That application was once again deferred during the Dec. 6 meeting after the commission failed to come to an easy consensus.
Fuke said the well, which draws from the Maunakea aquifer, located below the Mauna Loa aquifer, will limit its water extraction to 200,000 gallons per day.
To reconcile these purposes, Bunn said the county has to examine the value of the proposed use of the resource against potential other uses, but added that much of the aquifer’s water is unused and simply flows into the ocean.
Hilo resident Cory Harden opposed the project on environmental grounds, saying the well would compromise the health of the watershed, while the bottling plant will introduce more than half a million tons of plastic per year into the environment.
Fellow resident Kamaki Rathburn delivered an impassioned statement in opposition of the project, explaining that the bottling process will be unavoidably loud, will produce fumes and will release ozone into the atmosphere.
“They can only come in if they’re invited.” After public testimony, Replogle filed a motion to deny the application for the permit, arguing that water commodification has proven to be detrimental to the public in cases such as Flint, Michigan, where public water has been contaminated by lead for years, while multinational corporation Nestle bottles water from the surrounding Great Lakes with impunity.
Although a majority of commissioners voted to deny the application, without a quorum of four, the motion failed.
Aguinaldo said he would be in favor of the resolution if Piilani Partners can include sufficient community recompense, but Replogle advised that he likely will vote against the project again next month.
Along with the Special Management Area use permit matter, the commission also deferred a request for a time extension to allow Piilani Partners to comply with rezoning conditions for the site.
However, the commission did approve a request by Piilani Partners to revoke a previous Special Management Area use permit for the location, which was granted in 1992 to allow the construction of a never-developed fish processing plant.