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MACOMBER LEWI: I was so thankful to have a beautiful grandmother. Her name was Harriet
<br />Macomber, Ekau Macomber. The place we live in today is right in front of Kahalu‘u Beach,
<br />facing the ocean. I feel so spoiled. And I’m so thankful I had beautiful parents, beautiful
<br />‘ohana. God bless them and I miss all of them. Thank you for letting me say a little today. I
<br />love all of you. And God bless you. Thank you.
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<br />UNGER: Thank you. Thank you, you may be seated. Ruth Aloua, Curtis Tyler, Cindy Freitas,
<br />Leilani \[Leinani\] Navas-Loa, Sandy Lehua Kamaka, Burt Weiss. Thank you. Pleas raise your
<br />right hand. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth before the Planning Commission?
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<br />TESTIFIERS: I do.
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<br />UNGER: Thank you. We can start here. Please state your name and where you reside.
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<br />ALOUA: Aloha mai kākou. My name is Ruth Aloua and I’m a resident of Kailua-Kona. I’m
<br />speaking to you as not only a native Hawaiian with ancestral connections to this district but also
<br />a mahi‘ai, or organic farmer, a kia‘i loko, a guardian of Kaloko Honokōhau, a kia‘i mauna, a
<br />guardian of the mountains and the waters. I have a bachelor’s degree in anthropology and my
<br />master’s degree in archaeology. And I’m speaking in opposition to the SMA Permit being
<br />granted, and I want to sum this up real quick because I support much of what has been said
<br />already. But there’s three words that come to mind when I read the FEA, and basically every
<br />single section from the finding of no significant impact, which I find highly questionable. So
<br />one of the words that comes to mind is “degrade,” and what this means is to decline to a lower
<br />condition quality or level. So according to the FEA, this development alone is going to pump at
<br />least 6.8 percent of groundwater out from our aquifer, increasing the salinity of the bay to
<br />6 percent, and they found the finding of no significant impact. And their assessment, which
<br />might make sense, if you look at this single development, doesn’t actually account for the
<br />cumulative withdraw waves that actually exist on the mountain. So what are we actually taking
<br />out of the bay? So as a kia‘i loko, I can tell you that when you are taking away freshwater from
<br />flowing into these ecosystem, what you are doing is you are not only increasing salinity but you
<br />are increasing the temperature, you are changing the, you are changing the dissolved oxygen
<br />that’s available for our fish, which give us life, which feed us. So these changes are significant.
<br />They have a real impact, and they are going to impact us. The Keauhou aquifer is a big
<br />discussion, and it’s not the time for it, but our waters are getting saltier. So when our waters get
<br />saltier, what’s going to happen to our land base, to our farmers, what’s going to happen to our
<br />oceans or fishers? Pre-contact Hawai‘i, our islands were able to support at least 150,000 to a
<br />million individuals; today Hawai‘i’s population is 1.4 million people and it’s growing. Before
<br />contact we were able to produce 100 percent of our food, and today we only produce 15 percent;
<br />that’s an 85-percent difference. We are relying on outside resources. If we don’t protect our
<br />watersheds, we have no life, we have no future. These meetings are virtually meaningless. As
<br />archaeologist, I can tell you that “desecrate” popped to my mind when I read over the cultural,
<br />the cultural components of this project. So “desecrate” is to damage a holy place or object. One
<br />of my biggest issues with archaeology is that archaeologists are given the right to assess the
<br />significance of a culture when the practice itself is colonial. But, you know, it has good
<br />components, like create national parks, it can be used in a good way when it’s done accurately
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<br />EXHIBIT C
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