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grenade, louder than a shotgun, and you can be quite ways away and they will wake you up. I
<br />guarantee you. What they did there eventually was tie the steam systems of several plants
<br />together, and that absorbed a lot of shock, and they didn't get these, this release. But, there is a
<br />lot of other mitigation you can do on those steam relief valves to make them a lot quieter, and
<br />there is a lot of things you can do to make sure that they don't happen as often. So with that,
<br />thank you very much, and I'll pass the mic.
<br />LINCOLN: Aloha. Thank you for letting me speak today. My name is Linda Lincoln, and I
<br />live in Pepe`ekeo. I'm new to the area. We actually just moved back here. We were on Maui
<br />for 35 years, and decided to come back to the Big Island. We lived in Kona before, but chose
<br />Pepe`ekeo because it was special, was quiet. I asked about the power plant when we bought our
<br />property, and was told it was dead in the water. I didn't think I'd be here today. But, it's not
<br />dead, and you know, I'd like you guys to think if this was in your backyard, if you had to listen
<br />to two chippers all night long in your backyard. I mean, maybe when they first applied for
<br />permits, it wasn't surrounded by houses. It is now. You guys are putting a power plant in the
<br />middle of a neighborhood. And I just, I really don't get it, and. Thank you again.
<br />HARDEN: I'm Cory Harden again for Sierra Club, Moku Loa Group. Questions I hope you
<br />folks will ask, as this woman just eloquently asked, are louder sound levels fair to people who
<br />invested in homes in a residential area? As others have said, the agreement was to limit noise at
<br />all times. Also, it's been about five years since the initial permit was approved, and how come
<br />suddenly at the last minute we're talking, oh, the noises might go over that, and we want quick
<br />approval because we've got to get our tax break and we've got to get this and that, and putting
<br />pressure on you guys to make a quick decision. And, why is it happening this way? There is
<br />going to be louder sounds not only during construction but off and on for 30 years, from startup
<br />of the boiler after annual maintenance, startup of a boiler feedwater pump, startup of the brackish
<br />water well pumps, and steam release from the safety valve whenever power goes out, and we all
<br />know how HELCO is, so that happens more often than we want. There is also going to be
<br />logging trucks going in and out. I haven't heard how often exactly these louder sounds will
<br />occur and how long they will last. That could be better specified. I also wonder, is this still the
<br />same project that you approved way back when? With the accumulative impacts of the noise and
<br />the other changes, also the injection wells instead of the outfall, a new water and wastewater
<br />treatment building, they increased the power output, and it was going to be 20 years the plant
<br />would last, now it's going to last 30 years. Is this still the same project that you folks approved?
<br />Also, have they breached their agreement on noise? From listening to people, it sounds like they
<br />have. And, if so, what kind of consequences will you folks imposed? Thank you.
<br />ROBY: My name is Francine Roby and I live up on the Hamakua Coast, and I will probably be
<br />back at some future point because I'm really more concerned about the forest management and
<br />the damage to the roads from some of the larger trucks and all that's going to be happening. But,
<br />I come from a labor background, and I come from civilian law enforcement and labor laws, and
<br />these give me some lessons that I thought I wanted to contribute to this conversation today in
<br />hearing my fellow islanders. Sometimes there are conflicts between business purposes and
<br />human purposes, you know. They may be irreconcilable, they may be able to resolve, and we
<br />create laws and we create regulations so that we can kind of work around these things and say
<br />here's a compromise we can live with. But, I think the things you are hearing today are letting
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