|
at the County level to get into, hey, State, you do this, County, we do that, and get into that; we
<br />were like, hey, you know what, questions were raised in our community and we want to get answers
<br />as quickly as possible. Most importantly a lot of good people put in a lot of good work, and we
<br />don’t want their study and recommendations to sit on the shelf. Very legitimate questions were
<br />raised, and these are our first steps, not last steps, not only steps, but first steps to getting some
<br />answers to those questions. We wanted to provide, one is, there are two types of monitoring
<br />equipment, we are moving with funds that we have in Civil Defense, we move for, one is hand-held
<br />monitoring equipment that we want to give to community members and the second is fixed
<br />monitoring equipment. And, of course, Department of Health would say, you know, we are not
<br />here to agree or disagree, they will say no, no need anymore, and we are saying, hey, not going to
<br />hurt for have more equipment. We’d rather be in a position who have more information than less,
<br />rather be, we want to err on the side of caution. So if we can get more information, let’s do that,
<br />more information, better information, better decision-making.
<br />
<br />Another is to contract, $45,000 to contract with USGS to do water sampling of wells and warm
<br />ponds along the Lower Puna coast to test for the presence of chemicals used in geothermal energy
<br />production. And it will give us a sense. We could, there is opportunities in the future to do broader
<br />studies that might require more resources, but right now it’s to do the first scan study.
<br />
<br />Another one is a meta-analysis of health effects of low to moderate H²S, or hydrogen sulfide,
<br />exposure to be done by the John A. Burns School of Medicine. A meta-analysis, I had to ask, I
<br />never know, I said, hey, bro, what is a meta-analysis, sounds cool. But as they were just saying is, I
<br />guess they would just grab all of the existing research and information out there, compile it, kind of
<br />squeeze it all together, and see what we get. And it makes a lot of sense. What we didn’t want to
<br />do, and, you know, it might sound cautious, but what we want to do is take very certain steps, right,
<br />and get information that we can really grasp and not go off in different directions. So each study we
<br />are trying to get is to lay the foundation for future information.
<br />
<br />And also another is funds -. I think they, I’m under the impression or received the information that
<br />the comparative analysis of hospitalization and emergency rooms was taken off the table by the
<br />Study Group. Okay. So I got that, reviewed that earlier. So the Study Group has determined, let’s
<br />not pursue that at this time. That’s my understanding.
<br />
<br />And the next, the final one is an enhanced Level 1 environmental site assessment on former HGP-A
<br />brine water pond sites. What happened was when geothermal back in the day in the start and when
<br />it first began in the early 80’s, had these open ponds. Look at pictures, and if you drive down
<br />Pohoiki – those of us who surf, go down there – there are these open ponds. Now the ponds are
<br />covered. We, County of Hawai‘i, has asked the State through the Department of Health if they
<br />could follow up and conduct an assessment of the area, because the ponds are basically covered up.
<br />So questions have been raised: Are there any adverse environmental impacts by that; or are there
<br />any heavy metals; are there any potential threat or harm to our public health or public safety to the
<br />residents of Puna? And we, so we asked, written communication, and the Department of Health
<br />said no need, DLNR who has ownership of the land said no need, NELHA came in and they also
<br />said, hey, we did some study, no need, they have confidence. And all we said was, hey, for
<br />$25,000, you know, if we can get more information, if we can do a more thorough comprehensive
<br />analysis and assessment of the sites, why not? Just to be sure. I don’t want to look at residents of
<br />Puna, our neighbors and friends, being from Puna, Henkel over there swimming in the water in
<br />Pohoiki, but I don’t like looking Gregory and we surf in that Pohoiki, and he go, hey, bro, are you
<br />4
<br />EXHIBIT B
<br />
<br />
|