HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0212.443 1996-1998 -
TESTIMONY AGAINST BILI, NO. 62- April 24, 1997
POST HARVEST TREATMENT FACILITY
Dear Hawaii County Council Members;
As a lecturer of Environmental Science I feel it is time that
the our representatives become aware of the environmental risks
associated with such a facility. Having worked previously with the
EPA in New Jersey, and taught in the Marshall Islands (the site of
64 US atomic bombs tests), I am all too familiar with the
environmental risks, health risks as well as genetic hazards
associated with radioactive decay and byproducts. Cobalt and
especially Cesium 137 (half life of 26,000 years) are notorious for
concentrating in the digestive system and causing stomach and colon
cancers. Do you want to expose others to these risks?
Hilo does not have the expertise. or individuals with enough
knowledge to build and run the facility safely. Special precautions
are needed especially with our ground water aquifer so close to the
surface. Please do not build a facility here on the Big Island,as
it would not benefit our small farmers, prodmintly crops from
Kauai.
If the irradiation company Isomedix still wishes to build this
facility, without county funding they should explore the
possibility of utilizing areas of Oahu. Oahu has 5 or 6 established
EPA Super Fund Sites which are monitored for radioactive
substances leakage, toxic waste and seepage into the ground water
aquifer.
'VOTE NO ON BILL 62
VOTE NO ON A PRIVATE FACILITY HERE ON THE BIG ISLAND
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~ Si,,nQce~rely,
~
~ Roberta Lynn Brashear
r c ~ ' ;t?^ =a.~ ~F.rre Environmental Scientist
y~, ~lb' ~ } Geneticist M. S. Genetics
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Itgure 1375 Some of the Hazardous warm sires on the FPA priority Ilea d
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represent an especially serious threat Once groundwater is contaminated, p
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Sous: Data from eHe Environmental Prot<etion Agency. ,