The Kauai County Council yesterday approved $3,300 to perform federally-required soil testing at the county’s baseyard in Kapaa. County officials are concerned residual fuel from an underground storage tank that was removed from the baseyard in 1998 may cause environmental
The Kauai County Council yesterday approved $3,300 to perform federally-required soil testing at the county’s baseyard in Kapaa.
County officials are concerned residual fuel from an underground storage tank that was removed from the baseyard in 1998 may cause environmental damage.
Meeting at the historic County Building, council approved the funding to conduct testing to track the location of the fuel to guard against environmental damage.
The Department of Health called for the testing in line with requirements set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
The same requirements were applied to gasoline stations nationwide and on Kauai, forcing some longtime island operators to close because they didn’t; have the funds to replace single-walled storage tanks with multi-walled tanks.
Deputy county engineer Wynne M. Ushigome and councilman Daryl Kaneshiro said they hoped the remaining fuel at the Kapaa baseyard will break up and cause no problems, and that continual testing, if necessary, could bear this out.
Councilman Mel Rapozo suggested a better way might be to remove the contaminated soil, particularly if the fuel residue persists.
The council members said they would consider additional funding to track the fuel.
The fuel may have spilled when gas and diesel fuel were delivered to the Kapaa facility and pumped into the tank, Kaneshiro said.
That tank and 25 other underground storage tanks were removed from county facilities since 1998, in compliance with EPA requirements, according to county documents.
The tanks that were removed from the Kapaa baseyard were old, with some showing evidence of leaking, officials said.
Kaneshiro said it was his belief the old tanks were of a single-wall construction. Nowadays, double-walled fuel tanks at county facilities are generally put above ground for safety reasons, Kaneshiro said.
Studies showed 40 cubic yards of the diesel-contaminated soil has remained under fuel dispensers near a carpenter’s repair shop at the Kapaa baseyard, officials said.
In other matters, Grove Farm Co. presented a proposal to develop a 16-lot single-family subdivision by the Ulu Ko subdivision off Nawiliwili Road in Lihue.
The project is aimed at providing additional quality housing in Lihue, county officials said.
The project is part of Grove Farm’s master development plan for areas around its Kukui Grove Shopping Center, the island’s largest shopping complex.
The parcel was originally zoned for multi-family units, but representatives for Grove Farm are now asking the land be rezoned for single-family homes, apparently to march in step with a demand for such units in Lihue.
County planning director Ian Costa, in a letter to the council, recommended the rezoning of the land, which must occur before the county planning commission can approve the subdivision of the project.
The council scheduled a public hearing on July 17 for the proposal, and then it will be sent to the council’s planning committee for review on July 24. The full council is to vote on the matter later.
