Matson ‘can’t say’ it will fund restoration

Matson Navigation Co. is picking up the cost of more than 10 days of cleanup and containment efforts following the 233,000-gallon molasses spill off Sand Island earlier this month, but the shipping company isn’t committing to covering any of the tab on the long road to restoration and revival of Hono­lulu Harbor’s underwater ecosystem.

State agencies have made a transition from response to recovery and restoration following the molasses spill, but experts say the toll to marine life and coral remains undetermined.

"At this point it’s still premature," Robert Richmond, a research professor and director of the University of Hawaii at Manoa’s Kewalo Marine Laboratory, said. "Those surveys are still ongoing by a number of groups."

Matson spokesman Jeff Hull said Monday the company plans to cooperate with and participate in the recovery phase but that it is not ready to make a full commitment to financially supporting recovery efforts.

"When that report is final, then we would be able to address specific cost questions," he said. "We’re not saying we won’t (pay for recovery); I just can’t tell you how much or to what extent."

The spill, linked to a faulty pipe in Matson’s molasses export operation, sent 233,000 gallons of sticky liquid into Hono­lulu Harbor and Keehi Lagoon sometime during the night of Sept. 7 and the morning of Sept. 8.

But it wasn’t the first time that molasses had been detected leaking from the pipe.

The state Department of Transportation said Friday that workers had spotted leaks in July 2012 as well as in May of this year. Matson was notified about the 2012 report from harbor workers conducting routine inspections and said it investigated but found no evidence of a leak. State harbor workers again reported in May there was a leak, but the DOT failed to notify Matson of the second incident.

Neither the state nor Matson had disclosed to the public there had been prior leaks, despite repeated efforts by the media since the catastrophe to get that information.

"Right now our commitment is focused on the response efforts and to ensure our customers and Hawaii taxpayers that we would cover the cost for state expenses related to all the agencies that were working on the cleanup effort," Hull said Monday. "We don’t have any costs yet, but I’m sure we will be billed."

State Rep. Chris Lee, chairman of the House Energy and Environmental Protection Committee, said Matson should be held accountable for the incident through whatever the revitalization phase entails because "the health of our reef, our environment and economy are at risk."

"I think whatever the best approach is decided, we need to make sure that Matson lives up to their commitment and funds that," Lee said.

Lee expressed dissatisfaction regarding the disclosure that harbor workers twice spotted molasses leaking from the faulty pipe.

"I think it is too early to make a definitive call on specifically where the lapse was," Lee said. "But I think it’s important that we take a look at the process — at what the response was, at how the situation was handled — to find out."

Given the facts he has seen, Lee said any fines Matson would receive as a result of the incident would likely come from the federal government and not the state, but that state legislators are considering looking into whether the state might also have jurisdiction to levy fines.

Hull said Matson has not yet been approached by the Environmental Protection Agency or any other federal agency involved in the cleanup regarding fines.

State lawmakers also plan to take a serious look at the incident and look into whether putting additional safeguards in place would be necessary to prevent a similar incident from ever happening again.

"It’s tragic, and I think had the right precautions been taken, the right protections put in place, it could have been avoided," Lee said. "We have to absolutely get to the bottom of this and figure out what needs to be changed to make sure it doesn’t happen again."

Richmond estimated that a "reasonable understanding" of how much marine life died as a result of the spill could surface within the next month.

The state Department of Health has reported that crews removed roughly 26,000 dead fish from the harbor, Keehi Lagoon and shoreline waters. It’s not as easy, however, to tally how much coral was killed until research is completed, Richmond said.

The move from response to recovery marks the end of the Health Department’s lead role in the incident and the beginning of a Department of Land and Natural Resources-led effort to assess the damage and figure out how to correct it, DLNR spokes­woman Debo­rah Ward said.

DLNR plans to work with state and federal partners this week to develop a monitoring and assessment plan.