Wahinepe‘e, Waikamoi Forest Preserve, Maui, Hawaii – Lifetime East Maui farmers of the abundant watershed of Waikamoi have discovered an environmental crisis. The roadwork along the Hana Highway on the island of Maui has been a busy place with multiple road repairs. Three different major areas worked on have produced many semi truck loads of debris. It was thought that the debris was being taken to the central Maui landfill or base yards for repurposing, but evidence has confirmed that rubbish from the repair work has been taken, dumped, and buried on a Wahinepe‘e property.
What The Problem Is
The heavy equipment company, Hawaiian Dredging, has been dumping the waste from job sites at this pasture location and burying the rubbish material with a combination of cold mix asphalt, including petrochemical base compounds, oil liners, plastic delineators, wooden pallets, mixing the job site wastes with gravel, and topping the pile with gravel and cinder to conceal the debris.
This petrochemical ground cover dumping and backfilling started seven months ago. The damage that occurred due to this gross negligence can be seen most clearly in the livestock. Soil and water samples are awaiting test results, but in the meantime, animals are dying. A sick cow believed to have been drinking the only available water was dying two months ago and was unavoidably put down.
What We Are Doing
After a lengthly thread of communication with the Maui County Planning Zoning Department and a generous allowance of time to remediate, nothing has been done to begin cleaning up this large area. Hawaiian Dredging was issued a warning vs. a violation. As winter concerns approach, area residents and island stewards are prepared to conduct the cleanup before any heavy rainfall. Bulldozers and laborers are in-kind donations that have been successful secured. Additional funds are needed for truck rental, drivers and fuel.
Who We Are
We are residents, stewards and indigenous peoples, or in the language of Hawai‘i, Kanaka, who are environmentalists by birth. We have administrative professionals who have taken every step to try and hold those accountable to no avail. We have laborers and heavy equipment in-kind donations that are committed to seeing this work through to completion. Our common denominator is that we protect what we love.
After requesting support from Maui County, 12 departments were asked for their response to the matter. On the following facebook page, you will find responses from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Hawaii State Department of Health, County of Maui Department of Water Supply, and the Maui County Department of Housing and Human Concerns.
facebook info page: Remove Petro Chemicals From Waikamoi
The facebook page was created and built to be a place to share the timeline of events so people can be made aware and care and take direct action to help solve this problem. Updates will be posted on this page. To have updates sent to you via email, please send your request to SaveWahinepee@FarmersVoiceHawaii.com with subject, UPDATE.