County officials say former LP parcel still in running

County officials denied rumors Monday that the Kalepa site in Hanama’ulu, mentioned as a possible home for the county’s new landfill, had been withdrawn from the market.

“As far as I know they are still making the site available. We are still deciding where the landfill will be. It’s (Kalepa) still there if we want it but Wally (Rezentes Sr.) is still looking at other potential sites,” County P.I.O. Beth Tokioka said.

The proposed landfill site is on former Lihue Plantation land at the base of Kalepa mountain range. Most of Lihue Plantation was purchased by AOL-Time Warner chairman Steve Case who earlier bought Grove Farm Co.

Grove Farm had rejected a county proposal to put a landfill on a parcel of its lands at Kipu. Later the Kalepa parcel was proposed and became the leading candidate for the new site, but community opposition has been fierce.

The county offered a bus tour of the Kalepa site in January and Rezentes and others, including Solid Waste honcho Troy Tanigawa, met the Hanama’ulu community at the King Kaumuali’i School cafeteria (also in January).

At that meeting, Rezentes told angry Hanama’ulu residents that site selection would be a long process and would include public hearings before the council.

Council Chair Ron Kouchi said Monday that he is opposed to the Hanama’ulu siting.

Kouchi noted that the United State’s Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Compliance Assurance is pursuing a policy of environmental justice, “to ensure that all people, regardless of income, race, or national origin are protected from disproportionate impacts of environmental hazards.

“If legal action were taken on these grounds, possible delays in developing a new landfill site would not be worth the time and money lost as the Kekaha landfill site continues toward capacity,” Kouchi said.

The current landfill in Kekaha will be expanded, giving the county until 2007 to open its successor.