Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 16, Number 4, 1 April 1999 — Senate Bill 1496: Medical waste facility on Molokaʻi [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Senate Bill 1496: Medical waste facility on Molokaʻi

ONE OF the most alarming bills eoming out of this legislative session is SB 1496 whieh proposes to erect a medical waste facihty on Moloka'i to provide statewide service. The bill, introduced by Sen. Jan Yagi Buen, calls for alloeahon of up to $5 million in special purpose revenue bonds for eonstruction to HEED, ine. (Hawau Eeonomie Environmental Development Company, ine.), a company registered last month by Samuel Gomes of Maunaloa, west Moloka'i. The original bill included both Moloka'i and O'ahu as sites for medical waste disposal and plasma waste conversion. Resistance from O'ahu prompted amendments, leaving Moloka'i as the dump yard. The bill that passed through the Senate was scheduled for hearing by the House Energy and Environmental Protection Committee, chaired by Rep.

Hermina Morita, on March 22. Major concerns include: (1) environmental impact and potential harm to natural and cultural resources important to Molokai's traditional, subsistence hfestyle; and (2) circumvenhon of the community process and conflict with community-driven initiahves. Nothing is known from the bih's language as to what this Medical Waste Facihty wih entail, its operational components, nor where on Moloka'i it

wih be located. Categories of medical waste typicaUy include cultures and stocks of infectious agents from research achvities; pathological wastes including hssues, organs and body parts; human waste such as excretion, and blood, including serum and plasma; hypodermic needles, syringes, pipettes, broken glass, scalpel blades, soiled dressings, sponges, drapes, underpads, and surgical gloves; and discarded medical equipment and parts exposed to infechous agents. According to the Environmental Protechon Agency, medical incinerators are one of the nahon's worst poUuters, emitting

dioxin, a substance that causes cancer and harms the immune system, reproduchvity and developmental processes. Another major by | product of meeheal waste incinerahon is mercury, a neurotoxin | that has already caused environmental hazards f in, for example, Miehi- | gan, where poisoned j inland lakes are now ^ unsafe for fishing. There are no safeguards in the biU ensurj ing these noxious substances wiU not be

released into the air, soil, and water whUe in transit from offisland and while being processed at the plant. This is particularly troubling when considering that most Moloka'i residents rely on fish, crab. limu, 'opihi, venison, wild pig, goat, lā'au and other natural resources abundant on-island, consrituting an essenhal and significant porrion of their diet and heahh. There are no assurances that Moloka'i's natural "iee box" will not be threatened. I take umbrage that Sen. Jan Yagi Buen failed to norify her Moloka'i conshtuency of her proposal to erect a medical facility

when she had ample opportunity to do so at her monthly on-island community meetings. Such back door behavior destroys confidence in the integrity of our elected officials. Moreover, Buen's actions served to circumvent Molokai's hard-fought efforts to have an open process whereby the community defines for itself what is responsible development in the best interest of the island and its people. The Moloka'i Community Plan never approved nor designated zoning for a medical waste plant. It is not part of Moloka'i's vision as an Enterprise Community, a special designation whieh qualifies our island to receive federal funding over the next decade to implement more than 40 projects driven on the grassroots level. While Moloka'i itself generates only a small fraction of medical waste, it is expected to bear the full burden of the state's disposal problem. Given the small populahon of 6,500, 50 percent of whom are Native Hawaiian, such callous treatment borders on environmental racism. The state's trusteeship over Native Hawaiians not only requires eeonomie eompensation but also stewardship of 'āina and * natural resources and respect for nahve voices. Ua mau ke eaoka 'āina i ka pono. ■

T P U S T F. F MFSSAfiFS

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