High Carbon Hippies

[pw-admin]

Puna Geothermal is located precisely where it should be. Leilani Estates is not. The CoH should never, ever have approved that subdivision following the Kapoho Lava Event.

[kalakoa]

The controversy serves a useful purpose: it slows everything else down.

[AaronM]

Pre-2018 I lived as close to PGV as possible. Closer than anyone in Leilani. My house lined right up with the plant!

Noise was an issue during drilling(big time) and then during some rare nights when the wind was being weird. 95% of the time the noise from the plant was non-existent to minimal. And no, there were no chemical releases either despite the tinfoil party line.

The vast majority of the people who came to complain at the PGV meetings moved into their home after the plant existed. Please do more research next time you buy a house! And don't rely on any disclosures, actually drive around the neighborhood and park with your windows down at different times of the day to get a feel for noise or traffic or whatever might disturb you.

PGV should expand and take over LE. About 60 more wells ought to cover it!

[kalianna]

I'm glad to hear you say this. I've run into people who say they have had illnesses and know of deaths caused by PGV. These people are already suspect in other arenas so I was sceptical to begin with. Your comments are very helpful in confirming my gut feeling.

[MyManao]

PGV should expand and take over LE.  About 60 more wells ought to cover it!

Hopefully the county agrees with you.. and will see the wisdom in leasing all the buyouts to Ormat for that purpose. Seems like a no-brainer to me.

[Wao nahele kane]

We looked at Leilani Eststes but decided against it due to the nearby inundation of craters, obviously displaying a record of high eruption potential. Even though the majority of the craters were East of Leilani, the prevailing winds would have obviously blown any gasses from an eruption or even basic offgassing in general from remaining hotspots, right into the Leilani subdivision.
So, I really have no sympathy for anyone who buys there and then complains about offgassing and then pretends to be certain it's the plant. Nonsense, the offgassing was there long before the plant moved in.

Yes we took a gamble moving into this area, but just because we're willing to gamble doesn't mean we're willing to play what are self-evident, impossible odds.

[AaronM]

PGV should expand and take over LE.  About 60 more wells ought to cover it!

Hopefully the county agrees with you.. and will see the wisdom in leasing all the buyouts to Ormat for that purpose. Seems like a no-brainer to me.

The County will end up leasing a subdivision to Ormat but it will not be LE.  It will be the little subdivision that is being quietly swept under the rug - Lanipuna Gardens.  Directly Makai of PGV down the Pohoiki side, Lanipuna Gardens was an idyllic neighborhood of ag lots that were originally planned to continue the length of Pohoiki Road but the project collapsed after the second phase due to the Japanese economic crash of 1989 and the property occupied by Puna Girl Farms ended up being roughly the end of the line.

However the true death nell was when COH, in the person of Douglas Le, decided in 2021 that the subdivisions roads barely totaling 4 miles worth were not going to be rebuilt despite a veritable cornucopia of funding.  Anybody know a seasoned takings attorney?

As much as the County may regret it now, they platted the land, they sold the building permits and they took the property tax payments. For decades.  For them to unceremoniously roll up the streets and say that our neighborhood is now closed is tantamount to theft.  Beyond regret, I suspect that greed is the true motivator here because by choosing to not restore the roads, the County placed a heavy thumb on the scales of those who decided whether or not to take the HUD buyout.  With no road, taking the buyout was a no brainer for most people because without access your lot is essentially worthless.  

So by squeezing people into the proverbial corner, almost every Lanipuna landowner took the buyout thereby paving the way for Ormat's expansion and the County's future largesse.  Personally, I am looking forward to negotiating with Ormat directly...





KALIANNA - Check out the thing called the Puna Geothermal Relocation Fund that was a slush fund for so-called injured parties to have their properties purchased at a premium price if they could show that their tinfoil hat was tied on too tightly.  Seriously - with no medical proof you could claim PGV had injured you or your family and your lot was then purchased at a price higher than the open market would ever pay.  Fun fact: several fund recipients simply moved elsewhere in Puna Makai.  One in particular merely moved a few miles directly downwind!

[kalakoa]

they platted the land, they sold the building permits and they took the property tax payments. For decades

County did the same thing to the rest of the worthless subdivisions; residents there apparently enjoy the abuse and neglect, or they're too poor to afford better.

[leilanidude]

So by squeezing people into the proverbial corner, almost every Lanipuna landowner took the buyout thereby paving the way for Ormat's expansion and the County's future largesse. Personally, I am looking forward to negotiating with Ormat directly...
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PGV is not expanding the overall footprint of the plant for their expansion, so maybe you should have taken that County buyout, but you should certainly feel free to try to negotiate your little lot's sale to Ormat. I doubt that they want it though as they have only been leasing the land. In looking at the property tax site, with yearly sales checked, it looks like less than 25% of Lanipuna Gardens has been purchased by the County.

[bgiles]

Kane is spot on. Even in LZ 3 it's a gamble, but I feel safer in Mt. View than Bellingham WA and nearby Mt. Baker because the Mt. St. Helens blast woke me up on Whidbey Island, over 100 miles away, 1980. Videos alone of the Kapoho eruption were enough for me because I remember 1960 very well. To most, it is ancient history, like Pompei. Still, glad we got some time in Kapoho, and have friends in Leilani. It's beautiful, except when it isn't.