Only a handful of people showed up last night for the third of four environmental impact statement scoping meetings to comment on the city's plan to extend the life of Waimanalo Gulch Sanitary Landfill, which Makakilo resident Robert Kaialau says isn't even a gulch anymore.

"It ain't a hole, it's flat, and what they're doing now is shaving down a mountain to create wider space," Kaialau said of the dump site near Nanakuli which took in 329,431 tons of O'ahu's 1.76 million tons of solid waste in 2005, according to city statistics.

Kaialau added, "They've built up a 452-foot-high mound because it's already full. If this goes on for 15 more years, you do the math. If we don't put our foot down now and come up with alternative solutions, this could be Hawai'i Kai's or Nu'uanu's problem in the future."

The meeting was to gather public input on Mayor Mufi Hannemann's plan to seek a 15-year extension to keep using the landfill after finding no other affordable options. Hannemann vetoed a bill that would have closed the landfill by May 1, 2008.

Last night's scheduled two-hour meeting at Mission Memorial Auditorium next to city hall started at 6:40 p.m. with 26 people, 20 of them city officials. Turnouts at previous meetings in Nanakuli and Kane'ohe have also been low. The final meeting at 6:30 p.m. on Aug. 10 will be held at Kapolei Hale, 1000 Uluohia St.

The state Health Department in February fined the city and its Waimanalo Gulch Landfill contractor, Waste Management Hawaii, $2.8 million for 18 violations.

Cynthia Rezentes, a Wai'anae resident and former member of the Mayor's Advisory Committee on Landfill Siting, wants the environmental impact statement to address violations raised by the Health Department's fine, such as the landfill being overfilled with ash from the H-Power plant and the leachate problem at the site.

"I want the EIS to address the entire scope of the violations and I want to know the status of what will be done to resolve the violations," said Rezentes, a member of the grassroots Landfill Closing Educational Task Force that wants Waimanalo Gulch closed and the city to explore alternatives to landfills such as plasma arc, bio-conversion and waste gasification.

"The EIS needs to start with the current condition of the landfill, not from what the permit says it should be now because they're already in violation," Rezentes said. "This is not a Wai'anae fight, it's everybody's fight. We've been fighting this issue since 1999. We don't want the city to be in this same position in 15, 20 years. You can't leave it for another generation; by then all the potential landfill sites will have been used by developers."

The leachate (water collected in layers) violation threatens the stability of the landfill site, Rezentes said.

"The leachate is supposed to be 12 inches but it's 20 feet and acts like a slide," Rezentes added. "An earthquake like (yesterday's) could cause everything to slide onto Farrington Highway."

City Councilman Todd Apo, who attended last night's meeting, asked what the status of the DOH violations and fines was but did not get an answer. Apo confirmed that city Environmental Services director Eric Takamura told the City Council's Public Works committee yesterday that the city would be seeking requests for proposals on alternative technologies on Oct. 1.

Reach Rod Ohira at rohira@honoluluadvertiser.com.