Judge Blocks Hawaii Garbage Trains From The Gorge

Trains carrying garbage from Hawaii would pass under Cape Horn. Photo by Aubrey Russell

UPDATE: The Oregonian reports that a federal judge in Spokane has blocked the garbage shipments until the end of August. The O quotes the judge as writing, “There are serious questions relating to whether the USDA adequately analyzed the environmental impacts of shipment and receipt of Hawaiian waste.”

EARLIER:

A coalition of environmental groups, and the Yakama Nation, are suing to stop Hawaii from shipping garbage through the Columbia River Gorge.

The garbage shipments received final approval this week from the Agriculture Department.

The suit says USDA didn’t do a good enough job studying the risks – which the groups say include invasive plants and insects that could damage rare ecosystems and the area’s fruit crop.

In a press release, the coalition says its particularly concerned about the Mediterranean fruit fly, which has been eradicated on the mainland U.S., and the spotted winged drosophila, an Asian species currently entering Oregon from California. Oregon State University is leading efforts to control the spread of the drosophila.

“The Columbia Gorge region should not be used as the garbage can for Hawaiian trash,” writes Michael Lang, Conservation Director of Friends of the Columbia Gorge. “Federal agencies have failed to ensure the protection of the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area from invasive plants and insects that would be transported via Hawaiian garbage through the Gorge and dumped in an open landfill.”

The plan is to ship garbage from Hawaii to Longview, Washington where it would be loaded on trains that would carry the garbage through the Gorge and dumped at a landfill in Klickitat County. The first shipment could arrive as soon as Friday.

Other groups joining the suit are the Northwest Environmental Defense Center and Columbia Riverkeeper.

Trash from the island of Oahu is piling up at an industrial park near Honolulu where it awaits shipment to the mainland. The trash is wrapped in large plastic bales that are breaking apart and leaking.