HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0825.049 2010-2012 Page 1 of 2
Murashige, Laura
From: Suzanne Wakelin [malamatree @gmail.com]
Sent: Monday, October 15, 2012 2:52 AM
To: counciltestimony @co.hawaii.hi.us
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Cc: Paul Kuykendall
Subject: Bill 292 (10/17/2012) New Public Testimony
Aloha Council Members,
Mahalo for your votes to protect the public from the noise of night-time drilling in the previous
readings for Bill 292. We are affected neighbors of PGV who have had our night-times
disturbed during PGV's most recent bout of four month long, 24/7 drilling and I have some more
comments and testimony for you for the upcoming vote on Bill 292 on October 17th.
We have been hearing PGV's lawyer say that they do not want to be reasonable neighbors and
that their profits are more important than the well-being of their neighbors. They say that because
they have a permit from the Hawai'i County Planning Commission, they can continue to drill 24
hours a day when it suits them until they reach 60MW power output...
Despite PGV's lawyers assertions on this matter to members of the County Council, the Hawai'i-
Tribune Herald [1] and some people [2] in the Leilani Estates community, we see that this is not
actually true.
Condition 15 of the Geothermal Resource Permit (GRP-2) [3] issued by County of Hawai'i
Planning Commission to PGV on 2/6/2001 states that"..the permittee shall secure the approval
of the State Department of Health Clean Air Branch and shall comply with all NSP
requirements and standards."
The NSP document to which the GRP-2 refers is the Hawai'i DoH Environmental
Management Division, Non-covered Source Permit 0008-02-N [4] issued 12/15/2009
Attachment I, Standard Conditions"...(6) This permit does not release the permittee
from compliance with other applicable statutes of the State of Hawai'i, or with
applicable local laws, regulations, or ordinances"
In addition, the DLNR issued PGVs geothermal well drilling permit for KS-15 [5] on May 31st
2011, valid for a period of 365 days. PGV continued to drill until early July 2012, over a month
later than that permit expired. We do not know whether they actually had a permit from DLNR
to cover the entire period in which their drilling was carried out.
On May 7th 2012, Hawai'i Department of Health granted a Variance [6] to PGV which permitted
them to make "excessive noise" while conducting geothermal well drilling until June 30th 2012.
We do not know whether they actually had a permit from DoH to cover the entire period in
which their drilling was carried out either.
Should PGV decide that they want to drill again, they will have to apply to the DLNR for a new
drilling permit. One of the conditions of that permit is:
"The permittee shall observe and comply with all valid requirements of County, State, and
Federal authorities to the land and permittee's operations including but not limited to, all
Comm. No. • ^-'•
Ref. To:
10/15/2012 Ref. Date 1
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water and air pollution control laws and those relating to the environment"
We very much appreciate Hawai'i County Council for passing Bill 292 to protect us from the noise of
night-time geothermal drilling. For all of the reasons listed above, as well as those listed in my
submitted testimony in the previous reading of the bill, the issued permits clearly show that the action by
the Council to pass this bill for the well-being of the people is valid.
Thank you for your consideration,
Suzanne Wakelin, Ph.D.
Pohoiki Pahoa resident
References
[1]http://hawaiitribune-herald.com/sections/news/local-news/council-backs-ban-geothermal-drillinq-night.html
[2]http://www.voutube.com/watch?v=VGYxs5ZITA4&t=2m26s
[3]Geothermal Resource Permit(GRP-2)issued by Hawai'i Couny Planning Commission,2001
[4]Hawai'i poH PGV Noncovered Source Permit,2009,Attachment 1,Standard Conditions
[5]State of Hawai'i DLNR,Geothermal Well Drilling Permit,KS-15,issued May 31st,2011
[6]Hawai'i DoH Variance(Docket No. 11-NR-VN-49)for Community Noise Control,issued May 7th,2011
10/15/2012