Federal environmental regulators are teaming with state health officials to investigate whether Matson, the shipping company that has taken responsibility for the Honolulu Harbor molasses spill, committed any violations that helped cause the disaster.
"We will be looking to see if there are potential compliance issues," Dean Higuchi, a spokesman for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, said Tuesday.
Earlier this month three EPA staff members helped the state respond during the spill’s immediate aftermath. The molasses spill, which state officials described as one of the worst environmental disasters they have seen in Hawaii, was reported Sept. 9. It poured 233,000 gallons of the syrupy liquid into the harbor, killing hundreds of coral heads and at least 26,000 fish recovered from the surface.
Now that the initial response effort is over, the EPA will join the state Department of Health to see whether Matson properly followed state and federal regulations, Higuchi said. The company had been shipping 1,600 to 2,000 tons of molasses a week to the mainland before the spill but has suspended that operation indefinitely.
There’s "always the potential for a Clean Water Act issue," Higuchi said. Such violations could lead to fines of up to $25,000 a day, Health Department Deputy Director for Environmental Health Gary Gill said the day after the spill was reported.
The move this week by regulators comes after Matson and state Department of Transportation officials finally acknowledged late last week — after repeated inquiries from the media — that they knew of previous leaks detected at the pipe that caused the spill. Transportation officials said that workers spotted a leak in July 2012 and in May. After the state informed Matson about the 2012 report, the company said it investigated but found no leak. The Transportation Department failed to notify Matson about the report of a leak in May.
Local environmental groups were encouraged Tuesday that federal regulators would be part of the effort.
"We applaud the EPA’s involvement. The state knew about the spill for over a year," Sierra Club of Hawaii Director Robert Harris said in an email, referring to the Matson-owned faulty pipe. "The EPA’s participation in the investigation will help ensure the intent of the Clean Water Act is upheld without any appearance of impropriety."
Meanwhile, state lawmakers said they are looking into whether they could still hold hearings about the spill "relatively soon" without interfering with the investigation.
"We don’t want to jump the gun," said Rep. Chris Lee (D, Lanikai-Waimanalo), who chairs the state House’s Committee on Energy and Environmental Protection. However, such hearings would have to occur before January for lawmakers to consider any measures dealing with the spill in next year’s legislative session, Lee added.
Higuchi said there’s no set timeline to wrap up the investigation.
"Matson will cooperate with all state and federal agencies conducting investigations pertaining to the molasses spill," Jeff Hull, a spokesman for the company, said in an email Tuesday. "We want to reaffirm our commitment to the state of Hawaii in taking all measures to ensure this does not happen again."
The company’s CEO, Matt Cox, pledged last week that cleanup and damage costs will not be passed along to Matson customers or to taxpayers. However, earlier this week company officials added that Matson is not ready to make a full commitment to financially support recovery efforts.
What Matson should pay would be a key part of the state hearings, Lee said Tuesday. "The big question now is, What does Matson’s commitment to pay for everything mean?" he said.
