2019-01-03 Public Testimony Transcript - Piilani Partners SMA 18-070

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support that, and I also want to thank every one of you and the staff for being here conducting this hearing. It's an awesome process that I'm glad to participate in. I've also participated in clean-ups of the Big Island coast with the Hawaii Wildlife Fund run by my friends, and I'm just so disheartened every time I go down there and pick up debris from international fishing operations to local people having their plastic rubbish wind up on a Ka`u coastline, and it's endless. It's a, there's a conveyor belt of plastic rubbish and marine debris that washes up on our island shores, and I feel like we're just running, running a losing race, and I would like to see the Big Island contribute to stopping that flood of plastics into our ocean. That is my, really my main concern about this proposal. It doesn't have to happen this way. As part of Recycle Hawaii in the past, I would try to reuse these plastic bottles, and I would have them in my vehicles carrying water so I don't have to—if I needed to wash my hands or drink something in the middle of a drive, until I realized that the plastic bottles themselves leach chemicals into the water. That surely isn't good for you and over a lifetime, it could be detrimental to your health in terms of cancer or some other thing. And, as a litter pick-up, I would say a toxic pollution pick-up crew, I, too, dug my hands into the sand in Ka`u, and I could see that the plastics just get smaller and smaller. And, then I love poke, and I go to Suisan as often as I can afford it, and I'll try their different blends of poke, and then I began to go, I want to go there because it's locally caught, wild fish. It's not farm -raised fish. And, then I began to wonder because the science is coming in that the fish are uptaking these micro -particles of plastics in the open ocean. Our ahi go all the way to Japan and then come back. It's a life cycle. Their ocean is their backyard. So, I would like you folks to consider that when you make your decision. I know there is concern about the legalities of saying no to an Industrial -zoned proposal, but I think there are over -arching issues that can overcome those legal questions, and battle it in court if you have to. Take that bold stand and say we're just going to make a small step towards ending this toxic pollution of our oceans. So, thank you for listening to all of our testimonies. CLARKSON: Thank you. The next and last group of testifiers, please come forward. Kathryn Benjamin, Kamaili [sic-Kamaki] Rathburn, Julie Stitz, and Nani Pai. And, if I horribly mispronounced your name, and you didn't hear itoh, there we are. Please raise your right hand. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth on this matter before the Planning Commission today? TESTIFIERS: I do. CLARKSON: Please start with Mr. Rathburn. RATHBURN: Aloha, everyone. My name is Kamaki Rathburn. I'm here not necessarily representing anybody in particular but myself. But, I feel like it's important that we come and communicate with you guys. Really appreciate what you're doing. I know I came here last time EXHIBIT C 13