HomeMy WebLinkAbout2025-01-17 Edward Burdick Testimony From: Edward Burdick
To: LPCtestimony
Subject: General Plan
Date: Friday,January 17,2025 3:22:15 PM
Dear Council Members,
Big Island is a mostly rural County with limited development potential due to
topography, expensive energy supplies, and limited infrastructure including roads, water,
sewage, power, and healthcare.
In fact, Hilo would only make 928 in size compared to a small State of Washington.
The General Plan for 2045 reads like a UN Agenda 2030 outline with some local flavor. It is
my contention that the UN Agenda applies mostly to metropolitan areas to which Big Island
has none. Based on this premise, the plan for Big Island should not adopt UN Agenda speak
but be crafted with local input based on Big Island's unique needs and challenges.
There is an entire section dealing with climate change. The fact that climate is changing is
nothing new to mankind but the thought of attempting to change climate by any action taken
by Big Island residents and government is an act of wasteful spending and folly. If Big island
were to achieve a so-called net zero target, it would have exactly zero impact on Earth's
climate. There are many examples now around the world where attempts to try and achieve
net zero are causing energy prices to soar and electric grids to become less sustainable.
Germany,UK, and even the State of CA are moving toward unsustainable energy distribution
with their current mix of"renewables". The current fire in one of the world's largest battery
plants in California spells out the extreme risk and high cost of using solar with battery
backups.
One of the primary goals for Big Island should be viable, sustainable, lower cost alternatives
for electricity production as this alone will open doors for other sustainable development.
This means moving away from misinformation on solar and wind and looking at more
reliable modular nuclear and natural gas options. Without moving in the direction as a first
step, there is no such thing as sustainability. There is no safe way to store solar power at scale
and the risks are very high. Please observe what the tech companies are doing in conjunction
with their new data centers.
Regards,
John Burdick
92-8470 King Kamehameha Blvd
PO Box 7966
Ocean View, HI 96737
Sent from Yahoo Mail for Whone