The news that Kailua’s Ameron Quarry is the top-ranked site for a new landfill isn’t even 12 hours old and already it’s making waves at various levels of government.

Hawaii Sen. Pohai Ryan, a Democrat representing Hawaii Kai, Waimanalo and Kailua, quickly fired off a letter to Honolulu Mayor Peter Carlisle today expressing her concerns and demanding a full accounting of how the decision was made. The site selection committee hasn’t even finished its final report yet, and might still meet again next month to wrap up its work on that front, so she might be waiting a little while.

You can expect more of these concerns from Windward Oahu lawmakers and residents. They’ll be poring over ever scrap of information from what had been pretty sparsely attended meetings to see if everything was above board. My fearless prediction: The criteria that were weighted today will come under question for a variety of reasons — some legitimate and some less so.

Keep in mind that there was a larger gap between the top-ranked site (675 points) and its nearest competitor (583 for Nanakuli) than between that second-ranked site and the 10th-ranked site (Upland Laie with 498). It’s unlikely that small changes would be enough to change the results, but the results are merely advisory and Carlisle has discretion on what to do next.

Read the full letter here: