Health Department doesn’t regulate piggeries’ smell

Question: There is a bad animal manure smell around the Wahiawa Police Station/driver’s licensing station. On days with Kona winds, the smell is overpowering. I’m sure other people must breathe this stink air, too. Can you please ask the Health Department to check on the air quality in this area? I think the smell is from a pig or chicken farm.

Answer: If the animal odors are coming from an existing, permitted agricultural operation, there is little that the state Department of Health can do.

Neither is farm odor regulated by any other agency.

The DOH’s Clean Air Branch received a complaint last December about odor from the piggery, which is on agriculture-zoned land in the Whitmore Village area.

However, it did not conduct an inspection, again because DOH does not regulate such odors.

“Animal odors are inherent in any farm operation, and only zoning changes will solve this problem,” said Peter Oshiro, manager of the DOH’s Environmental Health Program. “The DOH does not have any standards or means of measurement to enforce an odor law.”

Although “it is difficult if not impossible to control odors from confined animal feed operations,” he said the owner has taken steps to mitigate the odor.

The piggery has a permit from the DOH’s Wastewater Branch, which inspected the site last December. The state and federal Departments of Agriculture also inspect piggeries. No violations were found.

“We don’t regulate smelly piggeries,” said Janelle Sane­ishi, spokes­woman for the state Department of Agriculture. “However, we do regulate the cooking of slop. Sometimes that may be the odor complaint.”

Based on such a complaint earlier this year, a veterinarian and “vet tech” visited the site and reported “that the smell wasn’t bad,” Sane­ishi said. “They said the owner is pretty progressive,” with the pigs doing “their business on mulch, which he scoops up and uses for the turf grass that he grows.”

Saneishi also explained that the USDA regulates the slaughtering of pigs “but not the smelly part.”

See Ba Thee, owner of Alii Agriculture Farms and Alii Turf Co., a grass-growing operation, has appeared before the Wahiawa-Whitmore Village Neighborhood Board to address complaints about the smell, explaining how he has tried to lessen the problem.

He told us he opened the piggery in 2009.

He said the smell becomes a problem only during Kona winds.

“Tradewinds come, no worries,” he said. But, “I cannot control the wind.”

However, he said, he does take steps to control the odor, by spreading dried wood chips in the pigpens, as well as by spraying a biodegradable anti-odor solution.

He said he has 80 sows, with 200 or more pigs at any given time, depending on the number of babies.

Question: Can you help me obtain a copy of the marriage equality bill recently signed into law by Gov. Abercrombie?

Answer: You can find bills, resolutions and acts on the website for the Hawaii State Legislature: www.capitol.hawaii.gov.

Specifically, here’s the link to Senate Bill 1, House Draft 1, which became the Marriage Equality Act of 2013: www.capitol.hawaii.gov/splsession2013b/SB1_HD1_.pdf.

MAHALO

To the kind father and son who recovered my pack of paper plates that I had accidentally dropped under my truck at the parking lot at Longs in Hawaii Kai. They noticed I had driven over and parked at Safeway, and walked over from Longs to give it to me. Appreciate the kind gesture. — Mike K.

MAHALO

To a kind gentleman who assisted us when our pickup truck stalled on the H-3 freeway on Wednesday, Nov. 20. We were headed toward Hono­lulu in the midst of extremely heavy traffic when our truck started overheating. As I tried to push it to the side of the road, this gentleman rushed over to help. In the midst of the chaos, I neglected to get his name. While waiting for the tow truck, four different women stopped to offer their help. Our heartfelt thanks and aloha to all these wonderful angels. We will always remember your acts of kindness and will be forever grateful. — Two Seniors

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