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<br />TRAVIS: I’m Tom Travis. I’m a retired naval submariner who served in the Navy for 30 years,
<br />operated nuclear propulsion plants. I’m a retired government service director for studies for the
<br />Joint Center of Operations Analysis at the Department of Defense. I was also one of the
<br />geothermal public health assessment working group. I live at 14-256 Papaya Farms Road in
<br />lower Puna.
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<br />On August 7, the PGV geothermal plant released a significant amount of hydrogen sulfide gas
<br />into the atmosphere beginning at 7:26 p.m. Shortly after that time, many residents in this
<br />surrounding area became sick. My wife, Laura, who is next to me, has begun the process of
<br />establishing documentation packages for those that have come forward. I made a map to show
<br />some of what we had learned to this point. If you examine the map, the blue dots are the 52
<br />residents that I, that have told us where they live and what their symptoms are, and that we have
<br />verified their symptoms started at 7:26 p.m. So, the 50, the 52, that we evaluated out of a 109,
<br />we have to look at the others yet, those 52 as you can see are spread along here. The red dots on
<br />the map are people that my wife and I have classified as having significant lethargy. This is not
<br />a medical term, and I’ll tell you what it means. It means that they either couldn’t control when
<br />they went to sleep or after they went to sleep, they couldn’t be awakened. So, if someone fell
<br />asleep, and their wife or children tried to awaken them, and they couldn’t be awakened for a
<br />significant amount of time, that’s the red, they would get a red dot. Additionally, a red dot could
<br />be if they fell asleep at a totally inappropriate time. Walking to do something, and lay down and
<br />go to sleep at that time. In other words, medical term might be that they passed out. So, those
<br />are the red dots. As you can see, there are quite a number of people there. These are the
<br />symptoms, 8 experienced of the 52, 8 experienced severe lethargy, 31 experienced lethargy, 14
<br />mental fog, 5 cardiovascular including heart pains or chest pains, respiratory including severe
<br />a—shortness of breath, headaches, eyes including not being able to see right. That’s more than
<br />eye irritation. That means seeing double. Not everybody, some of it was eye irritation. And
<br />there was one example of skin, 15 people experienced nausea. Could you hand that to them? If
<br />any of you are interested, this can be passed around. It’s a little bigger than a piece of paper.
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<br />Many people, including from, some from the Department of Health, have tried to dismiss these
<br />health issues. One was statement in the Honolulu Star Advertiser before these people could even
<br />get to a doctor, some of ‘em, because they had been blocked with trees. In almost every regard,
<br />the reasons that they have cited for this dismissal have been specious. I am confident that as we
<br />pursue the facts, we will understand that there were consequence, consequences of the release of
<br />geothermal toxins. Based on this, the most important effort needed is to understand the problems
<br />caused by the recent release and to treat those that have been harmed. The health study that you
<br />are considering today is basically an epidemiological study that uses remnants of health effects to
<br />determine if there have been health effects. I recommend that we briefly delay this effort as we
<br />learn about the consequences of 7, August. Then we can incorporate what we learn by
<br />investigating this—this incident into the health study to be sure that we spend the $750,000 the
<br />best way we can. Thank you for your time, and I’m sorry that I went over a little bit.
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<br />TRAVIS, L.: Hello? Okay, I’m Laura Travis, a retired register nurse and member of the
<br />geothermal public health assessment working group, and I‘ve been working to document health
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<br />complaints following the land fall of Tropical Storm Iselle on August 7. I think we need to
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