In June and August of 1981, the state and the federal government, respectively, signed off on an environmental impact statement cover–ing the Haleiwa bypass road. The two-lane highway would run south and east of Haleiwa town, extending from Weed Junction, south of town, to beyond Haleiwa Beach Park, on the town’s east side. Total length of the proposed highway: 2.3 miles.
Now, 14 years later, the road is still incom–plete, but the list of environmental laws that have been broken in the course of the roads partial construction has pretty well grown to the point of exhaustion.
As Environment Hawai`i reported in April 1993, the state Department of Transportation forgot to ask the state Commission on Water Resource Management for the stream chan–nel alteration permits needed for disturbances to Helemano and Opaeula streams, the Anahulu River, and Ukoa Pond. The permits were sought after-the-fact, in December 1992.1
In April 1992, the state’s contractor, Fletcher Pacific Construction Co., Ltd., was observed by a Department of Health inspector to be releasing muddy discharges into the water of Anahulu Stream. A year later, the Department of Health issued a notice and finding of violation to Fletcher Pacific, seek–ing, among other things, a $30,000 fine. (Disposition of that notice of violation is pending.)2
The Lost Wetland
The real show-stopper, however, has been a small wetland, just six-tenths of an acre large, sitting square in the path of the planned roadway. The wetland is not new; it simply was not charted when the original EIS was done.
In August 1994, the DOT spokeswoman, Marilyn Kali, was quoted in The Honolulu Advertiser as saying, “The people who did the environmental impact study didn’t think the wetlands were significant at the time.” In fact, the EIS was prepared with an analysis of wetland impact, in compliance with a presi–dential Executive Order 11990, relating to protection of wetlands.
According to an official at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the original mappers simply overlooped the wetland. Far from it being a marginal wetland, or one that comes and goes with the season, the small wetland is clearly recognizable as such, complete with standing water, bulrushes, and other wetland indicators. But the wetland was “discovered,” she said, when heavy construction equipment began sinking in the mud.
In January, the state Department of Trans–portation released a “Wetland Mitigation Plan,” to deal with the small wetland. The plan was prepared for the DOT by ESH Engi–neers Surveyors Hawai’i, Inc., of Honolulu.
According to that document, the small wetland “is a spur, or arm, of Ukoa Pond wetland and is separated from the main pond by a small ridge of uplifted coral and limestone boulders.”
The mitigation plan calls for filling what the document refers to as the “By-Pass Road wetland” and installing a 30-inch culvert near its northern edge, to accommodate runoff that might otherwise damage the bed of Ukoa Pond Stream. Further, the plan calls for “the maintenance and enhancement of an approximately two-acre portion of the Ukoa Pond wetland located south-east and adjacent to the By-Pass Road wetland. Enhancement would be accomplished by the removal of the weed trees and shrubs, reseating some of the large coral boulders and the removal of about one-half of an acre of kaluha [California bulrush] from Ukoa Pond to create and open water bird habitat.”
Full Speed Ahead
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which has jurisdiction over work in wetlands, issued a provisional permit for the wetland fill and mitigation on June 15, 1994. Conditions im–posed by the Corps include a three-year fol–low-up study, including photographs, a monthly monitoring program, and concur–rence by the landowner, Bishop Estate.
A further condition was that the DOT obtain from the Department of Health what is called a Section 401 Water Quality Certifi–cation (referring to a section of the federal Clean Water Act). On November 30, 1994, the Department of Health issued a public notice that it was planning to grant the certi–fication. On December 30, the 30-day public comment period was to have expired.
Inquiries were made at the Department of Transportation to find out an expected completion date and the total cost of the project. As of press time, our calls had not been returned.
1Environment Hawai`i, April 1993, “[url=/members_archives/archives_more.php?id=1176_0_31_0_C]DOT Alters Document in Application For Roadwork in Natural Area Reserve[/url].”
2Environment Hawai`i, March 1994, “[url=/members_archives/archives_more.php?id=1268_0_30_0_C]City of Honolulu Tops Health Department List In violations of New Water Regulations[/url].”
— Patricia Tummons
Volume 5, Number 7 January 1995
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