08-13-2015, 08:31 AM
quote:
Originally posted by gypsy69
Sugarloaf, good morning and more importantly welcome to the Punaweb.
Living next to a geothermal power plant is not something new for some of us, including my entire family from here. Being close neighbors with this geothermal plant has helped form the feelings we carry about the plant, or industry today. We know if we lived in a condo on Maui, or In Waikiki, our feelings may be entirely different about this geothermal production. Our quality of life may be entirely different as well?.
Unfortunately we were living here when several or all of the many geothermal plant mishaps and accidents have occurred. Some of these accidents were very frightening to have to live through as kids (1991 blowout) for example. You could sense the fear or concern from everyone involved, including your parents. Yes accidents can and do happen all the time within a mile of your home, usually not by geothermal power plants though. Blow outs like these can have lasting effects, nightmares, change quality of lives, and can leave uncertainties or questions for some time.
Without getting into it to much let me just say, I appreciate your opinion (sugarloaf) on the foul smells we continue to live with here. To help answer your question though about possible alternative motives? We have no real hidden motives against the cause of these oders, anymore than enough is enough with the human ginnie pig treatment from geothermal. The facts that we live with no help offered after these accidents, comparison environmental data, or health studies provided to calm or answer legitimate community concerns is troublesome. Mahalo for caring or lending enough time to allow my rant or opinion on this forum.
P.S. The Smell this time most likely was the Albezia blooming flowers, AND not THIS again: http://www.osti.gov/geothermal/biblio/882452
Aloha.
Aren't you living on top of a planetary "blowout" when you live on an active volcano? I have to say that I get the distinct impression that what is being attacked is "progress", and odor is just a pretense. It is something the energy industry fights constantly. For example, due to pushback again fossil and nuclear, an energy company started to build a solar plant using mirrors and molten salt to generate steam, and even that received pushback. The "smell" in that case was a tortoise, but the results and motives are the same.
As I said, I am not new to this issue in general or specific, and I would bet dollars to donuts that "smell" is just an excuse. After all, who lives on an active volcano and then complains about the smell from a geo-thermal plant? Not any more than one would move next door to a pulp mill and complain that the smell from somebody's car who works at the plant, is a real problem.
The MO of these sorts of people are easy to spot. It isn't new, it isn't unique and it isn't at all transparent.