#EPA

Amid ongoing efforts to address brownfields on Maui, two organizations are spearheading a transformative initiative to test for contaminants and ultimately convert long-abandoned sites into vibrant community spaces.

The Hawai‘i Department of Health has confirmed a new travel-related case of dengue virus on Oʻahu, bringing the total number of dengue cases to seven in the state in 2025 (one on Maui, six on Oʻahu). The affected individual in this current case was exposed to the virus while traveling in a region where dengue is common. This case is unrelated to the dengue cases reported on April 10 and 11, 2025.

There have been six confirmed dengue cases in the state in 2025—one on Maui and five on Oʻahu.

A sewer line being built for the Kilohana Temporary Group Housing Site on Maui will have long-term benefits for Lahaina.

The County Department of Environmental Management will provide updates on three key areas of recovery: an update on areas that have had sewer service restored; a brief update on the US Environmental Protection Agency’s Wahikuli sewer project; and information regarding the County’s recently announced agreement to acquire land from Nan, Inc., adjacent to the Central Maui Landfill, that would be used for the Permanent Disposal Site of Lahaina fire debris.

The meeting will include a status report on debris clearing by the US Army Corps of Engineers, a Hawaiʻi Department of Education update on Kamehameha III Elementary School, and an Environmental Protection Agency update on Wahikuli cesspool inspections and information on the agency’s new sewer line design project. 

The US Enviromental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced a settlement with Aloha Petroleum LLC over Clean Water Act violations at its oil storage and distribution facility in Kahului, according to a news release by EPA on Wednesday. Under the proposed settlement, Aloha Petroleum will pay a $103,377 civil penalty.

Overburdened communities in Lahaina, Kahului and Wailuku are the beneficiaries of a $500,000 grant allocated by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the agency announced today.

Preliminary data on coastal water quality monitoring in West Maui was presented Wednesday at a public speaker series featuring Andrea Kealoha, Ph.D., an assistant professor of Oceanography at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa.

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has completed night operations that required road closures in order to inspect a portion of the sewer line system. EPA cleared and inspected sanitary sewer lines on Honoapiʻilani Highway and Keawe St., between Leialiʻi Parkway and Keawe St. in Lahaina. Night operations also took place within the wildfire affected area along the Honoapiʻilani Highway and up Lahainaluna Road.

In 2021 and 2022, lead was detected in about 15% of drinking water sources at elementary schools across Hawaiʻi. A new website now allows the public to track progress of fixture replacements and lab results.

Maui County Mayor Richard Bissen “promised” Thursday that Olowalu will not be the final site for the estimated 400,000 cubic yards of fire debris to be removed from the Lahaina burn zone.

The US Environmental Protection Agency is nearing the end of processing hundreds of thousands of lithium-ion batteries from burned electric/hybrid vehicles and solar battery energy storage systems from the Maui wildfires and shipping them to Nevada for recycling.

Another key milestone in the recovery of Lahaina began on Oct. 27 with the initiation of hazardous site assessments of burned property conducted for the US Army Corps of Engineers.

Owners of electric vehicles that were within burned areas during the Aug. 8 — and who donʻt want their batteries removed by specialized teams with the US Environmental Protection Agency — need to contact the Maui County Abandoned Vehicles and Metals Office by Nov. 6.

On Saturday, Phase 1 of the US Army Corps of Engineers-led removal of private property debris began with hazardous site assessments for 26 properties in Kula that were burned by the Aug. 8 wildfire.

EPA tested for metals including lead and arsenic, asbestos, particulate matter, and 42 compounds called volatile organic compounds.

The Maui County Council is scheduled to take final action on Bill 86 about an alternative program for fire debris removal at a special 9 a.m. meeting at the Kalana O Maui Building in Wailuku.

Maui County has approved the use of the soil stabilizer Soiltac to protect residents’ health and the environment from risks posed by ash and debris that remain on properties burned during the Aug. 8 fire in Lahaina.

Chair Alice L. Lee made the announcement saying the bill establishes standards and procedures for the removal of hazardous waste, fire debris and hazard trees from properties damaged or destroyed in the August 2023 wildfires. The council passed the bill with amendments on first reading yesterday.