2025-01-16 George Magoon - Laserfiche WebLink

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From: George Magoon To: W PCtesti mono Cc: LPCtestimonv Subject: County of Hawaii General Plan testimony 1-17-2025 Date: Thursday,January 16,2025 3:29:57 PM County of Hawaii General Plan George Magoon testimony 1-17-2025 My Name is George 'Keoki" Magoon, born and raised in Honolulu Hawaii and familiar with visiting Kona Hawaii as a keiki since 1956 pre State Hood. I would like to provide testimony on the County of Hawaii General Plan. I am very familiar with the lands and ocean of the Big Island from living full time off and on the island since 1970. 1 own a home in Kohala and a farm in Keopu Hawaii. The unique Big Island has some very dynamic concerns because it is made mainly out of volcanic rock, ash and cinder. It's also a very large island with active volcanic activity, quakes, shakes and movement. This factor does create some very serious and different environmental concerns from a development stand point. The fact is that the land is porous, and all liquids/ pollutants quickly drop down into the lower levels below the island and enters or drains into the ocean very quickly. Sewage and other pollutants can quickly affect and kill coral and affect other marine life. Golf course fertilizers, nitrogen, soap and cleansers, house hold and yard cleaners, pesticides, does have a direct impact on the shoreline because of run off either on the surface or underground. An example is high levels of nitrogen or other toxins is killing the coral, or other recent impacts that create algae blooms supporting ciguatera toxin growth have affected the reef fish, poisoning the fish. We never had to worry about eating reef fish before major development took place on the island. There are also the more recent serious concerns from the human sewage entering the oceans and water ways creating new toxins and resistant bacterium that are dangerous to Human health, such as the flesh eating bacteria. Some of the new bacteria can eat bone, plastic and metal. I have personally gotten a scratch from an ophi shell next to the Milolii shoreline and am now dealing with a bacterium eating at my bone next to my knee replacement implant. This is a new serious concern that can affect all of us especially people with implants, including other kinds of implants. I don't want our keiki swimming in pollution. This is not a joke and is a real concern only to get worse!