Laserfiche WebLink
<br />Testimony tothe Hawaii County Environmental Management <br />Commission <br />October 27, 2021 <br /> <br />Agenda Item: County Legislation <br /> <br />Res. 239-21 Draft 1 – Securing $2 Billion in innovative funding for <br />DEM wastewater projects <br /> <br /> <br />Aloha Chair Adams and Commissioners, <br />th <br /> On August 25, I sent the attached UIPA request for the financial <br />information for the Pahala wastewater project’s new design plans - fiscal <br />information which I never received. <br /> This UIPA request is just another example of DEM not providing <br />transparency and accountability for current unbuilt projects, so I just have to <br />ask: why hand ANOTHER $2 billion to the same department and contractors <br />for MORE design on the same projects? <br /> What if DEM is magically handed a blank check for $2 billion tomorrow – <br />the problem of spending it wisely \[with public transparency and <br />accountability\] remains unchanged. <br /> My suggested solution – in accordance with the State and Federal law of <br />environmental review - just do a programmatic County-wide wastewater EIS <br />to include reasonable consideration of all possible treatment alternatives <br />while providing broad citizen participation in the County’s wastewater <br />decision process. <br />This way, DEM can stop paying contractors to waste time and money on <br />endless “designs” that are never built – like in Pahala. <br />Mahalo for your attention to my suggestion to do a broad programmatic <br />EIS for all County wastewater alternatives before throwing good money after <br />bad. <br />Sandra Demoruelle, PO Box 588, Naalehu HI 96772 <br />