Federal Environmental Protection Agency officials have ordered officials of the Bali Hai Villas Limited Partnership to comply with federal Clean-Water-Act requirements at their residential construction project on Ka Haku Road and Pepelani Loop in Princeville. State Department of Health inspectors,
Federal Environmental Protection Agency officials have ordered officials of the Bali Hai Villas Limited Partnership to comply with federal Clean-Water-Act requirements at their residential construction project on Ka Haku Road and Pepelani Loop in Princeville.
State Department of Health inspectors, when visiting the site in January, found four violations, including violations that would allow run-off to reach the ocean.
“Any stormwater discharges from construction projects must have pollution controls in place to protect ocean habitat,” said Alexis Strauss, the EPA’s director for water programs in the Pacific Southwest region. “Erosion and sedimentation from storm water discharges can cause severe pollution problems for our coastal waters and coral reefs.”
But according to an on-site representative of Bali Hai Villas, who did not wished to be named, the company has completed almost all of work needed to remedy the violations.
He said that after the inspector was on-site in January, the company worked to remedy some of the problems, and that the rest of the violations would be fixed within a week.
“The site-grading contractor is taking care of the situation. Now that we (know the violations), we will move forward and make the necessary corrections,” said the representative.
He added that the first notice of the EPA violations he received was from the media when contacted for comment.
State DOH inspectors found that company officials:
- Did not properly place and install fences around the project area to control silt from saltwater runoff (which had to do with the type of fencing the contractors used, said the Bali Hai representative);
- Failed to install pollution protection at storm drains to prevent soil and sediments from reaching the ocean (which has been remedied this past week, he added);
- Failed to prevent discharges of pollutants associated with construction activities (which was washing out concrete where they shouldn’t have, the representative added, and was fixed immediately);
- Began construction activities prior to receiving a permit (which was remedied when the permit, after a 10-month wait, was received in February, the Bali Hai spokesman said).
Company officials have until mid-April to revise their pollution-control plans, said Dean Higuchi, press officer for EPA Region 9. If Bali Hai Villas officials do not comply with both the plans and a written referral, they could face federal fines up to $32,000 per day for each violation.
No fines have been imposed yet by the EPA, said Higuchi, and if company officials comply, none will be imposed.
Higuchi could not say whether the inspection, performed by state DOH officers, was routine, or whether it was the result of a complaint from the public. Environmental complaints from the public are appreciated, he said.
Construction on the 257 timeshare units at Bali Hai Villas is scheduled to take four to five years, said the company representative.
Staff Writer Tom Finnegan may be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 252) or mailto:tfinnegan@pulitzer.net.
