‘Just drop it’ — and DOW does

LIHUE — The Kauai Board of Water Supply voted Thursday to suspend the Department of Water’s controversial Kahili Horizontal Directional Drilled Well Project.

“Just drop it,” said North Shore resident F.J. Bender, one of only two who testified during the meeting. “Forget it!”

The decision came exactly two months after an aggressive crowd of more than 100 people took over an informational meeting on the proposal, forcing DOW officials to shut it down before even starting their presentation.

Bender testified that the project was not popular from the get-go because it had a very basic flaw.

“From the beginning, all your work is based at its foundation on a bad idea,” he said. “Like not paving cane haul roads or limiting the barking of dogs to 10 minutes.”

He suggested that the board drop the project right away, and instead use its “limited time and energy to something that adds to the island rather than taking from the heart of it.”

The board ultimately voted 4-2 to suspend its $1.9 million contract with Mears Group, Inc., which was approximately 27 percent complete with phase 1 of the project. Board members Ray McCormick and Larry Dill cast the two dissenting votes.

In a recent letter submitted to the board, DOW Project Manager and Engineer Keith Aoki said the department was too short staffed and there was too much uncertainly about the results and monetary savings to justify moving forward.

“There is risk involved with this project, as with all vertical wells,” he wrote. “The actual yield is not known until you actually drill the well and test it.”

The estimated $60 million project proposed drilling a 12,000-foot-long, high-elevation well in one of four locations near Mount Kahili, on Kauai’s Eastside. In previous meetings, the DOW said the well would have allowed the department to access clean, high-level water at its source, and that the cost of doing so would be made up in savings over the next 25 years.

Board member Michael Dahilig said he supported shelving the proposal because resources within the department are “extremely strained,” and that projects like the horizontal well require a lot of elbow grease and community development support.

“I would rather that staff, instead of spending time on these very expansive, far-reaching projects, focus their efforts on quickly and successfully putting expansion projects in the ground so that we can actually pay down our debt,” he said. “Which we are having an extremely difficult time doing right now.”

McCormick said he felt it made more sense to see the contract through to its conclusion so that questions could be answered. A draft Environmental Impact Statement would shine light on whether the project would have negative impacts on the environment and cultural practices, as some community members have claimed it would, he said.

“It doesn’t seem like you’ve finished it and you’re stopping,” McCormick said. “And I don’t know what a suspension means other than you’re just killing the thing.”

Approximately $530,000 of the $1.9 million contract has already been paid to Mears Group. The final amount paid, however, may change.

DOW spokeswoman Kim Tamaoka said the department would notify the consultant about the cancellation and the contractor would submit a closing cost with the DOW’s acting manager and chief engineer.

“We won’t know the actual cost until a final invoice is agreed upon,” she wrote in an email. “However, we anticipate this process to go fairly quickly.”

Never during Thursday’s meeting did the board or department officials indicate that community outrage over the proposal was a cause for its suspension.

In a March 7 letter, however, Jim Williams of the Mears Group put his feelings bluntly, saying that public meetings have been “dominated by fringe members of the public who stage public tantrums and rely on intimidation an disruption to achieve their goals.”

“Written comments to the EIS Preparation Notice demonstrate that there is a range of opinions on the project, including support,” he wrote. “If KDOW terminates the project based solely on public meetings, this circumvents full public review of the project.”

Williams could not be reached by phone Thursday.

While DOW says the project could be pursued at a later time, Williams said it would be difficult, with many years of work lost.

“Most, if not all, of the previous effort will be wasted,” he wrote in his letter.

• Chris D’Angelo, environmental reporter, can be reached at 245-0441 or cdangelo@thegardenisland.com.