Under pressure of a state order to choose a new landfill site for Oahu, city officials announced Tuesday that they’d identified a preferred location — an agricultural site on Dole Food Co. property, northwest of the Dole Plantation tourist stop and Wahiawa.

The announcement led to immediate statements of approval from some, including state Rep. Darius Kila, who represents the Waianae Coast, including Oahu’s current landfill. Kila thanked the city “for taking a bold step by announcing a proposed location.” Just as quickly, City Council member Matt Weyer expressed his “disappointment” over the chosen site, saying he objected “100%.”

Expect the next several months, even years, to be full of back and forth like this between opponents and supporters of the chosen landfill site, as the city moves forward with a required public notice and comment period before any landfill project can be officially approved, much less constructed.

To avoid stalemate, however, the best option for Oahu residents right now is to proceed with an open mind, hear the city out and closely scrutinize the arguments — and evidence — in favor of placing our next landfill in this remote area.

A major objection to siting a landfill near Wahiawa is that this land parcel is above an aquifer that holds water used for drinking and all other purposes by North Shore residents. The Honolulu Board of Water Supply (BWS) has established a “No Pass Zone” (NPZ) above Oahu’s aquifers, prohibiting waste disposal facilities in order to protect against contamination.

In the wake of the Navy’s debacle at its Red Hill fuel storage tanks, which leaked jet fuel and hazardous fire suppressant into the ground above an aquifer, public resolve to guard these NPZs has grown ever more zealous.

Just over two years ago, BWS Manager Ernie Lau rejected all six of the city’s potential landfill sites — including this announced one — because each is over an aquifer. The decision sent Honolulu back on the hunt, and led the city to request an extension to search out additional sites. That extension expires at year’s end, in just two weeks.

Meanwhile, Mayor Rick Blangiardi, who has been closely involved with the effort to find a new landfill, has pledged to find a site and to shut the current Waianae Coast landfill. Several potential sites were examined since 2022, but each violates another prohibition, primarily Hawaii’s Act 73 requiring that any new Oahu landfill be at least a half-mile away from homes, schools, hospitals or any conservation district.

Should the site north of Wahiawa be rejected, the city has telegraphed that it will be forced to seek a waiver from or amendment to Act 73. Sidestepping the law, however, has its own consequences, most conspicuously the cost in good will sacrificed by backing away from the pledge of distance.

In 2022, BWS trepidation would have been a deal-breaker for the Star-Advertiser’s editorial board. Along with Councilmember Weyer, we would have said, “We stand with Ernie.”

But after examining the city’s options and recognizing the hurdles that Oahu faces in its effort to site a new landfill, open-mindedness is due to consider the tough options.

It’s to be expected that there’s no landfill site on Oahu that will garner 100% approval, but this location might come as close to acceptability as it gets. It’s positioned so that it is unlikely to carry wind-driven ash or landfill odors to any residential doorstep — 2.5 miles from Whitmore Village. It’s relatively flat, and there is acceptable access. And while it is indeed over an aquifer, Blangiardi notes that it is quite a distance above the water supply — about 800 feet. In comparison, the Navy’s Red Hill tanks sat just 100 feet above the aquifer.

If the people of Oahu can be given ironclad assurances that environmental protections will protect this deep Wahiawa aquifer, the location can be considered.

It will be a long process. As Meyer said, “The landfill is not going to be built overnight, and now is the time for people to express those concerns.”

And as Blangiardi said at the news conference announcing the North Shore location: “If there was a path that the whole island supported, then that is the path we would have chosen. But it wasn’t that simple because the path simply does not exist.”

The state Legislature should prepare to work with the city on this issue, reforming state Act 73 if necessary to get agreement on a viable site. But let’s also expeditiously hear more details from the city on environmental impacts, modern technology that could be used to protect the aquifer, and operational plans for the landfill site.

For his part, BWS chief Lau hasn’t shut the door on consideration of the North Shore site, acknowledging that he sees the city’s siting of the landfill as a “tough decision.”

“We look forward to receiving more information about this site,” he said. “And we will provide our evaluation and our approval or disapproval.”

Oahu needs a dump site, and the city has committed to close the Waianae Coast landfill by 2028. The clock is ticking, loudly.