Hawaii lawmakers advance bills banning landfills over aquifers

Yahoo

12-04-2025

Opponents to plans by Mayor Rick Blangiardi's administration to site the city's next solid-waste landfill on active pineapple fields above Central Oahu's freshwater aquifer claimed a tentative victory this week.
Two state-level measures that seek to prevent landfills from being placed above potable groundwater sources or in agricultural districts anywhere in Hawaii respectively passed their third of three readings at the state Legislature on Tuesday.
House Bill 969 would prohibit the construction, modification or expansion of any waste or disposal facility on land that is above a significant aquifer as determined by the state Department of Health.
Senate Bill 438 would prohibit landfills in an agricultural district that has 'class A soils, ' meaning highly productive, prime agricultural lands. This measure also would narrow the prohibition on constructing, modifying or expanding dump sites within a half-mile buffer zone of residential, school or hospitality property lines to apply specifically to landfills or related facilities.
In addition, SB 438 would prohibit the construction, modification or expansion of a landfill unit, or any component of a landfill unit, inland of an underground injection control line in a county with a population greater than 500, 000 people, with certain exemptions.
Currently, both bills have different drafts or versions attached.
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Due to this situation, each measure likely will go through what's known as the conference process—where different drafts of the respective bills eventually become one version to allow for a final legislative vote.
Legislation needs to be out of the conference process by April 25, Legislature staff indicate. The 2025 legislative session adjourns May 2.
If both bills survive, Gov. Josh Green has the option to veto the measures by June 24. The governor also could sign them into law or let the bills automatically become laws without his signature. The latter two actions must occur by July 9, staff note.
Via email, the governor's office declined to comment on any future vote on these landfill measures 'until either bill is in final form and is sent to his desk.'
Although not as far along as SB 438 and HB 969, six other measures related to the siting of solid-waste facilities in Hawaii continue to wind their way through various committees at the state Capitol.
The latest state-level actions are due to a Wahiawa-­area site—west of Kamehameha Highway and north of Paalaa Uka Pupu ­kea Road—where the city proposed a new dump on agricultural land currently owned by Dole Food Co. Hawaii.
Announced in December, the city says it hopes to negotiate a purchase of about 150 acres—the amount of land needed for a solid-­waste landfill—out of what it described as an approximately 2, 360-acre parcel now owned by Dole.
Dole has stated its opposition to the city having a landfill on its active farming property.
And that site, according to the Board of Water Supply, is also about 800 feet above Central Oahu's prime groundwater source.
BWS objected to the city siting a landfill within its so-called 'no-pass zone, ' an area that covers the interior of the island where Oahu's potable water aquifer is located.
The planned Wahiawa landfill site is one of six sites—on the North Shore and in Central Oahu—BWS rejected in 2022 due to their proximity to the island's aquifer.
But the city's actions came as it faced a state-­imposed Dec. 31, 2024, deadline to find an alternate dump site, ahead of the planned closure of the over-35-year-old Waimanalo Gulch Sanitary Landfill in Kapolei, in accordance with a 2019 decision and order by the state Land Use Commission.
That West Oahu dump is set to close in 2028, though the landfill will not reach full capacity until 2032, the city said.
The city's move to place a landfill in Central Oahu eventually sparked a backlash from lawmakers.
Key sponsors of the state-level bills—including state Sen. Donovan Dela Cruz (D, Mililani-­Wahiawa-Whitmore Village ), who co-introduced SB 438—could not be immediately reached for comment.
But introducers of HB 969—House Majority Leader Sean Quinlan and state Rep. Amy Perruso—did appear at a news conference earlier this year urging passage of legislation against potentially toxic landfill sites on Oahu.
In the Capitol's rotunda Jan. 28, Quinlan, who represents House District 47, which includes Waialua, Haleiwa, Kawailoa Beach and nearby North Shore communities, spoke against contamination like toxic heavy metals or man-made PFAS, 'forever chemicals ' that do not break down in the environment, which might leach out of a landfill over time.
He alluded to contaminated rainwater, also known as leachate, that could percolate downhill from the planned Wahiawa landfill site and into groundwater sources and water wells servicing his legislative district.
'Let's be really honest about where we are. The Navy poisoned the water on the south side of this island, ' said Quinlan. 'Are we now going to allow a landfill to poison the water on the north side of this island ?'
'What is the future of human habitation on this island ? Why do we keep rolling the dice with our freshwater drinking supply ? I understand that the city is in an impossible situation, but that doesn't mean that it's justifiable or right to propose siting a landfill above an aquifer, ' he added.
Meanwhile, Honolulu City Council Vice Chair Matt Weyer—whose District 2 includes Wahiawa—was pleased with the third-­reading passage of the state bills.
'I appreciate the work of our colleagues in the state Legislature for taking decisive action to protect our drinking water resources by advancing SB 438 and HB 969, ' he told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser via email. 'If these measures are signed into law, the city administration's proposed site for a new landfill near Wahiawa would likely be removed from consideration.'
Weyer also highlighted his own legislative work at the Council level, which includes a fiscal year 2026 budget amendment he introduced March 31.
'This amendment ensures that no funds shall be used to acquire land, plan, or design a landfill facility above a significant aquifer. The FY26 budget bills are scheduled for their second reading on April 16, ' he added.
Roger Babcock, city environmental services director, reacted to news that state lawmakers are moving to ban landfills built over island aquifers.
'Those two bills are still alive, and something is going to pass, ' he told the Star-­Advertiser by phone. 'And we fully expect that a bill will pass that will eliminate the possibility of the site that we identified in Central Oahu, northwest of Wahiawa.'
He added, 'It would also eliminate all of the other sites that were previously evaluated by our Landfill Advisory Committee.'
'There were six sites ; they were all in Central Oahu on agricultural lands and within the Board of Water Supply's 'no-pass zone, '' he said. 'So those would be eliminated, and that was our Plan A.'
He said Plan B proposes an amendment or modification of Act 73—a 2020 law that places restrictions on locating waste-disposal facilities, particularly those close to conservation lands or half-mile 'buffer zones, ' near residential areas, schools or hospitals, as well as near airports or tsunami inundation zones.
'So Plan B is what we would be asking the Legislature to consider … to reduce the buffer zone between a landfill and a residential property … schools and hospitals, ' he said. 'It also excludes conservation lands.'
Per an amendment, he noted the half-mile buffer would be reduced to a quarter-mile. 'So if it's not reduced, then there are no other sites outside of the 'no-pass zone, '' he said.
Although the city hoped the state Legislature would take steps to amend Act 73 this session, Babcock confirmed that action did not occur. He said, however, the city's effort to change Act 73 could recur.
'The question would be whether we would try and pursue it next legislative session, ' he said. 'It's too late for this legislative session, so it could be part of the (2026 ) session.'
Meantime, Plan C would see the city stay at Wai ­manalo Gulch landfill.
'And we already know from the (state ) Land Use Commission that gives us the permit for that site—the special-use permit—that unless there are no other options, they wouldn't consider it, ' he added. 'So we wouldn't be able to do that until we really have no other option. And if we have no other option, then that is what we would have to do ; we've identified that as sort of the final plan.'
He said this sequential plan is 'necessary because you can't skip any of those steps.'
Still, he said the LUC told the city it must 'get out ' of Waimanalo Gulch. 'So that is in our permit, ' he added. 'It says that we will be out of there, and it will be closed and no longer accept waste in 2028.'
In spite of that mandate, the city could ask for an extension on the permit. 'And our intention is, if at all possible, that's what we would do, ' he claimed. 'We need to exhaust all other options to the greatest extent possible before we would consider extending that site.'
'And that would be the last-ditch effort to do that, ' Babcock concluded.