HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 1062.037 2006-2008
Aloha Fellow Islanders
By: Bill Kelly
There need not be any marginal farmland in Hawaii. The County Camcil has a
green waste program to keep green waste from landfills. The Council's fioresight in
providing mulch at no costto residents makes hauling mulch affordable for farmers and
yard enthusiasts.
This program allows me, a small perm&-adhue farmer, to augment the meager
soil of my form in Hawaiian Arses. Hawaiian Acres has a great climate, peg devetion,
abundant rainfall, and sunshine for many sub-tropical fivits and vegetables. What all-o'
this island needs, with its multiple micro-climates, is this green waste soil amendment.
There is virtually no food crop that cannot be grown in some area of our island, with our
own green waste. What we need to do is use all as waste to best advantage for
improving our sal. If the residents ofHawaii can continue to use this green waste, at
bauling cost, we can make this island pot only a breadbasket for our state, but grow our
farmeWindustry to more exploration of exotic food products, to all ofthe Pacific Rim.
The County Council is proposing to bran our waste to make electricity for our
grid, with only a by-product of ash. This does not work. The Council should not indebt
our future tax revenues before we have made a product, as well as a profit, for the County
to tax.
The Council needs to continue its foresight 25-30 years down the road, as
Councils of the past did. Canty Councils before this time helped aggregate mining
companies Glover and Yamada make firture landfill area, while making a taxable profit.
The County needs to financially assist Glover and Yamada onto firtwe landfill sites,
where they can mine aggregates for profit that are located at future sites where we will
bury only what we must. Then we can use the current pits (with federal oversight) that
past councils had the foresight to plan ahead for.
We, as a county, can go into the finue without accumulating 150 million dollars
of debt, for an oil fired blast furnace, with an operating cost of 12 million dollars a year.
What we need to do, in the here and now, a continue our recycle, reclaim, and reduce
programs. We can add composting of wet garbage to our mulch program; we can add
ground up glass as sand to our mulch, from our bottle program. The dredgmgs from as
harbors and drainage ditches could be made available to residents, Sather improving our
soils, with a by-product of preventing flooding and less landfill usage.
We need to improve our toxic waste program. Currently, the County only handles
gasoline, oil, paint, batteries, etc. a few days per year. We need 3 or 4 collection points
available continuously. Toxic products would then need to be shipped to a bum point.
/We can pay for these programs by using the 12 million dollar yearly operating
cost of the proposed waste to electricity program. Please don't sign away our fiuture into
such a huge debt. We can only afford programs that can be paid for with prudent taxation.
As proof that this mulch program is working to make better soils for our island, I
would like to say that the mulch gets hauled away as first as the County can produce it.
Much Aloha,
Bill K uy
2C~ Comm. No.I 1
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