Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 1155.010 2004-2006 Thank you for the providing the opportunity to speak. My name is Mel Lehman. I live in O'okala next to the old mill site: the mill that closed a generation ago. We have lived in on this island twenty-six (26) years and chose O'okala as the place to build our retirement home ten years ago. I want to talk to you about a power plant that Tradewinds wants to build next to us, in the middle of this mainly retired or close to retirement community. Rockland Capital will build and operate the power plant. Rockland Capital has offices in New York, Houston, London, and Dortmund. On its website in August 2006, it listed Tradewinds Forest products as a project in which they own 31.45% and are the lead investor (copy enclosed). Their previous developments of co-generation facilities were Ripon Co-generation and San Gabriel Co-generation. Both were forty-nine (49) megawatt plants which they have now sold. Does anyone on this council believe that Rockland is truly interested in a two to five (2 to 5) megawatt plant when their recent acquisitions are above one thousand (1,000) megawatt operations? Don Bryan has not mentioned Rockland Capital in any of his presentations which I have attended, but I assume he will disclose their interests to you today. The planned power plant will have steam turbines running twenty-four (24) hours a day, year round. Now add to this turbine noise-, the conveying of chips, the chipping to reproduce the fuel, hauling and back-up alarms, and you may begin to get the picture. The plan as we were shown includes a structure over one hundred (100) feet in height, not just a stack, but a building that will obstruct the views of the ocean from those living above, and ours and our neighbor's views of Mauna Kea. Please pay attention to the Hawaii County General Plan, adopted February of 2005, which has designated all the land east of the Industrial site as "Urban Expansion". Is this compatible Comm. No.-- 1154;. 1o Ref. To: - G Ref. Date S with Tradewind plans? It will take a very large veneer mill (which is necessary to compete with world markets) and a power plant which uses scrap wood from the veneer, non veneer logs, and other processed bio-fuels, according to their brochure literature. Such an operation should not be located in the center of a quiet neighborhood. It simply does not make sense. Mel Lehman Pane 1 of 1 Home Page The Rocktand Team C ROCKLAND CAPITAL° LINKING CAPITAL AND ENERGI tit y Read though the Y~ power 0 1' is TRADEWINDS FOREST PRODUCTS Rockland owns 31.45% and is the lead investor of Tradewinds through its subsidiary, Rockland Tradewinds, LLC PRIME ENERGY LP Description TRADEWINDS FOR Tradewinds is a veneer milt and cogeneration development project located on the Big Island of Hawaii. PRODUCTS -'h? project has secured a site on the Hamakua Coast and a cutting rights license with the Hawaii D_p.;rtment of Land and Natural Resources. Once completed, the cogeneration project will use wood- RIPON CONGENER waste as fuel to provide steam and power to the veneer milt and will also sell excess power to the local utility. SAN GABRIEL CONGENERATION F.ocFland is responsible for overseeing all aspects of the power development including design, cov.truction and contracting of the cogeneration facility. _ TEESIDE POWER L NEW YORK It0US10N LONDON DORTMUND http://www.rocklandcapital.com/tradewinds.asp 8/19/2006 All ash in the form of particulates extracted from the flue gas and ash remaining after the wood burns can be used for soil amendments, as a road base or for landfill caps. Careful adjustment of the overfire air ports and the underfire air will keep the amount of carbon monoxide (CO) and nitrous oxide (NOx) created at minimal levels. CO and NOx emissions are strictly regu- lated by the State of Hawaii through air operating permits. Clean flue gas is what will come from the Tradewinds smokestack. In other words, wood smoke without the eye and lung-irritating particu- lates. Most of the time it will be virtually impossible to tell if the mill is running by observing the smokestack as no steam or smoke will be visible. Air emissions are regu- lated by the U.S. En- 4 vironmental Protection Agency through the Hawaii State Depart- ment of Health, Clean Air Branch. Y~ This cogeneration facility is currently under construction in Roseburg, Oregon and is the same size as the plant that will be used at Trade winds. The two towers are fuel storage silos.