2020-05-27 Meeting Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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modifications due to State Historic Preservation Division and other delays. The Nāālehu EA is in progress. ʻ At this time, Chair Pequeño allowed Sandra Demoruelle to testify on this agenda item. Ms. Demoruelle: She has filed a federal lawsuit challenging the adequacy of the environmental assessment and the finding of no significant impact. The county ignored over 900 pages of comments, which are in a whole separate volume. None of the information provided in the EA is substantiated by scientific information. The waste flow volume of 190,000 gallons is pulled out of the air with nothing to substantiate it. She is now in litigation and settlement negotiations so cannot talk about it, but she wants them to know both projects are under litigation. She is suing the EPA for the lack of an EIS provided under NEPA. If need be, she will file under the state if that is what is required to force the county directly to do an adequate environmental review. Anyone who looks at this can see for themselves it is highly controversial as to flow volume and flooding in the area, and as to whether an industrial wastewater treatment plant is even needed. The septic conversion for the third project, for the Pāhala seniors, went for $410,000. Now they have almost $10 million available just for the design of the Nāālehu project. She would point to the CIP budget and enormous numbers ʻ there just for design. These folks are going crazy with spending money on Brown and Caldwell, and they need to be stopped. That is why she has filed suit. Commissioner Cardwell asked Ms. Demoruelle for clarification on whether she had filed a lawsuit regarding both plants. Ms. Demoruelle said yes, because what triggers the NEPA was the grant that had been given by EPA, which is still in effect. The grant was awarded for one project, the Nāālehu and Pāhala Villages Large Capacity Cesspool Conversion Project. In 2011 it ʻ got divided into two projects, and somewhere along the line it got changed from doing a simple septic conversion to expensive industrial capacity wastewater treatment plants. She withdrew her original lawsuit as it was premature. In May 2019 the EPA and county changed the grant over from Nāālehu to Pāhala, changing coursesʻ again. That is the nature of the lawsuit, which anyone can look up online. Chair Pequeño continued with Director Kucharski’s informal updates. (2) Status of the Kealakehe Wastewater Treatment Plant R-1 Upgrade Project: The design is on hold pending the Supreme Court decision and its impact. The R-1 plant has an additional design to expand recycle quantity from Qfrom 1.8 mgd R to 3.6 mgd. There is a design contract being reestablished for the North and South Q distribution pipelines. The EIS effort is ongoing. The Archeological R Inventory Survey was completed and submitted to SHPD on May 20, 2020, and SHPD is expected to take potentially one year to review and accept the AIS. The EIS is to be completed three months after SHPD approval of the AIS. Commissioner Fulton said that although the laterals that feed into the Aliʻi Drive sewer line are technically not the purview of the county, they can be a source of leaks, infiltration, and exfiltration. There is a significant algae bloom going on in Kailua Bay, and there is an aerial 9