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Maui County has agreed to a $5.1 million settlement with federal officials about alleged clean air violations at its major landfill, including uncontrolled release of gases from rotting garbage.
The violations of the federal Clean Air Act were alleged at the landfill in Puunene in 2007, after inspections by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
The settlement, announced Wednesday by the EPA and Maui County, requires the county to improve gas monitoring to help to reduce the threat of underground fires at the landfill and to follow fire response procedures in the event of a fire.
The county has agreed to pay a civil penalty of $380,000 and build a renewable energy wind farm of eight wind turbines near the landfill’s self-service facility.
The wind energy generated would reduce fossil fuel plant emissions from electricity needs of the landfill by an estimated 38 percent.
The county said it has spent $4.5 million to design and build a gas collection and control system required by the Clean Air Act.
"This agreement with the EPA is a win-win solution for Maui County," said Mayor Alan Arakawa, elected as mayor in 2010.
Arakawa said the development of the wind turbines will serve as the county’s pilot project for small-scale wind energy facilities.
Jared Blumenfeld, EPA’s Regional Administrator for the Pacific Southwest, said the agreement will reduce gas and fossil fuel emissions and support renewable energy.
"Today’s settlement is good news for the families living in Kahului," Blumenfeld said.
Federal law requires large landfills to install and operate systems to collect gases generated by decomposing refuse, such as air toxics, organic compounds and methane, a potent greenhouse gas.
The collection system at the landfill is intended to reduce the release of these gases into the atmosphere.
The settlement resolves allegations that the county violated the Clean Air Act, including failure to design, construct and operate a gas collection and control system.
The consent decree, filed in U.S. District Court in Hawaii, is subject to a 30-day public comment period and court approval and may be viewed at www.justice.gov/enrd/Consent_Decrees.html.
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Correction: An earlier version of this story said the eight wind turbines would reduce by 38 percent the fossil fuel plant emissions for Maui as a whole.
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