I’ve attended at least 10 organized group geothermal meetings on the Big Island within the last two years, and I have talked to numerous individuals.

It is my sense that an overwhelming majority of Hawaiians on the Big Island support geothermal.

It is also my sense that folks on O‘ahu have no idea that opinions have changed from 20 years ago.

I was directly involved with the Thirty Meter Telescope process. Many more people support geothermal than supported the Thirty Meter Telescope. And Robert Lindsey, Big Island OHA trustee, testified at an OHA hearing that it is his sense that the overwhelmingly majority of Hawaiians support the Thirty Meter Telescope.

The rubbah slippah folks here on the Big Island are well aware of the connection of oil prices to high electricity costs. And they are well aware that the folks on the lowest rungs of the economic ladder will get their lights turned off first – and too often they will be Hawaiians.

Everyone knows that geothermal is proven technology, cheap, gives off no emissions and occupies the smallest footprint. Those who don’t know it probably don’t live on the Big Island.

Geothermal, assuming it is developed in a pono way, is a right of the native people to have a better life for themselves and for future generations