A man walks through wildfire wreckage in Lahaina, Aug. 11. Federal authorities have started removing hazardous materials from the burned areas and laying the groundwork to dispose of burnt cars, buildings and other debris. The hazardous materials, including oil, solvent and batteries, are being shipped to the West Coast while the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers works with local officials to develop a plan to dispose of an estimated 400,000 to 700,000 tons of debris on island. AP file photo

Cleanup of areas destroyed in the Maui wildfires could end up being one of the most complex to date, federal officials said, given the island’s significant cultural sites, its rich history including a royal residence and possibly remains of people who died in the disaster.

The first stage of cleanup started in late August, with around 200 Environmental Protection Agency workers in white protective gear removing toxic household debris from Upper Kula and the town of Lahaina including gas cylinders, pesticides, fertilizers and battery packs used in solar power. They have monitored the air quality and sampled for heavy metals and asbestos.

The EPA expects to hand over responsibility later this month or in November to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which will oversee removing the remaining debris over the next six to 12 months. About $400 million has been budgeted, but the cost could go higher to remove an estimated 400,000 to 700,000 tons of building debris from about 1,600 parcels that once had homes and businesses.

“This will be the most complex fire response to date,” said Corps’ debris subject matter expert Cory Koger, who since 2017 has responded to cleanups of seven wildfires sites including the Paradise, Calif. fire that killed 85 people and destroyed 19,000 structures as well as several others in Oregon, Colorado and New Mexico.

“We need to expedite the cleanup for a number of reasons. One, they’re still residents living within the area. There are businesses still functional … That’s a public health issue,” Koger continued, adding that there are also significant “cultural concerns” associated with the debris removal.

“There is this push-pull of doing it quickly but doing it right,” he said.

The Aug. 8 wildfire killed at least 97 people and destroyed more than 2,000 buildings, most of them homes. Seven weeks on, the first group of residents returned to survey the remains of their property and collect any belongings they could find.

Compared to fire cleanups in Oregon or California, this one poses what EPA Incident Commander Steve Calanog calls “unique challenges” for his team. The debris removal not only is occurring on an island in the Pacific Ocean, but Maui has no landfills certified to take hazardous waste. So the EPA is forced to ship hazardous waste to licensed disposal sites on the West Coast.

Cultural monitors, who are Native Hawaiians from Maui, are also accompanying the EPA and eventually the Corps during the cleanup. Lahaina was once the royal residence of King Kamehameha, who unified Hawaii under a single kingdom by defeating the other islands’ chiefs. His successors made it the capital from 1820 to 1845, according to the National Park Service.

Before any work begins on a parcel, a cultural assessment will be done to determine if anything might have cultural significance such as burial plots or markers and certain types of plants or trees. The monitors are there to ensure there isn’t further harm to anything flagged in the assessment.

“Lahaina has a huge cultural and historic significance. We have to work with great precision, care and respect,” Calanog said. “And then, of course, the to happen behind closed doors,” said Rep. Garret Graves, R-La.

It is shaping up to be wide-open battle just as Congress faces a new deadline to fund the government by mid-November. Work on that legislation in the House is on hold due to the vacancy in the speaker’s office, creating the potential for extended paralysis.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., called it a “dangerous situation.”

At the White House, President Joe Biden said the American people still expected the government to get its work done in a timely fashion. McCarthy was ousted because he worked with Democrats to keep the government open and avoid a shutdown, and the Democratic president said, “We need to stop seeing each other as enemies.”

Electing a new speaker risks inflaming the divisions that have plagued House Republicans all year, particularly if lawmakers make new demands before pledging support.

Scalise has long been viewed as a potential speaker-in-waiting and is revered as a survivor after he was shot in the hip at a congressional baseball team practice in 2017. But Scalise is also being treated for a form of blood cancer, forcing him away from the Capitol at times.

Jordan made his own pitch by emphasizing his oversight work and aspirations. He echoed Scalise’s call for unity during “divided times.”

Jordan and Scalise are expected to be joined in the race by at least one other Republican: Oklahoma Rep. Kevin Hern, chair of the Republican Study Committee, the largest GOP caucus in the House.

But some Republicans, including Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, say lawmakers should look outside the Capitol for their next speaker, as the Constitution allows, and draft former President Donald Trump.

Trump told reporters at a New York courthouse Wednesday that he will “do whatever it is to help” Republicans in the speakership race, but that he is focused “totally” on his presidential campaign.

“If I can help them during the process, I would do it. But we have some great people in the Republican Party that could do a great job as speaker,” he said.

A man walks through wildfire wreckage in Lahaina, Aug. 11. Federal authorities have started removing hazardous materials from the burned areas and laying the groundwork to dispose of burnt cars, buildings and other debris. The hazardous materials, including oil, solvent and batteries, are being shipped to the West Coast while the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers works with local officials to develop a plan to dispose of an estimated 400,000 to 700,000 tons of debris on island. AP file photo

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