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EPA announces Hawai'i environmental enforcement accomplishments for 2005

Release Date: 11/15/2005
Contact Information: Dean Higuchi, 808-541-2711,

HONOLULU - EPA enforcement actions in Hawaii in 2005 brought environmental and public benefits for the state's residents as polluters committed to more than $28 million to correct environmental violations and prevent future pollution.

The 2005 data marks a huge increase in terms of polluters making on-the-ground improvements, up from $80,000 spent in 2004. Cesspool upgrades and a large settlement on the Del Monte Superfund Site account for this increase.

EPA multimedia settlements will improve the state's air, water and land, benefitting human health and the environment for residents of Hawaii for years to come.

"Hawaii residents will enjoy cleaner air, water and land for years to come as a result of the EPA working to enforce environmental laws," said Wayne Nastri, administrator of the EPA's Pacific Southwest Office. "Complying with environmental regulations is a requirement for improved public health."

Below are a number of agency enforcement highlights for Hawai'i for 2005:

• A settlement with the Hawaii Department of Transportation for $157,000 in fines for oil spill prevention plan violations at four of its facilities. The facilities include the Honolulu International Airport, Kahului airport and Maui Baseyard on Maui and Lihue Airport on Kauai. The department has since prepared and submitted spill prevention plans to the EPA for each of the facilities.

• Agreements with federal, state and county agencies to close 401 large capacity cesspools in Hawai'i. Also, the EPA and the Hawaii Department of Health reminded facility owners and the public that all existing large capacity cesspools that discharge untreated sewage need to be closed by April 2005. Cesspools are used more widely in Hawaii than in any other state an estimated two thousand statewide, many of which are owned by the counties, the state and federal government.

• An agreement with Del Monte Fresh Produce that requires the company to clean up soil and groundwater contamination at the Del Monte Superfund site in Central Oahu. The cleanup plan is estimated to cost approximately $13 million and the company has also agreed to pay the EPA's past and future oversight costs at the site.

• An order to Pepsi Bottling group to comply with Clean Water Act requirements at its bottling facility in Aiea. The EPA action cites the lack of a permit to discharge stormwater from the company's facility and associated unauthorized site stormwater discharges into nearby streams. The company also sent acidic industrial effluent to the city and county of Honolulu's sewers in violation of the low pH requirement under the EPA's general pretreatment regulations.

• An order to R.H.S. Lee to prevent any oil discharge and improve oil spill containment at its Oahu facility to avoid contaminating the environment. An EPA inspector found oil and oily water discharges from the facility that flows off the property into a storm drain leading to the ocean. The EPA requires near shore oil storage facilities to take necessary steps to prevent any oil spills that could contaminate the environment.

• An order to the Big Island Asphalt Co. to prevent any oil discharges and improve oil spill containment at its facility in Hilo. EPA requires facilities to have spill control plans to prevent oil from being discharged into the ocean.

• A fine to Kauai Electric Co. for $900 for oil spill prevention violations and ordered the company to amend its response plan and facility equipment to prevent any oil spills.

• Ordered Oahu Sugar Co., LLC to further investigate and address dioxin contamination at its former pesticide mixing plant on the Waipio Peninsula near Waipahu, Oahu. A 2002 site investigation - spurred by a State Department of Health administrative order - found high levels of dioxins near Oahu Sugar's former pesticide mixing facility. The EPA order requires the company to determine how much contamination exists and then control any releases to the environment.

• A fine to Flash International Tradings Inc. in Honolulu $2,376 for allegedly importing unregistered mothballs. EPA also fined ABC Corp. of Waipahu $8,000 for selling and distributing two unregistered pesticides. A Los Angles business, Morwear Manufacturing Inc., which sold and distributed two unregistered pesticide products including in Hawaii was ordered to stop. Both are violations of federal pesticide regulations.

Please go to https://www.epa.gov/region09 for a full description of the EPA's enforcement actions throughout California, Arizona, Nevada, Hawaii and the Pacific Islands in 2005. For information on the EPA's national enforcement summary for 2005, go to: https://www.epa.gov/compliance/data/results/annual/fy2005.html
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