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Numerous
warning signs are posted on the fence surrounding the former Oahu Sugar
Company’s pesticide mixing area. |
The U.S. EPA has ordered Oahu Sugar Company, LLC to further investigate and address dioxin contamination at its former pesticide mixing plant on the Waipio Peninsula near Waipahu, Oahu.
High levels of dioxins had been discovered in 2002 near Oahu Sugar’s former pesticide mixing facility. Although a seven-foot-high fence surrounds the one-acre area, investigators found repaired holes in the fence and evidence of bicycle tire tracks inside the fence during a site visit in September 2003.
There is also the possibility of contaminated sediment going into Walker Bay
from surface runoff and via a drainage ditch.
Oahu Sugar will need to determine the full extent of contamination, which may
extend outside the site’s fence and prevent exposure to contaminants in
the soils until a final cleanup remedy is implemented.
Oahu Sugar leased the 3.5-acre site from the U.S. Navy in the 1940s and closed
its operation in the 1990s.
The site was used to mix pesticides and fertilizer solutions for application
into the surrounding sugar cane fields. The area is part of the Pearl Harbor
Naval Complex Superfund Site.
BFN