County schedules June 24 scoping meeting for Kekaha landfill expansion
Kauai’s only permitted landfill could hit capacity in 2030, and residents can weigh in June 24 before the Cell 3 expansion report is written.
Kauai’s only permitted municipal landfill is projected to run out of room in 2030, and county planners are asking Kekaha residents to help shape what happens next before the next environmental report is written. The public scoping meeting for the Kekaha Landfill Cell 3 Vertical Expansion project is set for 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. June 24 at the Kekaha Neighborhood Center on Elepaio Road.
The meeting comes as the county tries to buy time for the island’s waste system. County materials say Cell 3 would add additional airspace at Kekaha while Kauai pursues a new landfill at Maalo, a project the county says could take about 10 years or longer to permit, design and build. The county also says it diverts more than 40 percent of the waste generated on island, but that shipping municipal solid waste off-island is not practical because of legal and financial barriers.
The public comment period began with publication of the Environmental Impact Statement Preparation Notice in the June 8 Environmental Notice. County officials say comments submitted now will help define what must be studied in the full Environmental Impact Statement, and residents can submit oral or written comments that will become part of the environmental review record. For Westside communities, that means concerns about traffic, odor, groundwater, noise, truck movements and long-term land use can be raised before the county settles on the next version of the project.
Kekaha Landfill has operated continuously since 1953 and sits about 1.3 miles northwest of Kekaha in Waimea Ahupuaa and Kona Moku, on about 98 acres of state land under county control through executive orders dating to 1953, 1977 and 1996. County records say Phase I accepted waste from 1953 to October 1993 as an unlined pre-RCRA landfill, while Phase II began taking waste on Oct. 9, 1993. That second phase was vertically expanded in 1998, 2004 and 2013, then expanded laterally into Cell 1 in 2009 and Cell 2 in 2019.
The county is also moving a separate Phase II expansion through permitting. That draft permit would raise the landfill from 120 feet to 171.5 feet above mean sea level, increase daily acceptance from 200 tons to 275 tons, and add about 408,000 cubic yards of capacity, or roughly two to four more years of life. Together, the Cell 3 proposal and the Phase II permit underscore how closely Kauai’s waste disposal future is tied to Kekaha, where county documents say the host community benefits program has distributed at least $3,868,433 across 131 awards since 2012.
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