Video by David Corrigan | Voice of Stephanie Salazar
Editors note: there are two versions of this story, both taking different angles. In the video featured above, we delve into the back story of Hawaii County’s plan to handle a possible geothermal related emergency in Puna. Below, you will find a detailed look at the actual procedures, detailed and shared with the public for the first time on September 15th.
LEILANI ESTATES, Hawaii: A detailed evacuation protocol in case of a geothermal-related emergency was introduced to the residents of Leilani Estates on Saturday.
Mayor Billy Kenoi and key fire, police and civil defense officials revealed the set of procedures during the association’s general meeting.
These pamphlets were handed out at the meeting, showing this color-coded advisory scale, and other information.
Battalion Chief Gerald Kosaki explained that there are two basic types of emergencies that could arise at the Puna Geothermal Plant, located within a mile of a large portion of the Leilani Estates subdivision. The first is a chemical spill. The second type is of greater concern to surrounding neighborhoods… a steam release containing Hydrogen Sulfide.
In the event an H2S release, the fire department will spring into action, using the alert level scale we posted below.
John Drummond with Hawaii County Civil Defense said the agency is ready to alert residents in case of emergency by way of telephone messaging.
Police also verified their role in the event of an evacuation. Assistant Chief Marshall Kanehailua was present to answer questions.
| EXTENDED VIDEO: Hawaii County officials detail the geothermal incident response procedures during a Leilani Estates homeowners association meeting on Saturday, September 15, 2012 | [FMP poster=”https://www.bigislandvideonews.com/media/newsupdate.jpg” width=”280″ height=”153″]https://www.bigislandvideonews.com/media/2012/09september/0918geothermal.mp4[/FMP] |
Mayor Kenoi also said that the county will be developing the framework for a health study; a framework that he says will be devoid of a political agenda because of how it will be developed. Peter Adler will be tapped to help the County develop the guidelines for the study. Kenoi says Adler specializes in finding consensus in contentious relationships.
The topic of a health study and evacuation plan certainly has been mired in politics over the last six or seven months.
When County Council Chair Dominic Yagong called a special council meeting on geothermal in Pahoa earlier this year, battle lines were drawn. Many residents living near the Puna Geothermal Venture plant outside Pahoa said they were suffering health effects because of the industry in their backyard. Opponents of geothermal were again ready to take a stand.
Yagong, who was also a challenger for the mayor’s seat up until his primary election loss, introduced two high profile bills dealing with geothermal energy at the county council.
On bill aimed to redefine the geothermal relocation and community benefits program, with an emphasis on the safety of the residents wishing to put distance between themselves and the energy producer. The bill also called for a health study.
The other bill would have ordered Civil Defense to create a specific emergency plan for the community located near geothermal industrial sites, which would include an evacuation drill. It appeared – at first – as if the administration was in support of the idea.
Public testimony was passionate. The bills passed the council, but were vetoed by the mayor, who did not see eye to eye with Yagong on the legislation.
At the same time, a large group of residents from Leilani Estates, many of whom were present for Saturday’s meeting, came forward with concerns about Yagong’s legislation.
The council tried to override the mayor’s veto, questioning Civil Defense Administrator Ben Fuauta on the sudden withdrawal of his support for the bill.
The veto override failed, leaving many Puna residents who are in opposition to geothermal heart broken.
The mayor’s rebuke has not been forgotten. Boos rained down on the Kenoi as he tried to testify during a scoping meeting related to the Hawai‘i Clean Energy Initiative in Hilo this past Friday.
Although Kenoi stood before a much more friendly crowd at Saturday’s Leilani Estates meeting, there were still some hard questions being asked.
Jon Olson has testified many times on the need for an official emergency plan. On Saturday, Olson had some more questions about the procedures being described by the administration. In particular, Olson said that national trends are backing away from using the utility as a technical advisor in times of crisis, following the BP oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. Kosaki said the County must use Puna Gothermal Venture as the technical advisor in case an incident were to occur.
Another resident wanted to know what the plans are for further geothermal development in the area?
The mayor assured the crowd that rumors of a thousand megawatt industry on Hawaii Island is not in the works. He said that along with the 38 megawatts already being produced by PGV, HELCO is looking into another 50 megawatts in a recent Request For Information. Kenoi said the RFI suggests that further development is more likely to occur in Kona, where the transmission needs exist.
Kenoi is punishing himself. He’s so illogical thinking we are going to be amazed by his numbers and shady deals with his friends.. I’m glad he got booed. I wasn’t there but I agree with the crowd. Good job~! What bothers me is he basically looks like he is ignoring the public concerns. They are leaving it up to the facility because if some catastrophe should happen, the facility will take control of the area. See what happened in the gulf. The people had health issues and the company had all the rights to ignore them. The fire chief saying, “we are not the experts” is what they are going to say if there is a bad blow out. I would worry about it all if I lived in the area. They should have the right to sue geothermal. I watched everything at the gulf of mexico unfold. Once they destroy an area, the company has full control..not emergency, or the police department. People had to move where they sprayed corexit and have gotten sick from toxic poisoning. I wouldn’t trust geothermal or believe they will take care of the community if there is an emergency issue. I’m against them doing it in Kona and on Moku O keawe in general. It’s far from clean energy.
What a snow job. Those poor people have no idea. No thousand megawatt plan? Really, better ask the governor, PLDC, and geothermal working group about that. The PEIS meeting he was booed out of was all about the cable to carry power to Oahu. No shame this guy, he is about the only one that doesn’t know about the plan. Why they leasing all the land Billy? Come on bra.
Nice that the Leilani group got another Dog and Pony Show. I wonder if it was as much a “success” as their “Truth about geothermal” meeting a couple of months ago.
When do they plan to take the show on the road to all the many residents located by PGV who are not part of the Leilani dues-paying group..?
Many of the Leilani Association people teamed with PGV to testify against the veto override for Bill 257. (the bill was to make sure we get a proper emergency response plan)
Leilani Association has also been getting monies from the Geothermal funds for various items…
What is wrong with this picture?
To those who keep suggesting these unfounded claims of geothermal somehow being “unclean”: GET REAL.
When the majority of our energy needs are met by importing and burning oil, the argument against geothermal should never be that it unclean. Do you realize how stupid you sound? Do your research (unbiased), check the facts, and direct your uproar at the greatest of evils before knocking the cleaner, cheaper, indigenous alternatives.
I mean come on!
Unk, the more I research about geothermal energy on top of a live volcano, the more incredulous I become that anyone in their right mind could call it a ‘clean, renewable’ source of energy. It’s only ‘renewable’ by drilling more and more deep holes in the planet, just like oil. It produces the same noxious, deadly hydrogen sulfide that oil refineries spew, in addition to a long list of other toxic chemicals and heavy metals (including benzene, ammonium, arsenic, lead, cadmium, sulfates, chlorides, nitrites, boron, fluorides, beryllium, radon, asbestos, radionuclides, mercury and sulfur dioxide). As long as the system is working correctly–and we know it DOES blow out, and that these toxins are routinely vented during maintenance–most of us don’t have to deal with ongoing chemical exposure and chronic illness. That is, unless you live close to the plant and are receiving chronic low dose exposure.
However, these chemicals are being reinjected into the ground, rather than being open-vented like prior to PGV. What does the daily reinjection of millions of gallons of this toxic sludge do to our groundwater, our beaches, our warm ponds? This process is similar to the infamous ‘frakking’ for natural gas wherein high pressure liquid fractures subterranean geology in order to release gas stores. Geothermal frakking is about sending toxic sludge into the far reaches of our island geology to make it magically disappear. How many geothermal holes can a beaucolic place like Puna handle before the volcano starts sending lava through these seismicly sensitive operations? My guess is that wouldn’t be so good for tourism, electric bill rates or property values. In fact, people that wish to see more drilling in Puna will be in for a rude awakening when the drill is in their own backyard, when they deal with chronic illness due to constant low-level emissions. I can’t imagine any resident of Puna wishing to turn it into a dangerous industrial wasteland so that other islands can keep their lights burning night and day.
I am so curious about the details of the financial deal PGV has made with Leilani residents. And I want to know why only Leilani got the County presentation. Why not have a fully public, open meeting at Akebono so ALL Puna residents can be apprised of the shiny new emergency plan and upcoming drills? Kenoi’s political wrangling with peoples’ peace of mind over geothermal has been a spectacle. I will not be at all surprised when he pulls backroom deals for a bogus health study that falsely claims everything is just fine … go drill, drill, drill–the people and the `aina be damned.
On the other hand, I see that Harry Kim has taken a long hard look at his prior work to further geothermal development and sees some huge errors, which he speaks honestly and openly about–how refreshing. If Kim is elected mayor, I plan to hold him firmly accountable on his word to fix mistakes and take the island into a truly energy-sustainable era.
‘Clean’ and ‘renewable’ are sexy words that get thrown about as often as ‘natural’ and ‘diet’ in the food industry–relatively meaningless without strong criteria to define a collective expectation of the terms. Even without such criteria, in general terms there is no more renewable, clean source of energy easily available with today’s technology than SOLAR power. Increased geothermal drilling will increase, not decrease electricity bills on our island–it’s one of the most expensive forms of ‘renewable’ energy around, including liability costs. Its potential for permanent damage and ecological disaster are well known, and figured into the cost of doing business.
As the cost of solar technology for small and large scale projects continues to plummet, I never hear of any group devoting precious life energy to combating solar power on the basis of its ecological, health, and cultural risks and impacts. That geothermal drilling has so divided the people who stand the most to lose in the event of another disaster tells me it is a wolf in sheep’s clothing, a true Trojan horse. We could instead be uniting to create a fully solar-powered island, augmented with appropriate small-scale technologies that do not create risk of ecological and health disasters. An island we can all be proud to share as a shining answer to growing global energy crises, and living testimony of the power of local control over resources, and cooperation in their distribution–rather than the profit motive that’s driving the planet off a cliff.
It shouldn’t surprise me but it is interesting to watch. So many of us that post on this site and others are just so sure of our ‘facts’ and so quick to judge other opinions. Sharing information and disagreeing with some is an opportunity to bring people together, to have them share your philosophy and support your beliefs. A civil discourse is what can move this forward and that is what the group in Leilani Estates is trying to encourage.
Yes, many of us help defeat two recent Bills that passed through the County Council. We don’t believe that they were the right response to questions in Puna about health and safety. That doesn’t mean we don’t have the same concerns or don’t care but it means we want a say in how they are addressed. So we have continued to press the mayor and other county agencies to keep working on it. We write emails, hand out flyers, developed a web page, and we asked the mayor and his team to come and tell us what they are doing to continue the process, all of this on our own dime and time.
The Leilani Board of Directors ultimately allowed the County agencies to give a presentation at a Board meeting because they have responsibilities to the membership. There are no financial incentives from PGV to Leilani or to the group that advocated for the presentation. Perhaps because we aren’t antagonists ready to shout down any opinion but our own they felt the effort and expense was worthwhile. I am not completely satisfied with what was said but it’s another step in the process and the point is to keep it moving.
I will keep pushing for a full health study in order to have current facts on which to base any new legislation. I will also encourage the use of safe geothermal energy, and I want to make sure that it is, and will continue to be, safe. I’m not the expert so I won’t spin the facts my way to support my position. I do like to use electricity however so I will insist that the County get fully involved in finding safe and economical ways of having it available for everyone.
Jay, I really appreciate your even, steady response. I too believe that residents want the truth and that we all seek the best thing for the highest good.
You all might be interested in this report: http://www.nationofchange.org/trillion-gallon-loophole-lax-rules-drillers-inject-pollutants-earth-1348233686
Keep in mind that the PGV wells are Class V, not Class ii. Still, read between the lines..