Thousand Tons of Hazwaste Cleared From One Oahu Property

Emergency Response staff with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency led the clean up and removal at a cost of more than $500,000, the federal agency said today.

The action is part of a September 2008 order that required the owner and operator of the property to perform specific work under the direction of the EPA to clean up the 10 acre property. The State of Hawaii Department of Health will continue work on the site to address any remaining solid waste issues.

"EPA took on the responsibility and funded the clean up, taking action to get the contamination and hazards removed to prevent any risk to residents and the environment," said Daniel Meer, assistant director of the EPA Pacific Southwest Region's Superfund Division. "We ordered the owner and operator of the property to do the work, but the situation needed us to take steps to ensure the wastes were properly disposed."

In May 2008, special agents with the EPA's Criminal Investigation Division, along with federal, state and local law enforcement agencies, executed a federal search warrant on the 10 acre property and found numerous containers of waste oil, paints, solvents and greases buried in five deep holes on the property.

Drums of hazardous waste (Photo courtesy Office of the U.S. Attorney for Hawaii)

These waste materials were characterized as hazardous, and because the containers were uncontrolled and presented a threat of release into the environment, the EPA disposed of them soon after discovery.

During the execution of the search warrant, law enforcement officers discovered that Richard Allen Botelho and Dwayne Luis Dano, both convicted felons, were in possession of firearms.

Botelho has 19 prior convictions, eight of them felonies, dating to 1964. Dano has six convictions, including three for felony armed robbery in 1993.

Dano and Botelho later pleaded guilty to being felons in possession of firearms. Botelho was sentenced on March 12, 2009 to 24 months incarceration followed by 36 months supervised release. Dano was sentenced on November 10, 2008, to a term of 18 months in prison followed by 36 months of supervised release.

"The combined efforts of the United States Attorney's Office, EPA Region 9's Emergency Response Section, EPA's Criminal Investigation Division, and the numerous other federal, state and local law enforcement agencies involved have greatly enhanced the protection of both the area residents and the environment," said Nick Torres, special agent-in-charge of EPA's Criminal Investigation Division, Pacific Southwest Region.

Hazardous waste must be properly handled to protect human health and the environment. Improperly handled hazardous waste can seep into groundwater and run off into rivers, streams and the ocean.

The cleanup of the property, convictions and sentences are the direct results of "Operation E Ola Pono 2008," a joint effort by the U.S. Attorney's Office in Hawaii and the EPA's Criminal Investigation Division to identify and investigate the illegal dumping of hazardous waste in Hawaii.

"We live on the most beautiful place on Earth, and we were brought up to protect our very fragile Hawaiian environment," said Ed Kubo, U.S. Attorney for Hawaii. "Polluters in our state are on notice that we intend to investigate these cases, and we will punish anyone who dumps hazardous materials on our lands."

Copyright Environment News Service (ENS) 2009. All rights reserved.