Kauai Landfill Coffee by Eric Shamblen

Kaua‘i landfill coffee?

While the environmental impact of putting a landfill in the middle of active coffee fields is surely significant (“Kaua‘i Coffee objects to landfill site,” The Garden Island, Nov. 19), shouldn’t we consider the economic impact as well?

Some questions for the mayor:

1. Who will want to buy Kaua‘i Coffee, our sole remaining agricultural export, if that coffee is grown right next to 127 acres of garbage?

2. Who will want to come to the Kaua‘i Coffee Visitor Center, currently a popular tourist attraction, if that center is located right next to 127 acres of garbage?

3. If the loss of commercial and tourism revenue eventually harms Kaua‘i Coffee so badly that they can no longer stay in business, how will the county make up for the loss of tax dollars Kaua‘i Coffee generates every year? And what will happen to the 70 or more people currently employed by Kaua‘i Coffee?

4. Given the site selection committee’s inexplicable and blatantly false finding that 127 acres of garbage would have “little to no impact” on Kaua‘i Coffee, shouldn’t we reconsider their conclusions and find another, more suitable site?

Eric Shamblen, Kalaheo