There have been questions about general safety issues regarding geothermal. I asked Mike Kaleikini, Puna Geothermal Venture’s (PGV) Operations Manager, what safety requirements exist that PGV must comply with.

Here are some of the requirements that exist today:

County

GRP – Geothermal Resource Permit, which in general is a land use permit. The GRP does, however, require many safety-related requirements.  If an upset situation occurs at PGV (such as a release of steam with hydrogen sulfide), PGV is required to notify the County (Civil Defense, Fire & Police). Operations personnel are trained to respond to the potential upsets. If the upset condition had the potential to impact nearby residents, Civil Defense, Police and Fire personnel would be involved.

LEPC – Local Emergency Planning Commission. This is an entity required by State’s Hazard Evaluation & Emergency Response department. The group is made up of Civil Defense, Fire, Police, Industry and community representatives. PGV participates as an industry representative.

State

HIOSH – Hawaii State Occupational Safety and Health has jurisdiction over the facility. PGV is required to comply with all applicable Safety regulations…..just like other industrial facilities (like HELCO, etc.). HIOSH has general duty safety oversight of the facility. They have had inspections and expect to have more in the future.

DOH – Department of Health has a host of different departments that oversee safety at the PGV facility. All aspects of safety are covered in the numerous required permits for the PGV facility.

*Clean Air Branch – Noncovered Source Permit (NSP) regulates all aspects for air quality from our facility. This includes noise, hydrogen sulfide and any other potential emissions.

*Safe Drinking Water Branch – Underground Injection Control (UIC) permit regulates all injection fluids and protects the ground water source at the location.

*Noise and Radiation Branch – Responsible for regulation noise at the facility location.  Permitted noise levels are included in the NSP permit.

*Hazard Evaluation & Emergency Response Department – Responsible for regulating emergency response requirements at the facility.

DLNR – Department of Land and Natural Resources oversee the geothermal resource at the PGV site. A DLNR representative is always on site when drilling is in progress.  This is for regulating all drilling activities as they occur. Safety and compliance with DLNR rules is of the priority when drilling.  DLNR also has general duty responsibility for overall safety at the facility.

Federal

US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 9 has several different departments with regulatory oversight of the PGV facility.

*Safe Drinking Water – Underground Injection Control (UIC). This is a redundant regulatory oversight of the PGV facility.

*Emergency Preparedness & Prevention Section – coordinated by Mike Ardito, who recently (July 2010) inspected PGV and found PGV to be in compliance.

There are several other federal safety mandates that PGV must comply with. There is a Risk Management plan, a Hazardous Waste Operator Response standard, and others.

Several of the above entities also require a facility Emergency Response plan.