Honolulu forms committee to select a new landfill site

A newly formed citizens’ committee tasked with selecting the location for Oahu‘s next landfill will meet on October 4 from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m., the Honolulu Department of the Environment said Monday.

The Landfill Advisory Committee consists of nine members, including government, engineering and contract backgrounds, who will evaluate potential landfill sites. The options will then be presented to the Ministry of the Environment and Mayor Rick Blangiardi, who will select a location by December 31, 2022, the ministry said.

The Waimanalo Gulch landfill must be closed by March 2, 2028.

According to Environmental Services, the landfill advisory committee members will meet seven times over the next eight months. All meetings will be virtual and open to the public. They are recorded and archived at https://honolulu.gov/opala/newlandfill.html.

The sessions will be hosted by The Limtiaco Consulting Group, a local civil and environmental engineering company, Environmental Services said. HDR, Inc., an Omaha-based engineering company, will assist in engineering studies, according to the department.

The members of the Landfill Advisory Board are:

• Brennon Morioka, Dean of the University of Hawaii College of Engineering. Morioka previously worked for the Hawaiian Electric Company; the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation; the rail operator CH2Mhill; and Shioi construction. He is also the former director of the Hawaii State Department of Transportation.
• Cynthia Rezentes, a community representative and a member of the Nanakuli Neighborhood Committee with a master’s degree in electrical engineering, said on her resume. Rezentes is a former member of the National Advisory Board for Environmental Justice and previously worked as a legislative advisor to the late Congressman Mark Takai and Congressman Colleen Hanabusa, their résumé reads.
• Emmett Kinney, the Vice President of Healy Tibbitts Builders, Inc., a local shipbuilding company. Kinney is also president of the General Contractors Association of Hawaii.
• James Nakatani, Executive Director of Agribusiness Development Corp. The state agency was founded 25 years ago to make Hawaii’s agricultural land more economically viable, and this year it came under attack by the state auditor for failing to fulfill its mission.
• Ken Kawahara, President of Akinaka & Associates, a Hawaiian civil engineering company. Kawahara has nearly three decades of civil engineering experience and is a past associate director of the Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources Commission on Water Resource Management.
• Natalie McKinney, Senior Program Director of the Kokua Hawaii Foundation, a non-profit advocating environmental education.
• Steven Chang, who has a background in environmental regulation.
• Suzanne Jones, who worked for the city and county of Honolulu for nearly three decades. She led the city’s recycling efforts and later oversaw waste management, according to her LinkedIn.
• Trisha Kehaulani Watson, a Kaimuki resident and Civil Beat columnist who runs Honua Consulting, a company that focuses on environmental and cultural assessments, among other things.