An Oahu trucking company picked the wrong place to use as a makeshift dump site last week when it unloaded about 5 cubic yards of coral-fill material on a vacant parcel in Kalaeloa across from the management office of the group developing the area.
Jose Bustamante, vice president for development of Hunt Cos.-Hawaii Division, said the developer is pursuing criminal charges against Island Hauling Inc. for the June 6 incident, which was captured in photos and even a video taken by employees who saw the situation unfolding from Hunt’s management office across from the lot at Saratoga Avenue and Bennington Street.
Police were called and a report was filed, Bustamante said.
"We just want to make sure that they understand that the dumping is illegal and negatively impacts the health and safety of the community," he said.
Bustamante noted that the 538 acres of the former Barbers Point Naval Air Station leased by Hunt, and in the process of being sold in fee by the Navy to the developer, have long been used as a dumping ground by trucking companies and others. He added that by pursuing the enforcement action, "we’re trying to send the message that this is an area we’re trying to develop, to beautify and to improve."
Chad Kobayashi, Island Hauling president, said his driver pulled over and unloaded the material as a precautionary safety measure after being confronted by an angry motorist whose vehicle was apparently struck by a piece of concrete that flew out of the apron of the truck bed. A second truck driver stopped to help and provide protection in case the motorist returned, he said.
"The truck was empty," and there was no planned effort to dump material on the site, Kobayashi said. The amount that ended up on the ground was small, he said. It consisted of excess material that was stuck on the apron in the bed of the vehicle as it was returning to its Kalaeloa Harbor base yard after a truckload had been taken to a Helemano agricultural site earlier in the day, Kobayashi said. "Maybe about 15, 10 shovels full of coral."
He acknowledged the driver’s actions on the afternoon of June 6 were wrong and said she is being reprimanded. The driver panicked, pulled over and unloaded the coral to protect public health and safety, he said. She did not inform her supervisors right away, but should have. Kobayashi said no one from Hunt contacted him.
As soon as he learned of the incident Friday, he dispatched a truck and some employees to clean up the mess, he said. Island Hauling workers spent several hours removing the material from the site Friday afternoon.
Island Hauling has never been cited for illegal dumping in eight years of existence, and any waste his company hauls goes to the PVT Landfill for construction waste in Waianae, he said
Bustamante, however, said it appeared to Hunt employees that the dumping was intentional. The driver berated a Hunt employee, arguing that she was being picked on when "everyone dumps all over this property," he said.
West Oahu Councilwoman Kymberly Pine said she also suspects the dumping was intentional. She said the incident highlights the need for stricter laws against illegal dumping and stockpiling, especially in her district where the problem is most acute.
Pine has introduced three bills designed to curb illegal dumping and stockpiling. Bill 36, in particular, would increase the fines for those found guilty of violating the city’s grading, grubbing and stockpiling laws, by as much as 10 times for recurring offenders, and possibly send them to jail.
Curtis Lum, spokesman for the city Department of Planning and Permitting, said his agency sent an inspector to the site who concluded that because the land is on Navy property, it is outside the jurisdiction of DPP.
