Expansion of the Kapolei H-power plant could reduce city landfill needs and increase energy production with no significant increase in health risks, according to a recently released draft environmental impact study.

However, the addition of a third boiler to the city's garbage-to-power conversion facility won't be operational until 2012, and at a cost to taxpayers that remains undisclosed. The study provides support for a critical piece of Honolulu Mayor Mufi Hannemann's solid waste management plan, which includes expanding H-power, exporting trash and boosting recycling efforts.

"The mass-burn technology is crucial for the city's plan in handling solid waste on O'ahu," according to a statement from Tim Steinberger, director of the Honolulu Department of Environmental Services. "The increased H-power capacity will result in greater waste-to-energy production, thus enhancing sustainability and reducing reliance on fossil fuels. In addition, this reduces a significant portion of waste that otherwise would go to Waimanalo Gulch Sanitary Landfill."

But the report is unlikely to quell criticism that the city hasn't done enough to explore alternatives to H-power and expanding the Waimanalo Gulch landfill.

According to the report, alternatives to a garbage incinerator were considered and rejected as either too expensive, experimental or not scalable for Honolulu's needs.

2 BENEFITS SEEN

City Council chairman Todd Apo agreed the report indicates that expanding H-power will help Honolulu on two fronts, by reducing the city's solid waste stream and by providing energy from a crude-oil alternative.

"If those two factors come together to create the motivation to make this happen quickly, then all the better for everyone," he said. "I haven't seen any big issues pop up from an environmental impact standpoint."

O'ahu generates 1.76 million tons of trash a year. H-power uses trash combustion to heat huge boilers that produce steam to power a turbine and produce electricity that's sold to Hawaiian Electric Co. The city's H-power garbage incinerator started operations in 1990 and has since converted more than 10 million tons of refuse into more than 5,000 million kilowatt-hours of electric power. That has reduced oil imports by about 10 million barrels of oil, according to the city.

H-power reduces, but doesn't eliminate, solid waste. Units burn more than 98 percent of all combustible matter, leaving an ash that still needs to go to a landfill.

Under the current proposal, the city plans to install a third combustion unit that would expand the facility's current processing capacity from 610,000 tons to 910,000 tons a year.

The city purchased the H-power facility for $43.8 million in October — a move that will allow tax-exempt financing of the third boiler and air pollution control improvements. Just how much those improvements will cost is still unknown. The city will negotiate the price with Covanta Energy Corp., which operates H-power. So far, officials have declined to publicly estimate the cost of adding the boiler.

The city previously had anticipated operating the third boiler by 2011. The third boiler could begin accepting waste in 2011, but likely would not be operational until 2012 after a series of tests, according to the city. City Council chairman Apo said he hoped the expanded facility would still be operational by 2011, though that optimistic schedule is contingent on acquiring needed permits in a timely way.

KEY TO CLOSING DUMP

The sooner the third boiler begins operations, the sooner the city can close the Waimanalo landfill, Apo said. Some landfill neighbors, including state Senate President Colleen Hanabusa and the Ko Olina resort, have long complained of wind-blown trash and other problems associated with the site, and are pushing to shut it down.

City officials previously had said the landfill would close in May 2008. That deadline was then extended to this November. Now the city wants to expand the existing landfill to provide 15 more years of life. The officials contend that an expanded H-power plant, coupled with broader curbside recycling and soon the shipment of trash to the Mainland, will reduce — but not eliminate — the need for the landfill.

Council member Donovan Dela Cruz said he's not opposed to H-power as a near-term solution, but thinks the city still needs to pursue new garbage disposal technologies as part of a long-term solid waste plan.

H-power "is more of the same, and that's not necessarily a bad thing, but is it part of an overall long-term plan or are you just reacting" to current waste disposal problems, Dela Cruz asked. "From a holistic point of view, long-range, you've got to come up with something more progressive."

OTHER OPTIONS

Apo said there's still the opportunity to explore new technologies for specific types of waste such as construction waste and food waste.

Henry Curtis, director of environmental group Life of the Land, said the group would like to see a more comprehensive analysis of the facility's anticipated greenhouse gas emissions and a better analysis of alternatives to H-power.

"It would have been nicer to have a fuller explanation of the alternative technologies, but I think this is still the better way to go," he said. "I think it's probably needed and would probably be an asset.

"We (also) look at recycling as something that should be done along with a third boiler, and there should be much more aggressive support for recycling."

Robert Harris, director for the Sierra Club O'ahu Chapter, said the group would prefer that the city do more to reduce and recycle waste. Honolulu has made strides on curbside recycling. However, bans on certain materials such as plastic shopping bags, plastic foam and other disposables could divert even more waste from local landfills.

"We produce a lot of opala," Harris said. "Burning it somewhat takes the issue out of sight, out of mind, but I think it's better to not to produce it in the first place.