Outrage over opala Council members blast cross-county garbage hauling

HILO — Four County Council members on Friday blasted the Department of Environmental Management for undertaking a cross-county garbage trucking program with no notice to them or the public.

“I am so frustrated with this department,” Ka‘u Councilwoman Brittany Smart, chairwoman of the council’s Environmental Management Committee, told department officials. “I expect a report to come to my committee with your department coming in and giving a full explanation.”

At issue is a pilot program the department quietly undertook Jan. 27, transporting garbage from Hilo, Keaau and Pahoa transfer stations to the West Hawaii landfill at Puunahulu. The addition of the added waste brings the amount of the county’s garbage being trucked to West Hawaii to 78.8 percent of the island’s garbage, compared to about half previously.

The department did not alert the council, the Environmental Management Commission or the public. The project, which department officials are calling a pilot program that will end this month, would have remained a secret if tipsters hadn’t alerted council members and the media. West Hawaii Today described the program in an article Tuesday.

Smart blasted the department for delaying providing the information she had requested to verify the change in trash hauling, following tips from constituents. She said she felt “very disrespected.”

“When was the termination date of the pilot project determined?” Smart asked. “Before you rolled out …. (or) after the newspaper article?”

Kohala Councilman Pete Hoffmann said he’s gotten at least a dozen calls from angry constituents, and he’s sure there are more waiting for him at his office. He quipped that he’d looked for a line item in the budget to pay his funeral expenses, as residents had told him they would throw him beneath the wheels of the first garbage truck going through their community.

“No one (issue) has gotten as much blow-back on county credibility,” Hoffmann said. “I put my own credibility on the line. I don’t like being bush-whacked.”

“I feel betrayed as a council member, and there are segments of this community that feel that way, too,” added North Kona Councilman Angel Pilago. “The department has not seen fit to communicate with anyone, even its commissioners.”

“We’re not intentionally trying to hide anything,” said Acting Environmental Management Director Dora Beck.

Council Chairman Dominic Yagong, who along with Hoffmann and Mayor Billy Kenoi last week attended a Kona Town Hall meeting where the issue was discussed, asked Deputy Director Hunter Bishop why he didn’t set the public straight when Kenoi said, “There’s absolutely no decision about trucking rubbish to Puuanahulu. … There is no plan by myself as mayor to truck rubbish to Puuanahulu.”

“This has caused a tremendous wildfire out there. People are really, really upset,” Yagong said. “Why did we not be open and honest with the people of Kona? … Why did you not tell the people of West Hawaii that the department was already hauling Hilo trash to Kona?”

“That question was not raised,” responded Bishop.

The department’s responses only further irked Pilago. He said he is going to direct the legislative auditor to audit the department.

“Just because you have people competent at spin-doctoring, you should never do that,” Pilago said.

Yagong said information he has received on the council tip line indicates an extra five trucks a day are hauling two trailers round trip each across the island for a total of 10 trailers. Each truck is consuming 60 to 70 gallons of diesel fuel daily, according to Yagong’s tipster. At approximately $3.75 per gallon, the December 2011 county rate for diesel fuel, that amounts to about $1,000 a day in added fuel costs. Public diesel fuel rates now are nearly $5.50 per gallon.

In addition, the 17 county garbage haulers have been getting 30 to 40 hours of overtime pay each week for at least the past 1-1/2 to 2 months, according to Yagong’s source.

Yagong said Friday new information coming from the tip line estimates 100 gallons of diesel fuel, and that the project has been going on longer than first thought.