Where the area of concern is
Wahinepe‘e, Waikamoi Forest Preserve, Maui, Hawaii – Lifetime East Maui farmers of the abundant watershed of Waikamoi have discovered an environmental crisis. The roadwork along the Hana Highway on the island of Maui has been a busy place with multiple road repairs. Three different major areas worked on have produced many semi truck loads of debris. It was thought that the debris was being taken to central Maui landfill or base yards for repurposing but evidence has confirmed that the rubbish from the repair work has been taken and dumped then buried on a Wahinepe‘e property.
What the problem is
The heavy equipment company Hawaiian Dredging has been dumping the waste from job sites at this pasture location and burying the rubbish material with a combination of cold mix asphalt, including petrochemical base compounds, oil liners, plastic delineators, wooden pallets, mixing the job site wastes in with gravel, topping the pile with gravel and cinder to conceal the debris.
This petrochemical ground cover dumping and backfilling was started seven months ago. The damage that occurred due to this gross negligence can be seen most clearly in the livestock. Soil and water samples are awaiting test results but in the mean time, animals are dying. A sick cow believed to have been drinking the only available water was dying two months ago and was unavoidably put down.
What we are doing
After a lengthly thread of communication with the Maui County Planning Zoning Department and a generous allowance of time to remediate, nothing has begun to start clean up this large area. As concern of winter approaches, area residents and island stewards are prepared to conduct the cleanup before any heavy rainfall. Bulldozers and laborers are in-kind donations that have been successful secured. This crowdfunding platform is a welcomed tool to help drum up funds needed for truck rental, drivers and fuel.
Who We Are
We are residents, stewards and indigenous peoples, or in the language of Hawai‘i, Kanaka, who are environmentalists by birth. We have administrative professionals who have taken every step to hold those accountable to no avail. We have laborers and heavy equipment in-kind donations that are committed to seeing this work through to completion. Our common denominator is that we protect what we love.
