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I wonder if the geothermal people are having a voice in that.
I wonder if having your home and property buried under 50 feet of lava isn't a bigger problem than occasional steam from PGV. But sure, let's keep pointing the finger at a rare local source of something we on Big Island consume and don't have to import, that's renewable to boot.
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To be clear, I am one of the most ardent and vocal supporters of PGV and the benefit that their electricity provides. I think that they should drill as much land as Mr. Lono Lyman wants to lease/sell them. I do not follow the conspiracy that PGV caused the eruption.
That being said, the reality is that not all people in Lanipuna were big fans of geothermal. Many were not as evidenced by the several who sued PGV and the County until the County used PGV funds to buy their property from them (anyone remember Aurora Martinovich?).
It doesn't take a deep thinker to come to the conclusion that eliminating as many potential complainers as possible is in the best interests of PGV. By choosing not to rebuild the 3 roads in Lanipuna Gardens, the County has erased roughly 80 lots and significantly reduced the chance of future PGV related lawsuits.
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reduced the chance of future PGV related lawsuits
Hardly. Look at some of the lawsuits lately. "Affects bird migration patterns" requires neither roads nor homes, and glosses over the part where County created the problem in the first place by granting a subdivision plat on the rift zone.
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reduced the chance of future PGV related lawsuits
As an attorney friend once told me, "a good lawyer can sue anyone for anything."
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I guess you missed the part where the County used close to a million dollars worth of PGV royalties to pay off several neighbors of the plant. So you can tell your attorney friend that "a good lawyer could and did successfully sue for nothing".
80 less potential litigants is nothing to sneeze at and bully for you if you can save road construction money at the same time.
I have not seen the "Affects bird migration patterns" lawsuit pertaining to PGV. I wouldn't mind reading about it, what's a good source for that?
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(10-26-2021, 05:36 PM)AaronM Wrote: Sure, that makes sense for PGV to reduce their potential for liability. However, in trying to protect PGV (if that's what's really happening), the County has succeeded in increasing their own potential for liability.
Which wouldn't be novel or unique considering how much the County has sacrificed their own good for the benefit of private interests.
seems like those residents who wish to have infrastructure done need to just spend the 40 bux and file a suit against the county based on how other equal communities have had roads restored and the others who have also paid property tax have not. Perhaps it would have helped if there were a cinder pit at the end of Hinalo.
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have not seen the "Affects bird migration patterns" lawsuit pertaining to PGV
They haven't used this strategy yet, but it's just a matter of time. It's been used elsewhere to hinder development.
others who have also paid property tax
Part of the County budget strategy is to collect taxes with no intent to ever provide services.
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"Part of the County budget strategy is to collect taxes with no intent to ever provide services. "
This is true. I once asked Helene Hale (who was effectively the Mayor in the 1950s) about that. She admitted that the plan was to create thousands of lots which would generate taxes and not provide services. They never expected people to actually move here... and it took awhile. But they came.
More callous, in my opinion, is the fact that the county Board of Supervisors approved the Leilani subdivision just shortly after the lava destruction of Kapoho. Insanity... or simple greed. The large landowners from which the Puna subdivisions were created did well. Concurrent with the creation of the Puna subdivisions was the fact that the County Board of Supervisors ignored the county codes in place at the time requiring paved roads to county standards .... another gift the the developers.
The county's liability is huge.
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(10-26-2021, 08:27 PM)kalakoa Wrote: others who have also paid property tax
Part of the County budget strategy is to collect taxes with no intent to ever provide services.
Its strange, people can camp out on the mountain all day wind rain or shine to stop something that I think might be of benefit to the residents of the island, yet things that need to be done, things that the county should be doing, nobody cares enough to call them on it. There are leaders and there are followers. the last couple years has done nothing but galvanize this perspective for me.
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The county's liability is huge.
Irrelevant simply because nobody will ever file suit -- and it would have to be in a Federal court, because the State courts would just handwave like they did with the challenge to Ige's "permanent emergency", using the circular logic that "Ige's orders are lawful because he is the elected governor".
