The URL can be used to link to this page

Home My WebLink AboutINDIVIDUAL COMMENT EMAIL - 128900Mori, Ashley From: Sent: Tuesday, October 29, 2019 4:18 PM To:Planning Internet Mail v Cc:General Plan Subject: Opposition to Hu Honua i.J J Aloha County of Hawaii Planning Commission, The following, (quoted below) statement on pg. 81 (Strengthening Energy Diversity) Policy no 270, says:Promote Biomass energy and fuel production using wood chips from exotic/invasive trees." __ fftji THAT quote needs to be totally deleted/eliminated from the County Plan, (NOT EDITED) for the followingreasons: State and County governments' duty and responsibility is to serve and protect the public's health, safety andpublictrusts -NOT to "PROMOTE" a specific business or industry, and Not to "Promote"the private-profitseekingventuresofprivatebusinesses, industries, and investors. Biomass Energy(as it is currently being attempted by Hu Honua/Honua 01a) is NOT CONSISTENT withtheHamakuaCommunityDevelopmentPlan. Biomass Energy(as it is currently being attempted by Hu Honua/Honua 01a) is NOT CONSISTENT withHawaiiCounty's Declaration of Climate Emergency. * Biomass Energy(as it is currently being attempted byHuHonua/Honua Ola) is NOT CONSISTENT with Hawaii County's Declaration of Climate Emergency. Biomass Energy(as is currently being demonstrated by Hu Honua/Honua Ola) is NOT cost effective andWOULDincreaseenergycostsforALLconsumers. The $.22 PER KWH cost, demonstrated in the purchase agreement with Hawaii Electric is TWICE the cost of SOLAR and also SIGNIFICANTLY higher than SolarWITHStorage. (That purchase agreement and the PUC's handling of it are currently being litigated.) (Seeadditionalcommentregardingcostsbelow) It has been demonstrated and proven that Biomass Energy(as it is currently being attempted by Hu Honua/Honua Ola) is extremely inferior to other forms of energy: Hu Honua has promoted itself as "Clean Energy" HOWEVER: Hu Honua will burn close to 20,000 acres ofEucalyptusplantationtreesatatimewhentheIPCCtellsusthatthemostimportantthingwecandotomitigatetheimpendingcatastropheofClimateChangeisplantmoretreesinordertosequestergreenhousegasses. Burning wood emits 1.5x more greenhouse gasses than burning COAL in producing equivalent electricity(perKWH). (IPCC Taskforce on Greenhouse Gas Inventories (2006) and Laganiere et al. (2017)) Burning Wood emits 3x more greenhouse gasses than burning natural gas and approximately 2x more GHGthanburningnaptha(the fuel for Big Island's largest electricity plant). (IPCC Taskforce & Laganiere (as above)Hu Honua/Honua Ola will emit 300,000 TONS of greenhouse gasses per year. This is more than 1,000 tons ofGHGperday. (Hu Honua Clean Air Permit Application - Greenhouse Gas Addendum) A Government of Canada computational tool shows the cumulative Greenhouse Gas emissions from cutting,burning and regrowing trees to be worse than burning coal until at least 50 years after the initial harvest 1 128900 • factoring in the transport distance from Waiakea, Pahala and Hamakua Eucalyptus plantations and modelingrapidlygrowingCanadiantrees, though understanding that the Big Island trees grow more rapidly.) This is 'best case' scenario, 50 years to achieve parity with coal. More likely, accumulation of GHG fromburningwoodwouldbeworsethanburningcoalindefinitely.See: <bioenergy greenhouse gas calculator> https://apps-scf-cfs.rncan.gc.ca/calc/en/bioenergy-calculatorTheEPAattemptedtodeclarebioenergytobe "greenhouse gas neutral". The EPA then requested endorsementofthispolicytwicefromitsScienceAdvisoryBoard (SAB), in 2014 and again in 2017. On both occasions theSABrefusedendorsement. Hu Honua's prospective fuel-source trees have been growing for over 20 years. Their harvest cycle will be every7years. This offers no chance to even approach carbon neutrality. Further Extrapolating this example - Kamehameha Schools, owner of the HH/HO fuel-source trees, hasindicatedthatthefirst3,000 acres of trees harvested will not be regrown in deference to 'other uses'. Again, thismakescarbonneutralityand 'green energy' a moot talking point. THUS the sustainability of biomass/fuelelectricalgenerationisNOTCERTAIN. Hu Honua's hydrogeology modeling states the transit of discharge water through the Hakalau Aquifer fromtheinjectionwellstotheoceanwilltake, on average, 50 days. At 21 million gallons per day, that means thattherewillbe1billiongallonsofheated, contaminated water in the aquifer at steady state, with raises concernsforcontaminationofthedrinkingwaterwells. This realization may have triggered the Department of Water Supply's demands reflected in their letters - whichareSTILLUNANSWERED! Biomass Energy(as it is currently being attempted by Hu Honua) would create threats to human health and safety(that the State and County have neglected) directly related to both drinking water protection ANDtransportationandpublicsafety Transportation and safety impacts from Biomass Energy- (demonstrated by Hu Honua/Honua Ola), which will send 5 to 6 logging trucks per hour down Highway 19 from Hamakua to Pepeekeo and from Pahala andWaiakeatoPepeekeo, one truck every 10 to 12 minutes. Honua Ola/Hu Honua would use 400,000 to 450,000gallonsofdieselayear(1100 to 1235 gallons per day) to harvest, transport, process, trees and remove waste.That amounts to approximately another TEN MILLION POUNDS of CO2 per year. Further, the State DOT and Hawaii County have completely failed to address the very real hazards and trafficdangersthatwouldbecreatedbytheHH . HO project if approved. The State DOT. and county have been calledupontoaccountforthisfailurenumeroustimesbymyfellowconcernedHamakuaneighbor, Donald Rudny. Huge Solar farms with Battery Storage, totaling 60MW, near Kamuela will come online by 2022 and will sellpowertoHELCOat11cperKWh. Hu Honua will sell power to HELCO at 22c per KWh. The state and county governments and the respective agencies (and the PUC) have failed miserably in theirresponsibilitytogatheraccuratedataandfactsregardingBiomassEnergy(as it is currently being attempted byHuHonua) and have thus made extremely grave errors in their agency duties, hearings, determinations, decisions, and permitting processes. Hawaii County should NOT be blindly"PROMOTING" this polluting,expensive, unsustainable form of energy when the county has not demonstrated the ability to make sound,responsible decisions that represent the economic, public health, and environmental future that Hawaii CountyRESIDENTSdemand. 2 This language "Promote Biomass energy and fuel production using wood chips from exotic/invasive trees"appears to me, and likely many- to be the result of the influence from private, for-profit, special interest- in ourcountygovernment - and as such, it should be immediately removed. Further, I believe that I/we deserve anexplanationofhowandwhythatstatementcametobeincludedintheCountyPlanDraft. This proposed statement is disrespectful and insulting to the hundreds of us - community members who haveconsistentlyaskedourstateandlocalgovernmentsandagenciestoDOTHEIRJOB, to protect the public trust,our health, safety, environment, and our quality of life, and us - who have worked to protect the economic andenvironmentalwellbeingofourislandandourcommunitiesFROMtheveryBiomassEnergywhichthisdraftproposes "PROMOTING". It is beyond UNACCEPTABLE!! On a final, more personal note: I, like many of my neighbors and fellow islanders, can see, hear, smell, (andultimatelyBREATHE) the highway from my Honokaa home. Many who live closer to the currentlyproposedBiomassEnergyfacilitythatisHuHonua/Honua Ola are finding their community, their air, water,safety, and lives even more threatened by this polluting industry that your draft seeks to "PROMOTE".I/we should NOT have to battle my/our own state and county governments and agencies in order to protectmy(our) AIR, WATER, NEIGHBORHOOD, Quality of life, and economic and environmental justice. Yoursalariesarepaidfrommy (our) taxes to protect these things, our public trusts -NOT TO "PROMOTE" HuHonua/Honua Ola or anything other profiteering, private-interest, business or industry that directly diminishesthesepublictrusts!! Mahalo for your time, Big island resident Hamakua district 3