COM 0492.005 1996-1998 - Laserfiche WebLink

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u _.o„ 'hee~~r~sWn_,a,,c htt l/vwwC~~_~~ r ~ ~.;,2, D t om, unter.vchrcni_Ie/n6_ro:da: ..,,,_~,.h+,;;, PGA' fence in a neigh~,orhoc~d called Lanipuna GarJens Anoth,:r ersuvhiic Californian Martino~7clt frets about cnuisions fiom the plant and has become one of its most ~ocl?ciou~ critics "1'hc state has invested so much money in seducing developers otrt here," she said `°f11!'t're prostituting f lawaii to the hishest bidder." 119artinuvich and the other ;'una tifalama Ptrno members pace been mocked as countercu?rise ne'er-Jo-wells who oppose atl economic de~clopntenl To be sure, they arc an idiosyncratic let, a blend ofdark-skinned nati: cs and pale refugees Frvm the mainiantl h7arijuana plank occasionally-can be spotted amid the te~uxt's I~rns and papaya trees. Pahoa, the district's dominant town, is a colorful, slightly ram-down harruet ucoeative of the late I9GOs "It's arroeance, a !ut of it," Leilani Estates resident Geoth La.tii. said of the genthcrmal boosters. "The low!:fi Puna can't tell them what to do " "They're trying to label this conununity a hunch of radixstls." said an indignant Chantcle Singleton, the UT~tf3 ~.~utrcach coordinator assisting legator with hi symptom survey. Lega;,~r was ene~uraged to come to }lawaii by a Aurora Manino~ ich keeps an eye ou the Pun.; colleague t1r Janette Sherman An internist in Geothermal Venture from tLc (cv.rclinc Among PGV's most ~ocat criues, Martino~ich Ale+candria, A'a., who for years saw patients in the belicces the plant is emitting unhca{tnful islands, She nnan conducted a health xutiey of 71 levels of htdrogcn sul[iAe people for' a lawsuit filed against PGA' by sumo of the Leilani E~.tates residents She noted in a 1993 report that many of the subjects comp]ained of recurring ailment.: such shortness of breath, swoller, glands, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea Perhaps more significantl}~, S 3 percent reported neuropsychiatric problems depression, ansiet}, sleeplessness-that had long been linked to hydrogen sulfide exposure "This represents an epidemic!" Sherman wrote "[f dtis incidence were re nod for a conununiaablc. dis~~a>e, a stare of emergency would he declared." Le~_atot suhmittcd a study proposal "Assisting a Cotmnunity Exposed to Emissions from a Geothermal Plant" to the emironmcntal health sciences institute's Gah~eston center m'v9arrli 19~~5 and was awarded a $5,000 grant two months later