2024-02-29 PL-SMA-2023-000046 Tamara D. Goesch Testimony

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Although we visited the Big Island every year since 1996, it wasn't until the COVID era that we began to spend many weeks per year at Colony I (we felt safe there). In doing so, I began to notice a general decline in the surrounding properties, which, it turned out, had all come under the ownership of EXL in the 20-teens. (Of course, my condo and the 75 others that comprise Colony I at Sea Mountain are completely surrounded by EXL lands, and thus directly affected by her more than many other parties.) In particular, I noticed things like broken outdoor furniture littering the landscape, a burned-out car, a total shut-down of the golf course operation, and distressing conditions at the golf course ponds (which I understood to be part of the water and sewer system). The ponds were very low, they were filling with weeds and broken limbs, they were scummy and ringed with snail egg casings - very different from the previous two decades. Wondering who was responsible for these deteriorating conditions, I began my research. I soon learned EXL owned everything, including the very utility which has provided water and sewer service to my AOAO since its inception: Punalu'u Water and Sanitation, LLC (hereafter, for the sake of brevity, PWS-LLC) (Interesting, this utility was actually a corporation, not an LLC, prior to her acquisition). I then did a deep dive into the PUC dockets related to EXL's acquisition of PWS-LLC — that is, to be certified as the Owner/Operator. I learned that EXL acknowledged its dilapidated and neglected condition, declined to file for a rate increase given its condition, and pledged in redacted documents a 7-figure sum available for repair and updating of PWS- LLC (the base line condition being documented in a report she was required to and did submit). And yet.......today the physical condition of the utility is worse than ever. My understanding is there is no back-up water pump; the back-up well is unusable; the reservoir leaks miserably; huge amounts of electricity are used to replace water lost to leaks; there is no generator on hand; etc., etc., etc. In short, I understand that virtually none of the concerns noted in the condition assessment submitted to the PUC have been addressed in some FIVE years! We already saw a failure of the Ninole Lift Station last year, a narrowly averted ecological disaster. The sewer treatment system is an aging dinosaur. Catastrophic failure looms! Apparently EXL has not been able to retain required professional management for PWS-LLC. She does have two highly skilled operators who are considered heroes. But EXL does not provide more than a tiny fraction of the financial resources she represented she had available and would put into the utility. If either the water system or the sewer treatment system fails, the property values of PWS-LLC residential customers - which include not only Colony I, but also Kalana Estates - effectively plummet to ZERO. The viability of the County park at Punulu'u - which serves thousands of locals and visitors weekly - is severely compromised. Ostensibly the PUC certification process exists in part to forestall that disaster, does it not?