HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 1062.020 2006-2008
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Murashige, Laura
From: Richard Lionheart [richlionl1@yahoo.com]
Sent: Tuesday, March 25, 2008 2:40 PM
To: counciltestimony@co.hawaii.hi.us
Subject: TESTIMONY 4 INCINERATOR MEETING 3/25/08
Attachments: I ncinerator.doc
Please see that this attachment is delivered to all Hawaii Council Members.
thank you
Richard Lionheart
959-4757
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Ref. To: t~
Ref. Date
3/25/2008
To: Hawaii Council Members: Public meeting: 3/25/08. INCINERATOR
I was a consultant and investor with SUDC Services Unlimited Corporation, an Australian
company which builds Waste to Energy Plants wrapped around 3 stage recycling and sorting
stations around the world. SUDC spent millions of dollars and thousands of hours over 3 years to
build a 2,000/lbs/day incinerator for metro Manila, Philippines. We partnered with leaders such as
Dillingham and First Balfour and secured funding through major banks for the project while
bidding on other projects in Thailand, Tunisia, India, China, Jordan and the Dominican Republic.
The plant was to be state of the art design for efficiency and emission controls and was a proven
plant. The design for these plants administered 400 to 500 employees to help with cheap labor
and high unemployment genreraly found in developing countries. The 28 million price tag,
operation cost, $25 tipping fee, and agreement were accepted and approved by the PI congress.
Although the incinerator was well above complying with the EPA's 1990 Clean Air Act and its
1995 and 98' amendment standards, maintaining the scrubbers and plant required too much
down time and the uncertainty we faced with emission and pollution controls, and the toxic ash
left behind, forced SUDC to abandon many of its incinerator projects In countries that were under
the EPA and now under the Kyoto Accord. SUDC's operations have moved to China, Jordan and
Tunisia.
Several associates who are in sales and manufacturing of incinerators in the US and abroad have
shared their concerns with me about future emission regulations. The United States was
pressured to take part in the Kyoto Accord September of 2007, and will be facing new, more
strigent emission regulations after the elections as the courts prepare to revise the Accord in
2009 and will present a new Accord in 2012.
Other then the waste, emission and pollution issues facing an incinerator, you will have to brace
yourselves for the cost such an enterprise entertains. Even if you can be assured of technology
that will conform to the new emission & pollution standards we will face in the near future, any
incinerator without the proper infrastructure, such as a minimum of 3 pre-sorting stations and
small enterprise to generate income from recycling, is bound to be a costly and embarrassing
mandate.
I ask that you reconsider the proposal to invest taxpayer money and put the county into more
debt for this incinerator. Please be responsible by exploring all other avenues that offer a safer,
environmentally fit alternative that will help bring Hawaii County into the State of Hawaii's Energy
Master Plan to make us more independent and a model leader for other states and nations. As of
now, you have showed yourselves to not be trusted with closed-door meetings, the 1.2 million
dollars f wasted taxes for consultations, and creating unnecessary stress and conflict among the
citizens and residents of Hawaii County. This is not the way to govern and lead.