Tinian transfer station option moves to the front

Looming military plans and the years of failure to close Tinian’s open-air dump appears to have pushed the construction of a new landfill off the table, but the decision will ultimately rest with the Department of Public Works, who will decide whether the military can ship waste to the Marpi landfill on Saipan.

Tinian’s unlined dump collects all of island’s solid waste, despite an administrative cease and desist order in 2010. The disposal site violates the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, which bans open dumps.

The Marines Forces Pacific, Bureau of Environmental and Coastal Quality, the governor’s Capital Improvement Projects office, landfill contractors, Tinian municipality representatives, and the Department of Public Works, among others, met yesterday to continue talks whether the military would help build a landfill on Tinian or transfer its wastes to Saipan.

It was earlier reported that the new landfill option, or Fukuoka landfill, would require 15 more hectares of land. Alter City Group recently obtained the lease to the property where the current dump sits.

Officials came away from the yesterday’s meeting noting the construction of new landfill could take an earliest of 10 years.

“We had a great discussion,” MARFORPAC project manager Tim Robert said. “I think everyone around the table agreed that a landfill—in order to meet the joint-use solution for Tinian and [the military]—a landfill doesn’t quite meet that requirement. It doesn’t meet that timeline,” he said.

“At this point, we’ve left it up to DPW, BECQ, and CIP to discuss with the Tinian mayor some of the solutions that we talked about today. At this point, we are waiting to hear back from them,” he said.

Acting DPW secretary James Ada said he would be sitting down soon with the Tinian Legislative Delegation, Tinian Mayor Joey San Nicolas, their legal counsel, and the CIP office, along with DPW’s Solid Waste Management to discuss the issue.

They aim to find out “what’s the best solution” for Tinian, Ada told Saipan Tribune. “Once we come up with the final plan, we will advise [the military].”

BECQ administrator Frank Rabauliman said the military is required to dispose of their trash in a Resource and Conservation Act-permitted dump.

“It’s a must,” he said. “The meeting today focused on that very last option [transfer waste]. I was sharing with them that BECQ’s purpose is we simply regulate DPW. DPW is really the state agency that oversees solid waste management. In that regard, the decision to accept solid waste management lies with the DPW secretary,” he said.

He said the military indicated on Wednesday that it would take somewhere around 10 to 15 years to build a functional landfill. “It’s a long time,” he said. “Because of that, they wanted a quick solution. They’re thinking of seeing this forward basing to Tinian as soon as maybe next year.”

He also pointed to CIP’s current transfer station project waiting in the wings.

“Without a destination to dispose of our waste stream—whether that’s going to be a landfill on Tinian or transporting it up to the landfill here—the CIP [office] cannot move forward with the transfer station on Tinian. The transfer station by definition is simply that, a transfer station, which means it’s just a holding place.”

According to Rabauliman, a Tinian mayor representative indicated that they are still moving forward with planning a landfill on Tinian.

He also noted impacts to Saipan with the transfer station option. “By accepting waste from off-island, you are essentially reducing the life of the landfill. At some point, if you accept the waste stream off island, the landfill is going to be reduced.”

In that event, the landfill needs to be closed, “We would have to look to the Legislature for another landfill.”

Rabauliman said he gathered from the military that solid waste per soldier is estimated at 7 lbs per day, with as much as 3,100 personnel on Tinian.

The military has plans for treatment facility to separate waste from recyclable materials. This would reduce the cost of shipment for waste to Saipan, he noted.