WAILUKU >> Despite concerns about cleanup activities, wind and rain sending toxic ash into the air and ocean following the devastating Aug. 8 Lahaina wildfire, Maui County is waiting until owners and residents have been able to visit their homes and properties in burned areas before applying a polymer product to control dust and runoff.
Maui County Emergency Management Agency interim Administrator Darryl Oliveira told Maui County Council members Wednesday that Soiltac would not be used for dust control and soil stabilization until the zone-by-zone reentry process is complete and parcels are ready to be cleared of debris and rubble by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
But first, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency must finish its task of removing hazardous household materials from nearly 1,600 parcels, including 150 commercial lots. The EPA has cleared 66% of the burned properties and is prioritizing residential parcels scheduled by the county for reentry, according to Tara Fitzgerald, deputy incident commander for the EPA’s Maui wildfire response.
So far, the county has opened four residential disaster zones in Lahaina for reentry, with three more reopening Friday.
Oliveira said that allowing people to enter sites that already have been sprayed with Soiltac would break up the thin crust bonding the soil and require reapplication before further activity. The returnees, who are offered optional personal protective equipment, are being allowed in to sift through the ruins of their homes and properties for keepsakes and to help them find some degree of closure.
“What we’re doing is minimizing disturbance and we’re actually encouraging don’t dig if you don’t need to, but we’re going to work with you if you want to find something, but minimizing the dust,” Oliveira said.
Following a demonstration of its application for residents, Soiltac was used during the clearing of nearly two dozen properties in Kula that were destroyed in a separate wildfire Aug. 8, and Fitzgerald said the adhesive agent should be applied in Lahaina “as soon as possible,” especially with the rainy season approaching.
When asked by Council member Keani Rawlins-Fernandez of Molokai for an “ideal timeline” for starting in order to prevent runoff and leaching into water resources, Fitzgerald replied: “I’ll be honest and say it’s as soon as possible, for several reasons.
“No. 1, we’ve heard from other people … the ash contains possibly asbestos. We know it’s going to contain heavy metals, we know that it’s building materials … and we should recognize that the ash contains microplastics. It was burned buildings, which have a ton of plastic, so we should expect that microplastics are in that ash. So for the timing, we want to get it covered as soon as possible.
“There’s also the fact that I know that as I’ve been here longer and ask more people who live here, I know it doesn’t rain often in Lahaina, but it does rain. So we want to get that put down before the rains come. My understanding is that October’s not likely but the chances increase as we go into the winter. … That’s one of the reasons why we’ve been trying to make ourselves more available and provide as much information as possible because we’re certainly coming up against that.”
Once given the go-ahead by the county, she said it would take about a month to complete the Soiltac application in Lahaina. The nontoxic, water-resistant product, which dries transparent, would be applied only over the footprint of any burned structures on a property and not the entire lot, Fitzgerald said. It is removed along with the debris and rubble.
Earlier in the Council committee meeting, Fitzgerald suggested county officials prioritize use of Soiltac on properties closest to where people whose homes didn’t burn are still living and near the three public schools in the area that are scheduled to resume classes the week of Oct. 16.
“The EPA has heard from some residents that are still close by to the burn area that they have concerns about dust going into their homes, and it is a concern. We know that that ash that is resulting from the fire, especially the building debris ash, has concerns for human health,” she said.
During a break in the committee meeting, when asked about worries over airborne ash, Oliveira told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser that ongoing real-time air quality monitoring in Lahaina and Upcountry Maui by the state Department of Health and EPA so far has shown no evidence of poor air quality or any hazardous levels of contaminants in the air.
Some of the discussion during Wednesday’s wide-ranging meeting, which included questions on housing, public outreach and other issues for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the American Red Cross and the county administration, was aimed at dispelling “misinformation” and allaying any community concerns about Soiltac.
Addressing what he called “disheartening and dangerous” misinformation and conspiracy theories, Chad Falkenberg, CEO of Soilworks of Scottsdale, Ariz., manufacturer of Soiltac, said he wanted to emphasize the product is “ecologically and environmentally safe” for humans, animals, vegetation and marine life, and has been used locally for soil stabilization for two decades with state and county approval.
He clarified for Council members that the liquid version of the product is being used on Maui, not the powdered version, which is an entirely different substance. He said it does not degrade into microplastics or contain UV-resistant additives, and that every ingredient has been disclosed to the EPA and found to be safe in independent lab reports.
“Inaction or delayed action regarding ash capture carries profound implications. Without treatment, toxic ash can infiltrate water systems, jeopardize aquatic life and generate toxic airborne dust that can impact the community’s health,” Falkenberg cautioned in his virtual testimony.
“Soiltac offers an immediate, effective and proven means to prevent these realities until a more permanent solution can be enacted.”
Fitzgerald said the EPA has evaluated various soil stabilizers and that Soiltac “came out as the front-runner for what needs to happen in Hawaii, specifically to be able to stabilize the ash.”
Rawlins-Fernandez expressed frustration that the county doesn’t seem to be “on the same page” with the EPA and Soiltac maker over the urgency in applying the dust control and soil stabilization agent “to ensure the highest level of safety for our community.” She said a lack of information up to this point has led to “questions and fear, and out of that comes whatever information that is then spread.”
“People are looking for information on Soiltac and right now there’s a lot of misinformation and disinformation that’s being spread, and therefore it’s causing a delay and it’s causing irreparable harm to our environment,” she said. “And I don’t want (the ash) leaching into our soil, I don’t want it coming to Molokai, Lanai, spreading all over the reef causing major damage, and so communication needs to be conducted as soon as possible.”
