2018-11-28 Meeting Minutes (EMC)

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3. STATEMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC ON AGENDA ITEMS Two people signed up to testify: Sandra Demoruelle and Jerome Warren. Sandra Demoruelle: She thanked the commissioners for their service and for meeting today. She said there is a new potential site for the Nāālehu WWTP, buʻt it doesn’t give her much hope, because the engineers don’t know the difference between a radius and diameter, as they incorrectly designated on page 2 of her handout. There will be many problems with the location, including having to pump uphill. The most severe problem is the land has been given away as PONC land, in Resolution 650-18. She filed a lawsuit. The costs of the project are beyond belief. The grant money is what has imposed the NEPA on the project. The first grant in 2005 was for both projects—Nāālehu and Pāhala. Moving ʻ forward, programmatic conditions required the NEPA, and the EPA was responsible for doing the NEPA. The grant money has never again shown up. There is proof that this has gone on. There is evidence that they split up the projects into Nāālehu and Pāhala; and ʻ there is evidence, from the summary of congressional earmarks, that they always intended it to be the Nāālehu project, right up until after she filed suit in May. She filed the lawsuit ʻ on May 10, and on May 30 the county and EPA chose to amend their agreement to only Pāhala. This is clearly for the evasion of NEPA. The county, through Dora Beck and Kate Rao of the EPA, made an agreement to transfer the funds for the purpose of NEPA. On the final page of her handout there is proof that they were doing this long before May 30. Jerome Warren: He pointed out that commissioners were talking about agenda items before the meeting started and before they had a quorum. Regarding Bill 210 on sewer fees, science based on omitted facts is junk science. The chair of the commission gives lectures and ignores the soil science principle of capillary action when he lectures on groundwater pollution. He ignores plants that have very deep roots, and he ignores soil fungi and bacteria which neutralize pathogens and nutrients. Then he says that all wastewater eventually pollutes the ocean, and therefore all wastewater must be captured and reused. This is junk science. The chair has an LLC company that designs systems for reuse of wastewater. His associates in that business will benefit from the higher sewer fees which will convert wastewater to reuse, and he should therefore recuse himself from voting on higher sewer fees, as he has a vested interest in them since it means more money for his cronies. Everyone else knows water climbs up capillary tubes in trees and gaps in soil and rocks. Plants and soil microbes absorb and neutralize wastewater and release water vapor. Therefore, not all wastewater systems pollute the ocean, and neither do all cesspools, gang cesspools, and septic systems. If fees are raised, poor people will suffer the most, especially those in Nāālehu homeowners paid zero in 2009, when Harry ālehu. Nāʻʻ Kim promised to begin new construction. Now they receive bills. Charging for any illegal system is called extortion. Raising that charge is more extortion. The old sewer pipes in Nāālehu get clogged up because they have rusted out and rocks fall in. It is the ʻcounty’s fault, because Harry Kim’s promise was broken. It is absurd for the county to need more money to patch pipes after they fail. The gang cesspool fees should be changed back to zero. The EPA has not charged the county any fines, yet the county charges homeowners for this malfeasance. 2