its proximity to the reef and ocean, and a place that’s popular for subsistence and sport fishing and recreation.

“Thinking about it in generational timeframes, hundreds of years, can we expect the county to be monitoring this thing like 200 years from now and testing the groundwaters? That’s not that far in the future on the scale of things,” Crawford said.

But Crawford said he understands the urgency of moving the ash and debris into a proper storage facility as soon as possible. Winter rains are liable to wash the contamination into groundwater, surface water and the ocean at any time.

Maui County Council member Tamara Paltin, who represents West Maui, said if Olowalu ends up being used for storage of the ash and debris she would like the landfill to be monitored in perpetuity, not just for 30 years, with real-time data posted on a public website.

Paltin would also like to see the ash and debris treated with bioremediation methods before it’s taken to the landfill. Bioremediation can entail the use of compost and mulch to absorb contaminants and rehabilitate burned soil. It’s increasingly being used in wildfire-scarred areas.

Agawa did not respond to requests for an interview.

Civil Beat’s coverage of Maui County is supported in part by a grant from the Nuestro Futuro Foundation.

Civil Beat’s community health coverage is supported by the Swayne Family Fund of Hawaii Community Foundation, the Cooke Foundation, Atherton Family Foundation and Papa Ola Lokahi.