HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0620.023 2022-2024 _P /Counci
Re.S. f2-'2•3
CAMM.6?0
From: Debbie H
Sent: Sunday, December 03, 2023 11:51 AM j co
C)
To: Council Testimony
rri
Subject: RESOLUTION 372-23- NO funds for lawsuits,just clean up the sewage pla`it t and-1-1-
Kahalu'u Bay . crrl
.-
Aloha Chair Kimball and members of the Hawaii County Council,
c.,a
My name is Debbie and I am from Kailua Kona. I am writing to you today to urge you to
reject the funds requested by the mayor to hire outside counsel to fight Hui Malama
Honokohau v. County of Hawaii. Why not use the money to negotiate a settlement
OR start the clean up and put sewer lines to Honokohau Harbor to serve the restaurant,
the businesses and the public bathrooms and abandon the injection well from
the Kealakehe Wastewater Treatment plant. The Treatment has released millions of
gallons of treated sewage into groundwater that flows into our Honokohau Harbor, causing
irreversible damage to the surrounding nearshore waters and the countless lives that
depend on them.
There is an important precedent established by the Supreme Court Ruling. Maui County
spent hundreds of thousands of dollars over eight plus years fighting a similar lawsuit over
their Lahaina Wastewater Treatment Plant, to ultimately lose in the US Supreme
Court. County of Maui v. Hawai`i Wildlife Fund has now set the precedent for Kealakehe
and many other groundwater polluters. Don't waste our tax dollars on fighting this
lawsuit, use the money to clean up the mess and protect our ocean ecosystem.
Do not approve the funds requested by the mayor and use your powers to urge the
administration to settle the litigation and CLEAN UP THE MESS by installing sewer lines
to the harbor and abandon the injection well, mauka of Queen Ka'ahumanu which has
been proven to pollute the waters at the Harbor and the National Park. THE POLLUTION
OF OUR OCEAN WATERS and DRINKING WATER by lack of sewer lines has got to stop
before it is NOT REVERSIBLE.
Mahalo-
Debbie Hecht
Comm. No. b
Ref. To:
1 Ref. Date DEC m 6 2023