05-24-2013, 03:17 AM
Even if the soil IS from Puna, there could be a potential for contamination, as was the use of arsenic was in cane fields throughout the island..some of us can remember when the construction of the hotel in Keaau was delayed due to arsenic (interesting to note what has been done with that area):
http://archives.starbulletin.com/2004/06...tory8.html
and the warning of arsenic in the garden soils of old cane fields:
http://archives.starbulletin.com/2005/08...tory2.html
And yes, it is true that people bring in soil from other areas... neat thing about Hamakua soils is that it is fairly easy to ID - red clay soils - and the county has used that in some of their roadway constructions around (in fact, they placed some in our makai easement after repair a water line break).
One thing to note, once the area is identified as a cleanup, the soil usually is harder to "loose", as there is a paperwork trail that SHOULD be maintained....but that, like most things here, is SHOULD BE, not is... and arsenic soil is not a really terrible layer for a landfill, better than some things that people place in landfills...as long as it is capped and in a lined, monitored landfill (and no fire continues burning for decades like is still happening at the old Kona landfill...but THAT is another story...
http://archives.starbulletin.com/2004/06...tory8.html
and the warning of arsenic in the garden soils of old cane fields:
http://archives.starbulletin.com/2005/08...tory2.html
And yes, it is true that people bring in soil from other areas... neat thing about Hamakua soils is that it is fairly easy to ID - red clay soils - and the county has used that in some of their roadway constructions around (in fact, they placed some in our makai easement after repair a water line break).
One thing to note, once the area is identified as a cleanup, the soil usually is harder to "loose", as there is a paperwork trail that SHOULD be maintained....but that, like most things here, is SHOULD BE, not is... and arsenic soil is not a really terrible layer for a landfill, better than some things that people place in landfills...as long as it is capped and in a lined, monitored landfill (and no fire continues burning for decades like is still happening at the old Kona landfill...but THAT is another story...