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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0710.054 2010-2012 toin INDIGENOUS VS,:f Consultants, LLC To: Hawaii County Council Dom Yagong, Chair a rr From: Mililani B. Trask _ Indigenous Consultants LLC ' Re: Bill # 256 �- May 16th, 2012 -.o Dear Chair Yagong& County Council Members, I forward this testimony in opposition to the Bill being heard as Bill # 256. Background: For years there have been complaints about health impacts of the Ormat/PGV plant in Puna. Many allegations have been made &several cases filed. Some people have sued PGV repeatedly, recovering money for their injuries, but no data has been presented to the County Council verifying that existing complaints relating to negative health impacts caused by the existing ORMAT plant. In fact, in their testimony to the Council, Petricci, Martinovich &Saragusa have all said that they sued &were successful in recovering money from Ormat. Petricci has stated that over 70 people have sued Ormat/PGV&recovered "millions". These people have settled their claims but are now continuing to complain &are seeking additional monies from the County. [See http://www.bigislandvideonews.com/2012/04/27/video-a-case-against- geothermal-part-two/ Petricci testimony re: settlements at 1:44] The County has received their testimony but has not undertaken to verify the truthfulness of these allegations &has yet to obtain from these Complainants the amount they recovered for their alleged injuries. Until this is done, the County has no way of knowing if these complained of injuries have already been paid off. Mike Kaleikini stated to the County Council in Pahoa,that ..."PGV has no complaints outstanding from these folks", in other words,they already settled with the Ormat/PGV, the only thing left is to go after County funds for their "relocation". Comm. N /0•SY Ref. To: Ref. Date f 6 . The claims &data presented to the County Council were presented to the State of Hawaii Department of Health years ago, and were discredited by the State Department of Health. [See attached Article by Kevin Dayton, Health Survey Bogus, Tribune Herald, Jan. 12, 1997] The 2010 Census data verifies that over 43,000 people reside in Puna, according to Mr. Petricci, about 70 people have sued Ormat for health &other property injuries. A cursory review of the legal record indicates that all plaintiffs in these actions are haole, this is significant because the area of Puna is highly ethnically diverse. It is interesting to note that the court cases, like those testifying do not include Hawaiians,Asians & Pacific Islander populations who also reside in Puna. It is also interesting to note that although these Plaintiffs say they represent the people of Puna, no legal action were brought by the residents of Leilani Estates or Hawaiian Beaches. These cases (including class actions) all involve people claiming to be "the community", but they never publish a public notice for their meetings, they only use an exclusive email list. When they settled cases,these plaintiffs never published a notice to share the money recovered with the "community", rather,they kept it all for themselves. Comments to draft#1. 1. The County has not verified that any of the complaints relating to health are bonafide and are the result of the PGV plant. The County is moving without verification of these facts, to delete any use of funds for the "community benefit" & instead limiting all funding to health complaints of a few people in lower Puna who may already have settled out these claims &received money from Ormat/PGV. The County has received testimony that over 2 million dollars have been paid out by Ormat for these cases. These claims have been resolved &settled. BEFORE THE COUNCIL PROCEEDS,THE COUNCIL SHOULD HAVE ITS ATTORNEY CONFIRM WITH ORMAT THE NAMES AND AMOUNTS OF MONEY PAID BY ORMAT TO PERSONS WHO SUED IN ORDER TO DETERMINE WHETHER THEY HAVE BEEN ADEQUATELY COMPENSATED FOR THEIR INJURIES, INCLUDING INJURY TO THEIR PROPERTY. 2. Geothermal resources are assets of the public trust. Trust law requires that whenever trust assets are developed there be a direct benefit to the beneficiaries of the trust. The Community benefit fund now ensures this. Bill 256 deletes any public benefit in favor of a private benefit for persons who already recovered damages. The fund as created would be available for any one in need on the island.We now that other geothermal developments are moving&there is an RFP posted,what about others on the island who may need these funds in the future? If the County passes this &another ORMAT/PGV plant is built in WEST Hawaii,will the County then be required to establish another"relocation" fund? 3. The Bill does not focus on the problem, instead it places "blame" on all geothermal technology. The problem is Ormat Puna Geothermal Venture plant in Puna, PGV is deleted from the law&instead the new reference is for all geothermal production. By doing this, the Bill puts into our County law a presumption that all geothermal development is injurious to health!!! This is false, there are many clean &reliable technologies that can&are being used safely. In addition, State policy now recognizes that Geothermal resources are the most reliable&affordable source of firm power in Hawaii. This Bill runs counter to our State energy policy&the amendments in our State planning act just passed into law by the 2012 State Legislature. 4. SEC. 2-178 proposed language will prevent the County from ever using parcels it acquires under this `relocation plan' because the parcels will be "uninhabitable". Neither the State Dept. of Health nor the US Environmental Protection Agency has determined that the lands abutting the PGV plant are "uninhabitable",what is the basis for the County Councils determination?The County has yet to verify any of the allegations it has received in public testimony. Designating property"uninhabitable" does not make fiscal sense. Presently,the County cannot engage in geothermal development because it has no land in Puna or in any other geothermal resource area. If the County acquires a parcel because someone relocates,the County could then use this land for geo related activities & could also lease it or develop it (itself) for geothermal related activities like fertilizer production, hot house agriculture, fruit&food drying&timber drying. If the County Council passes this measure, it will be shooting itself in the foot. This measure will prevent the County from obtaining badly needed revenues from the appropriate development of its own County land. Puna is zoned for agriculture not residential use. The Bill favors &protects residential uses in an agricultural area, but does not allow the County to develop agriculture related businesses for revenues for itself in an ag. Zone because of unproven `ill health' claims by residential users !!! The Language in this Bill puts into County law a presumption that geo development requires "mitigation" of public health &safety threats because of"proximity to geothermal power production". Proximity is a problem for those next to the Ormat/PGV plant, not all other geothermal plants that have yet to be built. The people complaining have not shown any link to the Ormat plant&they settled & agreed to resolve their "alleged injuries' by taking money, they chose not to negotiate for relocation funds from Ormat,their plan was to settle with PGV&go after more money from the County relocation fund. 5. Purchasers of property are required to undertake a due diligence assessment before purchase. This Bill does not recognize this fact&allows people who bought land next to the plant to now claim they are injured by their own decision to make the purchase. 6. The Bill will establish a bad precedent by encouraging people like Martinovich who have sued Ormat&settled out, to sue the County for more &to reap a huge windfall of profit by forcing the County to pay exorbitant prices to acquire "uninhabitable" land. Martinovich is seeking$108,000 MORE THAN THE ASSESSED VALUE OF HER LAND from the County, and her terms are cash. [See http://findinghawaii.com/map/Big-Island/Puna/Lanipuna-Gardens/mis- number/244728, Martinovich is currently listing her property at a price $108,000 over its tax assessed value!]. 7. This Bill establishes a "buffer" &set back zone" of 1 mile, and sets a precedent that devalues and eradicates the value of all other private property within the 1 mile radius of the Ormat/PGV plant. If Martinovich relocates, her parcel could be used to generate revenue for the County, instead this measure will prevent the County&all other land owners within 1 mile from the plant, from ever using their lands in a productively. In addition, it may require that all persons residing within the "buffer" must`relocate' because of imagined health impacts. This legislative session, new laws were passed to facilitate geothermal development in all land use categories, (rural, urban, agricultural, conservation etc. etc.). This was done to support geothermal development next to agricultural areas so that farmers can benefit from electricity WITHOUT HAVING TO PAY HELCO FOR TRANSMISSION. If all revenue-producing activities are moved away from the production site,the only benefit will be to HELCO. Rates will go up because the PUC has already ruled several times that the HELCO can pass on to rate payers ALL COSTS for transmission. The County has only heard those who complain &who have sued &recovered damages. The County has not verified these allegations. The County has not heard from others including the IDG (or Ormat/PGV on the health allegations, cases & settlement payments).This measure should not proceed until the County has all the facts and has assessed the impacts of this measure on the County's ability to develop its own lands for revenue purposes. These comments are sent to facilitate efforts of the County to find solutions for a difficult problem. Solutions are available through clean &sustainable development approaches &appropriate technology. The problem in Puna is twofold: an old toxic plant and a few people who have successfully made millions milking a toxic cow. Neither relate to our Counties energy&fiscal crisis,which are the pressing issues the County should be addressing. Aloha Mililani B. Trask Indigenous Consultants, LLC • ' demand for, a pay raise from the I state.,If approved, a strike could i eto , Offcial • • He a lth , . ent survey 1g- the bogus p Opposition to PGV` 'ed likely created biased ect reports of'symptoms me- By Kevin Dayton ' Tribune-Herald , . %Id . A health survey of people who live near the Puna Geothermal er Venture plant in Pohoiki appears to; have a "real basic problem" that. almost guarantees the results will to .•be,l,skewed,:.according..to a state, an Department of Health official: t or he •,In; fact; Health:,Department`'' s Deputy. Director-Bruco.Anderson°. said,,an expert.;with"there.federal '• Centers s-,,,,:for. ".Diseade r:*Coittroi' advised him any survey,of healtlf,, pr+oblei iS`around"the geothbrfii rl#' plant likely will be biased. ' w; The main problem is people ty- being surveyed may •exaggerate 21. their descriptions of their health es problems because they oppose the all geothermal plant,Anderson said. e "The .people'-in-the-area-are'- intelligent,"Anderson said. "They know fully well what the effects of t., hydrogen sulfide;are, and there u s would be a tendency to over report those conditions." jl- "I don't know that there's any way of getting around that" in a study ,that.,:relies: on people's answers to a questionnaire,Ander- son said LaSt week toxicologist Marvin Legator announced his survey ►d found people near the plant corn- Jr plain.of health symptoms similar in to people who live near mainland to' petrochemical..plants that release g'' ;.hydrogen sulfide. ., Legator said those symptoms match,the know r.effects of long- ,< ' ' term low level exposure to hydro- jr' 'gen'sulfide gas. it Hydrogen sulfide is released at {` times=by, the :Puna' Geothermal )r Venture plant in Pohoiki, and the I- plant has been fined several times. r d t K,. Sege SURVEY] Page 12 "' 1 .c• P 1 '' pl.g" El 4 3 t& 3: D $4.T at ST i *Cr) ' impi ° Q o vi A�pp ''�� G A b M b 8 $ 4: �; a ,;. 0. g. _ t :N-G a . a , � C' p .io S. n a 4 u, -. �. o, o q �. •_.gyp A;e. 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