|
described the valve as closing a hose bib, and if you just close the hose bib, the well would be
<br />sealed.
<br />He did acknowledge the possibility that if there were a tsunami at night and somebody were not
<br />on the site in time to close that thing, the hose bib, a modest amount of water would go down the
<br />well, and that it would be pumped out within minutes once pumping was resumed again. So, his
<br />conclusion significantly is, "There would be no permanent impact on the yield or the quality of
<br />water from the deep artesian aquifer" even if some water went down the well during a tsunami
<br />because it could be pumped out within minutes.
<br />Finding 56 is kind of a hybrid allegation of harm. We've talked aboutactually, in the appeal, it
<br />was discussed, and this was the encapsulated arsenic that's in the Wailoa River about a quarter of
<br />a mile away. Now, the original theory that was talked about in Court in the appeal was that
<br />somehow this, this encapsulated arsenic was going to somehow migrate all the way down a
<br />thousand feet, you know, through the aquiclude and somehow get into the artesian aquifer.
<br />Mr. Nance said that the possibility of that happening was negligible, and in any event, that would
<br />have nothing to do with Piilani's well. It may have happened already. I mean, if that were going
<br />to happen, if we drilled the well and found there were arsenic in it, it would obviously be
<br />abandoned. That's no use to us. We can't have arsenic in drinking water.
<br />The point was, though, that the migration of arsenic even if it could occur all the way down a
<br />thousand feet and through all these obstacles would have nothing to do with the well. It would
<br />happen or it wouldn't happen regardless of the well. So, that theory has been changed a little bit
<br />now, and now it's kind of been merged with the tsunami theory, and so the theory is that if there
<br />were a tsunami, then it could disturb the encapsulated arsenic, and remember encapsulated
<br />means enclosed. It's kind of sealed up. But, the tsunami would kind of shake that up, and then if
<br />the well was no free-flowing and had a valve and had a hose bib that needed to be turned off and
<br />somebody wasn't there to turn it off, the salt water, this time contaminated with arsenic could go
<br />down the well.
<br />It's really the same argument. I mean it, whether the salt water is just salt water or it's salt water
<br />that has managed to pick up arsenic from the river. It gets pumped out when the pump is turned
<br />on, and it goes away. I mean, it's, it's the same, same water. So, that's really the same
<br />argument.
<br />Finding 57 is actually the only new finding of fact. Finding 57 says that Piilani's
<br />December 20th, 2018 letter also states that during the drilling process, the drill string, consisting
<br />of the drill bit, heavy collar, and drill pipe, could twist off in the hole. The driller would try to
<br />retrieve the broken parts of the drill string; however, if unsuccessful, the borehole would need to
<br />be backfilled with cement in accordance with the rules of the State Commission on Water
<br />Resource Management, and that is indeed an accurate description of what Mr. Nance said in his
<br />memo. The problem is there is no contamination being described there. So, if the drill string
<br />breaks off, the first thing they would do is try to fish it out. They fish it out, there's no problem,
<br />there is no contamination, there is no issue. If they can't fish it out, what they do is seal the well,
<br />and what Ms. Rohr referred to as the very strict rules for well construction and pump installation
<br />in Hawaii, and they are very strict, it's the Water Commission's Hawaii well construction and
<br />EXHIBIT B
<br />15
<br />
|