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+--- Thread: GEOThermal Stuff (/showthread.php?tid=10808)
GEOThermal Stuff - Sue Nomie - 10-07-2012
GOT THIS EMAIL AND THOUGHT I WOULD PASS IT ALONG.
Just in case you weren't aware of recent developments with geothermal, I thought I'd send this reminder about an opportunity to have a say in what happens to our home on the Big Island.
Under the guise of a "clean energy project" the Department of Energy is preparing an Environmental Impact Study (EIS) on, among other things, Big Island geothermal development. The initial public comment period on what should be included in this study expires this Tuesday (October 9th). Assuring that the appropriate health and environmental studies are included may be the biggest roadblock to potentially massive industrialization of lower Puna .
In recent months nearly 20 Geothermal corporations have leased 50 acre parcels all over lower Puna, from HPP to Opihikao in anticipation of a green light from the federal and local government to expand drilling and development of geothermal energy. They are encouraged by a largely uninformed and silent local community. Few people seem to be aware of the risks associated with drilling on the side of an active volcano. A small sample of the these risks include:
1)Increased seismic activity. Drilling and high-pressure pumping are proven to change and destabilize underground pressure masses. There is virtually no understanding of what kinds of seismic events may be triggered by displaced gasses and reinjection of fluids (both water and chemical). Doing it on the side of an active volcano makes it even more of a mystery. These corporations simply lease the land with limited liability so they can walk away at the first sign of trouble. What about all the families in the area that can't?
2)Health affects of increased air pollution. Unleashing volcanic gasses along with the release of caustic artificial chemicals like Pentane (highly toxic) used in the drilling operation. While the trade winds usually spare Lower Puna from the majority of Kilauea's Vog, planned expansion of Geothermal sites could put all of east Hawaii in the path of a new toxic plume source. While the industry claims they can self regulate, we must demand independently monitored air sampling stations throughout the community. The ongoing results from these air "sniffers" should be published online for public review.
3)Chemical poisoning of local and county groundwater. There seems to be little concern for water pollution caused by re-injection of contaminated water laced with highly toxic, caustic chemicals, not all of which have been disclosed. This contamination has already been demonstrated in similar hydraulic fracturing operations on the mainland. This is your primary opportunity to demand that the PEIS assure that the Big Island's enormous fresh water reserve will not be contaminated due to loose geothermal regulations. The US has an abysmal track record for allowing industry to pollute fresh water sources. It is our responsibility to protect our resources.
4)Constant high decibel noise pollution. This is already a primary issue for those close to current geothermal sites causing much suffering along with reported disturbance to wildlife.
If you haven't already weighed in to protect Puna's future quality of life along with protecting the time, energy and love you've already invested here, please take a moment from your day to let them know that you have a voice, and that you will hold them accountable for undermining and potentially poisoning your environment. Please make your comments constructive and urgent. I think of them as troubled and misguided children that are about the burn the house down. They need loving guidance.
• Email to hawaiicleanenergypeis@ee.doe.gov
• Electronic comments via the PEIS Web site at http:/www.hawaiicleanenergypeis.com
• Facsimile (fax) to (808) 541–2253. Attention: Hawai’i Clean Energy PEIS.
• U.S. mail to Jim Spaeth, U.S. Department of Energy, 300 Ala Moana Blvd., P.O. Box 50247, Honolulu, HI 96850–0247.
For those that are really motivated, perhaps the most powerful thing we can do is contact the local and national media to put the spotlight on what is ultimately a shady money grab at the expense of the local population and environment. This is as story as old as time, documented in history books and movies like China Town and Erin Brokovich. If you think it can't happen here, you haven't been paying attention.
Some background as I understand it:
In a nutshell, Geothermal is not even economically viable. This recent push for geothermal development is an attempt to bring in Billions of Federal dollars to fund an inter-island electrical cable that would further support HELCO's monopolistic hold on Hawaii's energy grid.
HECO and HELCO (effectively the same) would like to sell the concept of geothermal to us as means of lowering our electricity bills but when questioned why current geothermal production hasn't yet achieved this, they blame maintenance costs for electrical lines. Considering that the majority of the federal funds would go to laying an under-ocean inter-island electrical cable, a technology that is notoriously prone to costly maintenance issues, it is hard to imagine that their story will change in the future.
As an aside, it has been estimated that with less than 80% of the Fed money on the table for this project, a solar array could be installed on every household in the state, thus providing a decentralized and much more secure source of energy for Hawaii. That apparently makes too much sense for policy makers to handle or they just don't have enough vision to see how they'll make money from it.
More info is available here: http://punapono.com/index.php/hilo-eis-meeting
If we succumb to fear or choose to put our heads in the sand, they will have won. Fortunately there is a strong legacy of environmental and health protections in this country that suggests that we have an excellent chance at making this project too cumbersome and politically troublesome for them to pursue.
Thanks for taking the time to read this and please forward it your friends and neighbors.
With much aloha
RE: GEOThermal Stuff - liskir - 10-07-2012
Mahalo Sue. Will pass it along.
"An idea whose time has come cannot be stopped" Dr. Ron Paul 2012
RE: GEOThermal Stuff - EightFingers - 10-08-2012
I wonder about geothermal in other parts of the world.....what's their experience? Are there lessons that can be learned? Can someone compare Hawaii's geothermal to say, Greenland? Seems like if there were huge problems, wouldn't they have been discovered already?
RE: GEOThermal Stuff - Jay Bondesen - 10-08-2012
I agree that more people should get involved in the process to help determine what will work best for everyone. The answer will not be to put solar panels on every home. There will still be businesses and apartments and others that solar systems will just not work for. Even homeowners would have to make pretty radical lifestyle changes to disconnect from the grid. And of course there has to be some way to store the power for nighttime use as well as for the areas that don’t get as much sun. There is no way with today’s technology to eliminate a power grid supplied by various sources of electricity. Unfortunately our County has a huge distribution system because of its size and the low population density here means we all pay more individually to have it.
I can’t imagine anyone living here supporting the idea of industrializing Puna. Our island doesn’t need that much more electricity. I think that more development would only be viable if there was a way to export the excess power to other islands and most likely right now Oahu would be the only one that could use it or afford it. So let’s resolve that all of our power resources are limited to serving Hawaii County. That might be a goal everyone can get behind. But don’t just eliminate Geothermal as one of the options. There has to be a safe way to utilize one of our own resources. Maybe we have found it or maybe not but I’m not ready to stop considering it.
Jay
RE: GEOThermal Stuff - Carey - 10-08-2012
There are many areas around the world that have used geothermal electric generation, with San Francisco having one of the largest & longest running geothermal electric plants, and this has been looked at in previous threads... but GREENLAND does have much higher sustainable energy potential utilizing hydro-electric power, as they are not as geothermal active as ICELAND, one country that is in a volcanically active area that does utilize geothermal...
RE: GEOThermal Stuff - kalakoa - 10-08-2012
"One-size-fits-all" doesn't.
I'll grant that PV has its limitations, but to say "the answer will not be to put solar panels on every home" is about as useful as "don’t just eliminate Geothermal as one of the options".
Electricty is a simple supply/demand equation: the big energy companies want to build more supply so they can profit by meeting demand. Supply costs are then multiplied by the overhead of delivery.
Reducing consumption has a far better return on investment than construction of new power sources. How about "don't just eliminate conservation as one of the options"?
RE: GEOThermal Stuff - Bullwinkle - 10-08-2012
cost / benefit needs to be addressed imho. The current direction seems to send the benefits off island, while keeping the cost of environmental challenges right here on the BI
Lets get a decision as to who owns the energy first........... and what Oahu is willing to pay for it..............
Or whether it is more pragmatic (and efficient) to build factories (and jobs) on the BI rather than exporting the energy (jobs) off Island
I'ts a long term local planning issue imho - and some one is dropping (or has sold out) the ball
RE: GEOThermal Stuff - nana valley - 10-08-2012
Seems more people might be concerned if they knew where the 50-acre leases (by 20 companies) are located!
RE: GEOThermal Stuff - pahoated - 10-08-2012
Wind power - heavily subsidized = taxes & fees to all users, intermittent
Solar power - even more heavily subsidized, daylight peak power
Geothermal - no subsidy required, pays royalties, 24/7/365 base load power
Geothermal is the son of the mother volcano and it is the blessing and bounty of Pele. The sea and moon may be more powerful than Pele.
RE: GEOThermal Stuff - Bullwinkle - 10-08-2012
or how come we pay 50 cents a kw hour......... while sitting (owning) on a vast low cost geothermal resource - grin
nah lets buy more overpriced oil from the corporations, and sell off our energy to the lowest bidder - grin