Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 1155.004 2004-2006 STATEMENT OF TAWN KEENEY M.D. TO THE COUNTY COUNCIL Subject: Tradewinds Forest Products in Ookala I have several experiences to communicate. The first experience was on Saturday, Nov. 4th at the Tradewinds sponsored Forest Products Jobs Fair which was held from noon to 4:00 PM in Honokaa. This had been widely advertised. I and my friend arrived a 3:00 PM and our names were the 10th and 11`h signatures on the list of attendees. We stayed unti14:00PM and there was only one person who came in after us. Don Bryan, gracious as always, commented that one explanation for the poor turnout may have been a big college football game on TV. One of the two project engineers in attendance commented that they could always bring workers from the mainland. Comment: 1: Everyone on the Big Island who wants a job has a job 2: Unemployment in Hawaii is the lowest in the country at 2.1 percent 3: Scott Enright and Suzie Collins surveyed all the households in Ookala asking if individuals would give up a job they currently have to work at the veneer mill. There was only one positive response. 4: This may reflect an understanding on the part of the workforce that a veneer plant on the Big Island harvesting 15000 acres has almost no chance of succeeding when Eucalyptus plantations of 5,000,000 acres in South America have recently come online competing for a likely dwindling demand in the housing industry. The economist who I spoke to in the State of Oregon Department of Employment indicated that due to overbuilding, primarily in California, over the past several years, the housing sector should expect to be depressed over the next several years. (There have been 2.0 million units built in California in each of the past several years, whereas the economy should be expected to support only 1.5 million) He indicated that this would have a significant effect on the veneer and plywood industries. The second issue is that this mill could be placed at any site in the 11,000 acres of trees that it is intended to harvest without any rezoning. The Hawaii County Code, Chapter 25 (Zoning) Section 25-5-72 states that permitted uses of Agriculturally zoned land include "agricultural products processing, major and minor". After reading this passage I visited the Planning Department and asked the planner the following questions? Could a veneer mill as envisioned by Tradewinds, harvesting trees planted on Agriculturally zoned land, be appropriately placed on that Agricultural land? The answer was "Yes." Could a veneer mill with a 5 megawatt Cogeneration Plant be placed on such Comm. No. ~ I S y Ref. To: sut~0 Ref. Uote agriculturally zoned land. "Yes." Could a veneer mill with a 10 megawatt cogeneration plant be placed on such Ag land? His reply was "It's getting into a gray zone and it may be necessary to make application for a variance." The reason that I asked this question is that Mr. Bryan wrote to the State House Economic Development Committee on February 6, 2006, "The initial capacity of the plant will be five megawatts with a planned increase to ten megawatts in a few years." I believe that the "gray zone" to which the Planner was referring is whether a 10 megawatt plant utilizing only one megawatt for its own needs could even be considered a cogeneration plant. In late August Mr. Bryan indicated to me that his boilers would be capable of generating 10 Megawatts. Comment: 1: It may be that there are some infrastructure advantages to using the old Ookala Sugar mill site, but the damage to the way of life of our community far outweighs these purely monetary issues. The likely reason that the Ookala mill site was chosen is that it is fee simple land as opposed to the Ag lands being leased. 2: For years Mr. Bryan was intending to place this mill in the forest that it was intended to harvest. He recognizes the undesirability of placing heavy industry immediately adjacent to a residential neighborhood. 3: The County General Plan recognizes that it is inappropriate to place industry next to residential areas The third and most important issue is that the residents and homeowners of Ookala are overwhelmingly against placement of this veneer mill there. In late April a Tribune Herald article described Tradewinds intention to build its mill in Ookala at the old Sugar mill site. I was then told that several of our governmental representatives had been told that Ookala was in favor of this plan. It seemed very unlikely to me that Ookala would favor placement of heavy industry right in its midst, so the next day I began a survey of the residents and homeowners of Ookala. I tried to be very neutral in presenting my door to door survey. It was a consistent response that most people had only heard of the plan For locating this in the midst of our community a week or two before. The results of my survey found that 21 were supportive of development of this mill in Ookala and 81 were against this and 29 did not have enough information to judge. These results were reported to our councilman and state representative and our Mayor. I have heard several criticisms of my survey. One was that I described this mill not as a "veneer mill" but rather as a "lumber chipping and processing mill". I used this description because I had no idea what a `veneer mill' was. I suspected the same for those people who I would survey. Mr. Bryan had indicated to me that the loudest part of the mill would probably be the chipper and that all wood T' or less in diameter would be chipped. Because I acknowledged that this was not a carefully designed study and the methodology could be criticized, Scott Enright, previous president of the Ookala Community Assn. and Suzie Collins, several weeks later, again went door to door with petitions. Suzie will describe the results of that petition. I want you to think about all of these things. Consider the arguments. But what I want you to feel is, "What if a lumber mill and power plant were proposed to be placed 400 feet in front of your home." What would your response be? You must help us with this. This mill cannot be placed in the midst of our Ookala community. Respe ly, Tawas Keeney M.D. June 26, 2006 Box 248 Honokaa, Hawaii 96727 Mayor Hany Kim 25 Aupuni St. Room 215 Hilo, Hawaii 96720 Dear Mayor Kim, I am a physician practicing in Honokaa for 29 years. I am a homeowner in Ookala. I have over the past month conducted a survey of the residents over 16 years of age and property owners of Ookala as to their opinions regazding the proposed Ookala Tradewinds Veneer Mill. This project azose when I was told that several of our elected officials and agencies were led to believe that Ookala was in favor of having this lumber mill in their midst. Even though this has been a very imperfect instrument, I believe that this survey reflects the sincere attitude of the community towazd this mill at the present moment. I have tried to be impartial in my survey though it is true that over the past week everyone knew that I was opposed to this mill due to an article in the newspaper and letters that I had written to the community. An important meeting of the residents of Ookala regarding this mill is scheduled for June 27. I have completed my survey prior to that meeting for the purpose of presentation of these results to Governor Lingle to aid her decision for or against Veto of H.B. 2878. Deadline for her announcement of intent to veto is June 26. In the final week of my survey I announced to each potential signator this reason for responding now rather than waiting until the June 27~" meeting. I have knocked on every door, returning at least once, more often twice to those without answer. I have called and sent out `ballots' to addresses of property owners who were not living in Ookala now. One or two of the ballots have not yet been returned, but I will try to have signatures for individuals whose verbal expressions I have gained over the phone. I have counted those verbal expressions and gained phone numbers for confirmation purposes. I have missed some individuals in some households. There are three or four people who I have tried repeatedly to contact and failed. There were 8 or 9 people who, on the phone or in person did not wish to sign this survey. My personal feeling is that , if secret ballot were held, 5 of those persons would be in favor of the mill coming and 3 would be opposed. Even though there are only 18 signatures in favor of this mill, I reached a man yesterday by phone who indicated that he and his parents were coming to my office tomorrow and would sign in favor. I have attempted to be neutral in my presentation of the survey though my opposition to this mill is well known. Again, this survey is an imperfect instrument and hopefully a more satisfactory reflection of the will of the residents and property owners of Ookala will arise. But let me express my conviction that because of the profound impact which this mill will have on the residents of Ookala, those people's voice should be weighed very heavily in this issue. 21 individuals expressed themselves IN FAVOR of this mill in Ookala 81 individuals expressed themselves OPPOSED to this mill in Ookala 29 individuals remain undecided Respectfully submitted, Tawn Keeney M.D.