The operator of the private landfill in Nanakuli for construction waste is suing a union lobbyist for defamation for statements he made allegedly connecting it with last month’s release of medical waste from the nearby city landfill.

Heavy rains and flooding at the city’s Waimanalo Gulch landfill caused medical waste and other debris to wash into the ocean off Oahu’s Leeward Coast last month.

PVT Land Co. operates the construction landfill in Nanakuli.

In public hearings in front of two state legislative committees on Feb. 1 and Feb. 3, PVT says Ronald Y. Amemiya, who represents the Ironworkers Union Local 625 Stabilization Fund, submitted written and oral testimony of a “severe breach” at the PVT landfill which “also caused these hazardous waste materials to flow into the neighborhood.”

In a lawsuit filed in state court yesterday, PVT says it has asked Amemiya to retract the above statements but he has yet to do so.