Tag Archives: Puna Geothermal Venture

Geothermal, Lowering Electric Rates, Peak Oil, Renewable Energy Sources

‘Behind the Plug & Beyond the Barrel’

Richard Ha writes:

I spoke on behalf of the Big Island Community Coalition (BICC) at the Hawai‘i Island Renewable Energy Solutions Summit 2014 on April 30th, which was titled “Behind the Plug and Beyond the Barrel," and here's what I said: 

BICC mission

Good morning. Thanks for the introduction. I will use just this one slide, and you can read our mission statement on it, which is to lower the cost of electricity. “To make Big Island electricity rates the lowest in the state by emphasizing the use of local resources.”

I would like to spend some time talking about who makes up the BICC.

Dave DeLuz, Jr. – President of Big Island Toyota.

John Dill – Contractors Association, and Chair of the Ethics Commission

Rockne Freitas – Former Chancellor Hawai‘i Community College

Michelle Galimba – Rancher, Board of Agriculture

Richard Ha – Farmer

Wallace Ishibashi – Royal Order of Kamehameha, DHHL Commissioner

Kuulei Kealoha Cooper- Trustee, Jimmy Kealoha and Miulan Kealoha Trust.

Noe Kalipi – Former staffer for Sen Akaka, helped write the Akaka Bill, energy consultant

Kai'u Kimura- Executive Director of ‘Imiloa.

Bobby Lindsey – OHA Trustee

Monty Richards – Kahua Ranch

Marcia Sakai – Vice Chancellor for Administrative Affairs, former Dean of UH Hilo, College of Business

Bill Walter- President of Shipman, Ltd., which is the largest landowner in Puna.

These folks are all operating in their private capacities. I'm chair of the BICC, and the only person from Hawai‘i to have attended five Peak Oil conferences. I've visited Iceland and the Philippines with Mayor Kenoi's exploratory group.

As you can imagine, the BICC has strong support all across political parties and socioeconomic strata. People get it in five minutes.

Oil and gas are finite resources, and prices will rise.  One note about natural gas: the decline rate of the average gas well is very high. Ninety percent of the production comes out in five years. This is worrisome.

Hawai‘i Island relies on oil for sixty percent of its electricity generation; the U.S. mainland only two percent.

As the price of oil rises, our food manufacturers and producers become less competitive, as we all know. Food security involves farmers farming. And if the farmers make money, the farmers will farm.

What can we do?  By driving the cost of electricity down, the Big Island can have a competitive edge to the rest of the world.

Since rising electricity rates act like a giant regressive tax, lowering electricity rates would do just the opposite. And since two-thirds of the economy is made up of consumer spending, this would be like "trickle up" economics. If the rubbah slippah folks had extra money, they would spend and everyone would benefit.

 The lowest-hanging fruit:

1. Geothermal. Allows us to dodge the finite resource bullet. It is the lowest-cost base power. The Big Island will be over the hot spot for 500,000 to a million years.

2. We throw away many lots of MW of electricity every night. Hu Honua will probably throw away 10 MW for ten hours every night. PGV, maybe 7 MW for ten hours.

3. Wind, too.

Maybe HELCO will allow us to move the excess electricity free. They don't make any money on the throwaway power now, anyway. What if we used it for something that won't compete with them? Then people could bid for the excess, throwaway power for hydrogen fueling stations, to make ammonia fertilizer, and to attract data centers. Hawaii could become the renewable energy capital of the world. People would love to come here and look at that. As airline ticket costs rise, the walk around cost in Hawai‘i would not.

The BICC call for lowering electricity costs could leave future generations a better Hawai‘i.  And that is what we all want.

Geothermal

PGV Tripped Offline, All Went Well

Richard Ha writes:

Puna Geothermal Venture tripped offline a few days ago. It’s very encouraging to know that everything worked well with Civil Defense and our emergency procedures. This is a result of folks having raised concerns, which has heightened awareness.

As Patrick Kahawaiola‘a always says, “It’s about the process.”

Going through the process makes for a better result. So you have to aloha everyone on all sides of an issue.

HELCO just issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) for 50 megawatts more of geothermal power. There will be much more discussion. House Bill 160 draft 2, which has now crossed over to the Senate, is an attempt to bring “home rule” back to geothermal development, and to streamline procedures without sacrificing safety.

This is all about balance. How do we insure safety, while at the same time keeping costs under control?

If we can do that, we can protect the rubbah slippah folks, and that in turn helps all of us.

Council Councilman Greggor Ilagan issued this press release:

MEDIA RELEASE

At approximately 4 p.m. Wednesday, March 13, Puna Geothermal Venture, tripped off line and experienced a steam release. The steam was released through the plant’s Emergency Steam Release System, which abates hydrogen sulfide emissions.

Council Councilman Greggor Ilagan of District 4, went directly from the council meeting in Hilo to the PGV site in Puna. He met with PGV staff, including operations manager William E. Wiebe and plant manager Cliff Townsend.

“Everyone worked together quickly and effectively. PGV’s safety mechanisms were put into action immediately, the public was notified, and the appropriate authorities took action,” Ilagan said. “I feel it’s better to be overly cautious than unprepared.”

PGV staff monitored the facility and surrounding area through the afternoon and into the evening. Fire Department personnel also assisted in these efforts.

“Everything went well … precautionary procedures were implemented early on. The community did a great job. Those that were concerned chose to leave and seek information,” said Darryl Oliveira, Civil Defense administrator.

The Pahoa Community Center, under direction of the Department of Parks and Recreation, opened itsdoors for those who preferred to remain outside the area.

According to Ken Nagasawa, Pahoa Community Center director, “just one” couple arrived in the evening after the center had been notified to “stand down,” at approximately 6:45 p.m.

Hawaiian Electric Light Company indicated power to 20,095 customers in Waikoloa, Waika, Kailua, Kaloko, Captain Cook, Kuakini, Waiakea Uka and lower Puna, which included the PGV plant, was interrupted when HELCO’s transmission line tripped open. The PGV plant tripped off line following HELCO’s power interruption.

HELCO continues to investigate the exact cause of the event.

“I’d like to thank Civil Defense, Fire Department, Department of Parks and Recreation, and staff of the Pahoa Community Center for their swift execution of contingency plans,” Ilagan said. “To the residents of Puna and Hawaii County, thank you for maintaining calm with aloha, during this event.”

Ilagan, the District 4 representative, can be reached at 965-2712 or gilagan@co.hawaii.hi.us.

Biofuel, Food Security, Geothermal, Lowering Electric Rates, Peak Oil, Renewable Energy Sources

Energy & the Future of the Big Island

Richard Ha writes:

This past Friday I participated on an energy panel at the Hapuna Beach Prince Hotel called “Energy: Facing the Reality of Renewables.” Panel members were Jay Ignacio, President of Hawaii Electric Light company; Mike Kaleikini, who is General
Manager of Puna Geothermal Venture; and myself, as steering committee member of the Big Island Community Coalition.

From the Kona-Kohala Chamber of Commerce: “The 2013 Summit will further explore those initiatives via ‘panels of conversation’ on each topic. Three guests per topic have been invited to participate on panels to discuss their work with the Summit audience, ideas that inspire them and what they see as the future for Hawaii Island. Each panel will have 45 minutes of discussion followed by questions from the audience. We are pleased to have Steve Petranik, Editor of ‘Hawaii Business Magazine’ as our moderator again this year.”

There were five panels: Education, Sustainability, Employment, Energy and Health Care.

West Hawaii Today wrote about it in an article called Prospects of an All-Geothermal Isle Unlikely.

I started out by saying mixed messages are being sent out. Some say that the U.S. has enough oil and gas that we will soon replace Saudi Arabia as a world energy supplier. Using data and scientific methods, the Association for the Study of Peak Oil-USA (ASPO) has come to different conclusions. Its agenda is merely to spread the best information it has on this topic. You can learn more by viewing video at the ASPO-USA.org website.

I described the Big Island Community Coalition’s mission, which is to achieve, for the Big Island, the lowest-cost electricity in the state. Striving for a low cost solution hedges our bets. It is better to be safe than sorry. I told them that those interested in supporting this group can get on the Big Island Community Coalition mailing list.

I related how food and energy are inextricably tied together. Food security has to do with farmers farming. And if farmers make money, the farmers will farm! But while only two percent of the mainland’s electricity comes from oil, more than 70 percent of the electricity in Hawai‘i does. The mainland, of course, is our main supplier of food and our biggest competitor. As oil prices rise, Hawai‘i becomes less and less competitive.

As oil prices rise, and electricity prices rise, and farmers and other businesses become less competitive, local families have less spending money.

The answer is to find the lowest electricity cost solution. For if people have extra money, they will spend it. Two-thirds of our economy is made up of consumer spending.

Provided that the expensive and ill-advised Aina Koa Pono biofuel project does not go forward, we have a bright future ahead of us. In the pipeline is Hu Honua’s 22MW biomass burning project, and
next is 50W of additional geothermal. Add to that 38MW of present geothermal, and, assuming the old geothermal contract is renegotiated, that would amount to 110MW of stable affordable electricity. This would be more than 60 percent of the peak power use on the Big Island. Even if we do not count wind and solar renewables, this would put the Big Island on a trajectory of achieving the lowest cost electricity in the state.

What would happen if our electricity costs were lower than O‘ahu’s? We can’t even imagine it.

  • It would change our economy.
  • It would help our County government preserve services.
  • Fewer of our kids would have to go to the mainland to find jobs.
  • More of our money could be used for education, instead of paying for oil.
  • More people would have money to support local farmers.
  • Single moms would have less pressure than they do now.
  • Folks on the lowest rungs of the economic ladder would not be pushed over the edge.
  • There are lots and lots  of younger folks who want to farm. Maybe they could actually make money so they could farm.

I told the audience that we on the panel were all friends. But there is too much at stake for the BICC to give ground on our goal to make the Big Island’s electricity the cheapest in the state.

During the Q & A, someone asked what we each thought about an undersea cable to connect all the islands. I replied that our primary objective is to bring low cost electricity to the Big Island before we do anything else.

The audience liked that a lot and spontaneously applauded.

Biofuel, Community, Peak Oil

Hilo’s PUC Meeting Successful: ‘Enough is Enough’

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Richard Ha writes:

Monday night’s PUC hearing in Hilo went very well. The overwhelming sentiment was that enough is enough. People will not take any more electricity rate hikes.

Big Island Video News has posted a video about the PUC meeting.

VIDEO: Aina Koa Pono, HELCO rate hikes blasted at PUC hearing

October 30, 2012

Video by David Corrigan, Voice of Stephanie Salazar

HILO, Hawaii: Residents of East Hawaii packed the Hilo High School cafeteria, to tell the Public Utilities Commission what they think about a proposed electricity rate hike and and biofuel surcharge…. Watch the Big Island Video News video here.

It’s hard to remember that until the BICC dared say it, no one could imagine we could actually get lower rates. We have made good progress. People are now saying they want lower rates, and expecting it.

In its “Off the News” section this morning, the Star-Advertiser wrote:

Electricity bill too high? Wear slippers

“Not to make light of a serious situation such as rising electricity bills, or a consumer group’s desire to show solidarity.  In an era when pennies – and dollars – must be pinched to get by, solidarity over cost-of living issues is a good thing.

That said, it was interesting to see that the Big Island Community Coalition opposed to a surcharge to finance the use of biofuels to produce power, urged its members to wear rubber slippers to last night’s public hearing as a show of uniform solidarity. This being Hawaii, what other footwear would folks don for a pau hana (after work) forum?

Of course this may have been a smart strategic move. This way the PUC might have scanned the room and figured that every last person was opposed.  It also ruled out slippers as a footwear choice for commission members, too….”

It was a civilized hearing and most of the many testimonies were on point.

About 150 people were in attendance and it was a diverse audience, including: Faye Hanohano, Fred Blas, Jeff Melrose, Richard Onishi, Russell Ruderman, PGV people from Nevada, Jim Albertini, Deborah Ward, Patrick Kahawaiola‘a, Mililani Trask, John Cross, Ka‘u people, ILWU, IBEW, Carpenters, Laborers, HELCO group, the Aina Koa Pono (AKP) core group, Sierra Club and other community members.

Other than HELCO, AKP and those who needed to be cautious, most of the rest were allies of low-cost electricity.

In today’s Hawaii Tribune-Herald, Mayor Billy Kenoi made it very clear that he is against the AKP project for several reasons.

Kenoi criticizes biodiesel proposal

By ERIN MILLER Stephens Media

Aina Koa Pono’s biodiesel proposal isn’t a good deal for Hawaii County residents, Mayor Billy Kenoi said Monday, hours before the Public Utilities Commission was set to begin its first Big Island hearing on the subject.

“This to me looks like one of those deals, after 10, 20 years, we ask how did we let that happen?” Kenoi said. “Ultimately, there is no benefit to the people of the Island of Hawaii….” 

Read the rest

The Hawaii Tribune-Herald also wrote about the PUC meeting itself.

Online Extra: HELCO rate hikes blasted

By COLIN M. STEWART
Tribune-Herald Staff Writer

No more increases.

That seemed to be the main message relayed to members of the state Public Utilities Commission on Monday night by more than 100 Big Isle residents who showed up at a public hearing at the Hilo High cafeteria to weigh in on two separate electricity rate hikes proposed by Hawaii Electric Light Co. Inc….

Read the rest here

Tonight is the West Hawai‘i PUC meeting (Tuesday, October 30, 2012) at 6 p.m. in the Kealakehe High School cafeteria.

And the third and final meeting will be held this Thursday, November 1, 2012 at 6 p.m. at Farrington High School.

Wear your rubbah slippahs!

Articles, Geothermal, Where We Live

Hawaiian Airlines Article about Puna, Geothermal & Richard

1 Comment

By Leslie Lang

The August/September 2012 issue of Hana Hou! (the Hawaiian
Airlines in-flight magazine) has a good article about Puna and its geothermal energy.

Steam Dreams, by Paul Wood

It’s really an interesting article. Informative and easy to understand. I learned some things about how geothermal works:

To generate electricity, all you need to do is spin a coil of metallic threads inside a magnetic field (or, conversely, spin magnets inside a nest of metallic threads). The real question is: What force is going to do that spinning? The movement of water (cascades and tides) can turn a hydroelectric device. Wind will spin propellers. But most electricity is generated by steam, and to make steam you have to boil water. Oil, gas, coal and nuclear fuel are today’s favored methods for boiling water in power plants, and each comes with risks. But if you find natural steam in the ground, you don’t have to burn a thing because the earth has done it for you….

The article includes this quote by Wally Ishibashi (co-chair of the Geothermal Working Group with Richard), which I find thought-provoking:

What PGV doesn’t have is a huge smokestack—and that absence
is historic because Hawai‘i, though it contains zero natural deposits of fossil fuel, currently depends on oil for a whopping 90 percent of its energy. Last year the Big Island alone spent a billion dollars on oil. Wallace Ishibashi, head of the ILWU Hawai‘i chapter and a longtime proponent of geothermal, asks: “What do you think is our biggest export from Hawai‘i? Bananas? No way. Our biggest export is our own money. That billion dollars we spend on oil, we can keep that here.” Can we?…

And as a reward for reading to the end of the article, you will get to read about Richard:

In a democracy, every thorny problem needs at least one levelheaded farmer to think things through. Richard Ha served on the same Geothermal Working Group as Pat, and he too is a believer in geothermal. His thinking on it is Island-based and practical, and in fact Pat and many others regard Ha as the voice and conscience of geothermal, a citizen who has punched through the boundary between today’s energy crisis and tomorrow’s potential….

Click here to read the whole article

Geothermal, Government

‘We Will Be Financially Ruined’ Say Residents Near PGV

Richard Ha writes:

Have a look at this Civil Beat blog post by Sophie Cocke:

Geothermal Bill Stirring Up Public Discussion

A geothermal bill passed by the Big Island’s county council, and vetoed by Mayor BIlly Kenoi, is getting a lot of attention on the Big Island. 

Local residents have begun circulating a petition, which reads, in part: 

We humbly ask you to sign our petition before July 31st, 2012 asking the County Council of Hawaii to honor the Mayor’s veto of Bill 256, Draft 2. The bill would allow the County to create a one-mile safety buffer zone around the Puna Geothermal Power Plant.

There is no study and systematic scientific evidence that substantiates a health threat to the residents near this plant.

It continues on to say: "We who wish to stay and reside within and near the plant buffer zone will be financially ruined."

It refers to the online petition here, which you can still sign today (last day).

Lots of these folks living out near Puna Geothermal Venture (PGV) are shocked at what the County Council is attempting to do.

These are everyday, working people who want to take their community back. For them, it's about all of us, not just a few of us.

Community, Geothermal, Peak Oil

Very Successful Meeting on Geothermal Facts

2 Comments

Richard Ha writes:

Approximately 100 people showed up last night at the Leilani Estate Community Center to learn the facts about geothermal energy.

July 2012 030

Some of the testimony – from folks who have worked at the geothermal facility, as well as those who live close by – was especially impactful. 

I took 10 minutes to talk about a danger we are facing: Rising oil prices. If we have sincere dialogue among all the parties, we can start to see that rising oil prices will threaten our social fabric – and most of all, our spirit of aloha. And maybe we can do something about it. But we don’t have the luxury of time.

July 2012 026

Why can’t we, here on the Big Island, have lower electricity rates than O‘ahu? It would lessen pressure on the most vulnerable families, help farmers compete, help businesses create more jobs and prevent the export of our most precious resource – our children.

Mike Kaleikini, Plant Manager of Puna Geothermal Venture, talked about the history of geothermal production, mitigation measures and safety regulations. Mike has a way of explaining complex issues that is easy to understand.

Don Thomas gave a talk about the technical side of the H2S issue, which had a big impact on the audience. Both Mike and Don are very credible, as they have actual, real-life experience and speak about facts that are verifiable.

I would say the crowd was 70 to 30 percent for geothermal. But it isn’t a matter of “us” against “them.” It was the discussion and sharing of information that was most important. At some point, I hope soon, we can come to grips with the larger issues of rising prices, and how we can maximize our resources in a smart and responsible way.

July 2012 030

To cap things off, Mayor Billy Kenoi showed up after the mayoral candidate debate in Pahoa concluded. He did a good job of explaining, in a commonsense way, why there is no need for the council bill. It is redundant and adds problems that are unnecessary.

July 2012 030

All attending were Councilman Fred Blas as well as Representative Faye Hanohano.

Late last night we received a note from Petra Wiesenbauer, Jan Kama and Loren Avedon, who organized the meeting:

Richard, Mike, and Don,

Mahalo for an outstanding presentation tonite to the residents of Leilani Estates and community members.  There were many comments after the meeting that people had a better understanding of how the plant operates and its impact on the community.  Whether or not they understand the difference between H2S and SO2 is questionable, but at least they feel more comfortable knowing that they are not as much at risk as they thought. 

And Petra Wiesenbauer, who lives in and runs a B&B in Leilani Estates, sent along some further comments of her own about the meeting (as well as the photos in this post):

I think it was an extremely good meeting last night. I am so proud of everybody for staying focused and respectful.

Don Thomas was absolutely excellent. It was so good to have him there with all the numbers of emissions, comparisons of different regions and being able to putting things into perspective, i.e., the Volcano blasting out 600 to 1,000 tons of stuff every day. He was able to dismantle some of the myths and clear up rumors and anxieties.

Mike was really, really good, too in making transparent what is going on at the plant and the strict restrictions they are under in regards to their monitoring, their chemicals and general equipment maintenance.

That the Mayor was able to come at the end was an added bonus and gave the whole meeting a great finale.

I talked to Jeff Melrose a little and he said, that they are working on a brochure/informational materials about disaster response/evacuation, safety and other community concerns regarding geothermal development. He is such a great guy as well and so knowledgeable about all the Big Island planning and land dealings. He thought it was the best meeting he has been to in a long time about this whole controversy and he thought it was amazing, that something like that had not been done much earlier.

I give so much credit for the course of the evening to Loren [Avedon], our moderator. He was great and made sure there were no lengthy statements, self indulgence, lamentations and other behaviors from any of the audience that could have been counterproductive to the outcome of the meeting.

 The whole meeting came about as a result of this note that had been sent around about the July 19th County Council meeting:

“There was something odd about today’s County Council meeting…all of us testifying at the Pahoa office were in opposition to the legislation, with the exception of three people.  Apparently the anti-geothermal group had received word that the bills would be postponed for 30 days.”

Those of us who attended the County Council meeting to override the Mayor veto of Bill 256 were prepared for more than 100 folks picketing the County building, and protesting loudly. But no one showed up.

The email back and forth resulted in someone asking me to post their testimony on my blog, which I did. Then on the 22nd, this note was sent around:

 “We would actually love to take you up on your offer to come here and give a talk to interested residents here in Leilani. It would be a good way to also promote the petition http://www.change.org/petitions/hawaii-county-council-petition, and therefore it would be great to do it as soon as possible. We were wondering if you had time on Tuesday at around 6:30pm. If not any other day that is convenient for you just let us know?”

By the next day, I had confirmed that Don Thomas, Wally Ishibashi and Mike Kaleikini would attend. All this happened really quickly.

With only two days notice, 100 people showed up, standing room only. I was amazed.

• Here is a recent Civil Beat article, titled “Arguments Against Geothermal Are ‘Absurdly Elitest,’ Says Scientist.

• You can still sign the Hawaii County Council petition here, which asks:

We humbly ask you to sign our petition before July 30th, 2012 asking the County Council of Hawaii to honor the Mayor’s veto of Bill 256, Draft 2. The bill would allow the County to create a one-mile safety buffer zone around the Puna Geothermal Power Plant. [Read more at the link]

Geothermal, Government

Sign Online Petition to Support Mayor’s Veto of Bills 256 & 257

2 Comments

Richard Ha writes:

Lots of folks are starting to organize so they can get their voices heard re: the attempt to override Mayor Kenoi’s veto of County Bills 256 & 257.

One example is these Leilani Estates folks, near Puna Geothermal Venture (PGV), who have set up this online petition in support of the mayor’s veto.

I recommend signing this petition. Anyone who supports the mayor’s veto (regardless of whether you live in Puna) can sign. Click here for the petition.

Background: I previously wrote about the bills here. In that post, you’ll read that I testified against the bill, “which alters the geothermal royalty funded-Geothermal Relocation and Community Benefits program, takes away community benefits, and creates a one-mile ‘buffer zone’ around the Puna Geothermal Venture plant.”

This video from Big Island Video News gives some information about the bills, too. The Mayor says everything is in place to do what needs to be done without taking away community benefits.
Geothermal, Government

Another Resident Speaks Out re: Bills 256 & 257

5 Comments

Richard Ha writes:

Another resident who lives near Puna Geothermal Venture and her testimony against Bills 256 and 257:

My name is Denise Fleming. I stand before you to speak on behalf of my partner Randall Brady and myself. We live about a mile from the PGV boundary in a house we built, own free and clear, and have lived in since 2007.

Mahalo to Chairman Yagong and the Hawaii County Council members who insist on an override for making this hassle necessary, and a sincere mahalo to our fellow taxpayers who made this teleconference to voice our displeasure with the override effort possible.

WITH ALL DUE RESPECT TO THE OFFICE HOLDERS WHO SUPPORT OVERRIDING THE VETOED BILLS 256 & 257 WATCHING THESE PROCEEDINGS:

If playing election year politics throughout your service in office were halted, Big Island residents could experience measurable improvements in their lives.

There are several obvious measures our elected officials could enact immediately to improve life for ALL Big Island residents. Instead, some council members devote their time, and measure their legislative success, by the number of bills they introduce and pass to create laws and regulations; prohibitions and mandates. This generally results in HIGHER costs and LOWER living standards and expectations, along with poorer services and restricted freedoms every time the Council takes a vote. 

Your time in office could be put to better use.

Example #1:
My partner and I built a house off Kapoho Road and moved into it in 2007. It took us nearly 4 frustrating years to get our road named (a requirement) and an official numbered address (also a requirement) …clearly a longstanding and ongoing potential health, safety and security concern for the numerous rural homeowners unaffiliated with homeowner associations and/or subdivisions island wide. Streamlining the lengthy process and clearing out the backlog of assigning house numbers for homes located on unnamed back roads would be a significant service to rural residents.

Example # 2:
Adopting a Big Island-appropriate common sense residential building code for Hawaii County residents, instead of adopting the budget-busting, unaffordable, one-size-fits-all approach from the wizards of smart at Command Central Planning in Washington, D.C. would also be a great improvement.

THIS brings us around to the vetoed Bills 256 & 257. Wisely allocated and carefully monitored, the geothermal asset funds could help to address issues unique to our Lower Puna ohana. This could include, (in ADDITION to relocation and monitoring air quality and health), community improvements, recreational facilities and evacuation sites in the event of fires, floods or other major natural disasters in our rural community.

Presenting residents with POSITIVE ALTERNATIVES, as opposed to designating a proposed 1- mile PGV buffer zone, resulting in downgrading our neighborhoods into a blighted wasteland and destroying property values and living standards WELL BEYOND the buffer zone would be vastly preferable to turning our entire community into a no-man’s-land.

An alternative plan..

OCCUPY THE BUFFER ZONE! 

Subsidized electric service, property taxes or other incentives that would encourage residents to choose to remain in the area and mitigate any nuisance involved with living near the geothermal plant would be using the geothermal relocation/community benefits fund for the positive purpose it was originally designed.

The geothermal asset funds are intended to BENEFIT the residents of Lower Puna… not to violate our rights, divide our community and erode our living standards and property values. It is wrong to use the funds for the exclusive advantage of one segment of the community which would result in the destruction of the entire community. It is an example of injustice, a violation of trust and an abuse of power. Shame on those who would would attempt to resurrect Bills 256 & 257. It would be an unwise choice to make for your future career advancement. 
It is not pono.

Mahalo for your attention.

Geothermal

Why County Council Shouldn’t Override the County Bill 256 Veto

5 Comments

Richard Ha writes: 

I'd like to share with you a letter to the editor I submitted to the local newspapers. It's about the recent County Bill 256. I wrote about it here. The bill passed, but then was vetoed by Mayor Billy Kenoi. Tomorrow the Council meets and will discuss trying to override the veto.

I wrote this letter because I think it's very important to have a solid base of facts to start off with. We need to give ourselves some time to really think about these issues, in order to make good decisions.

I remember so clearly what Kumu Lehua Veincent told me early on. He said, "What about the rest?" And that's what I think is so important here. Oil prices are rising, and there are plenty of people just barely getting by with high electricity rates and other, related, rising costs. We need to worry about the rest.

Dear Editor,

I feel strongly that the County Council should not override the Mayor’s recent veto of geothermal bills before we understand the issues better.

Even the homeowners’ association in Leilani Estates, a subdivision near Puna Geothermal Venture, supports the Mayor’s veto. We agree we must take a systematic and scientific look at the situation before making far-reaching decisions.

Did you know?

No scientific study done anywhere in the world, ever, has shown that hydrogen sulfide levels such as exist in Puna produce the negative effects anecdotally claimed by some.

Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) comes primarily from chemical and bacterial action in the earth. Bacteria even produces hydrogen sulfide in the human gut.

In Hawai‘i, we monitor for two different levels of H2S. 

1) The Hawai‘i State Department of Health (DOH) regulates H2S at "nuisance levels,” which is defined as what one can smell. The human nose can pick up the H2S smell at about 5 parts per billion. 

2) The Office of Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) regulates H2S "safety levels." According to OSHA, it’s safe for workers to spend 40 hours per week around H2S when levels are at or below 10,000 parts per billion. This is far, far below levels considered unsafe (which are measured in parts per million, not billion) 

Some other facts:

• Many millions of people around the world spend their vacation time and money on health spas and onsens that use water heated via geothermal action. During these vacations for health and well being, they are exposed to levels of H2S much higher than Puna residents have experienced in 99.99 percent of their time in Puna.

• Ambient levels of H2S in residential Rotorua, New Zealand, are routinely 100 to 1000 times higher than the level our DOH regulates for.

• In personally observing Iceland and the Philippines’ geothermal operations, I was interested to note that Hawai‘i is much, much stricter about regulating hydrogen sulfide.

• Even the “blowout” at PGV that happened some years ago was within OSHA’s safety levels. OSHA’s permitted H2S exposure – up to 10,000 parts per billion for eight hour days, five days a week – is the equivalent of 2800 ppb continuously over 24 hours, indefinitely, and this is about what was detected at the perimeter of PGV during the "blowout." The long-term, ambient H2S average in Puna, near the geothermal facility, is closer to 2 ppb. 

• The Hawaii State DOH has said that there are no health issues related to emissions of H2S at PGV.

We need to base our decisions and laws on the facts, not unsubstantiated fears.

Richard Ha
Hamakua Springs Country Farms