Dive summary:
- The Environmental Protections Agency (EPA) is suing the city and Waste Management of Hawaii for failing to install a gas collection and control system at the Waimanalo Gulch Sanitary Landfill in Leeward, Oahu, Hawaii when they were supposed to.
- Maximum penalties for failing to comply with the federal clean-air act laws is $27,500 per day of violation before March 15, 2004, $32,500 per day for each violation through January 2009, and $37,500 per day for each violation after that.
- After the discovery of the violations, the Waste Management leadership team was replaced and the company will be solely responsible for paying the $1.1 million required by the consent decree.
From the article:
Area residents have been complaining about odors from the landfill for years and have demanded it be shut down. The Ko Olina Community Association has tried unsuccessfully through several avenues to shut it down as the city has continued to extend its life.
In January 2011, heavy rain washed material, including medical waste, from the landfill into the ocean near Kahe Point and Ko Olina.
"So it's not just what we're eating or where we're playing, it's in what we're breathing," said Maeda Timson, former Makakilo/Kapolei/ Honokai Hale Neighborhood Board chairwoman, "Pretty soon we're all going to turn green. And still nothing happens." ...
