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Does nighttime drilling ban apply to PGV?
#1
http://hawaiitribune-herald.com/news/loc...-expansion
Excerpt - more at link

Does Hawaii County’s nighttime drilling ban apply to Puna Geothermal Venture?

That’s a question the County Council will grapple with again next week as the geothermal power plant in Pohoiki starts another around-the-clock drilling project to build a new well.

Puna Councilman Greggor Ilagan introduced two resolutions on the issue he said will be considered Feb. 4.

One requests the 38-megawatt plant to comply with the ban, adopted in 2012 following its last drilling project, and drill only between the hours of 7 a.m. and 7 p.m.

The other asks the county’s attorneys to take the issue to court so a judge can decide if, in fact, the law applies to the county’s only geothermal power plant.

That’s a question the council might have thought it settled when it adopted the ban, though not in writing.

Several council members at the time said PGV’s existing geothermal resource permit provides it “vested rights,” and its drilling can’t be restricted by a new county ordinance.

The council passed the bill anyway 5-2, and an amendment introduced to clarify that the ban doesn’t apply to PGV as long as it remains within its approved buildout of 60 mgw was even dismissed as unnecessary.

But without that amendment, the law on the books says that “geothermal production drilling operations being conducted one mile or less from a residence” shall comply with the time restriction. There are multiple homes that distance from PGV.

In response to an outcry from the community regarding the new drilling plans, Ilagan said current council members need to try to bring clarity to the issue.

“If they don’t voluntarily comply, we are going to request corporation counsel to go to court and have a judge make a decision,” he said.

If it goes to court, an injunction would be sought to stop PGV from drilling at night, Ilagan said. The drilling project is scheduled to begin Thursday.
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#2
I wonder if the cost of legal battles is figured into the price of electricity, and does it affect the royalties paid?
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#3
Spoken by someone who is not impacted by PGV but is still obsessed with the County government.
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#4
not impacted by PGV but is still obsessed with the County

Obsessed, yes, but with the failed experiment that is our local economy.

When our limited Council resources are focused on arguments with PGV, we are all impacted.

When County uses our tax dollars to engage in legal battles with PGV, we are all impacted.

When PGV royalty monies are used to buy out Leilani homeowners so they can move closer to PGV, we are all impacted.

When the overhead of defending PGV is passed through to our HELCO rates, we are all impacted.

These impacts are felt well beyond the imaginary "one mile radius" from PGV.
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#5
Touche. Time to start running for office...
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#6
All kine colors for mayor.
Born&Raised Hawai'i Island
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#7
kalakoa, you've got my vote. Wink
Tim

A superior man is modest in his speech, but exceeds in his actions--Confucius
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#8
Mine too!
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#9
Couple quick points for clarity:

The Relocation or Geothermal Asset Fund is separate from the royalties PGV pays - $3.1M in 2011-12, $1.6M (50%) to DLNR, $929K (30%) to County of Hawaii, $619K (20%) to the Office of Hawaiian Affairs. These royalties become general funds without restrictions on their use.
http://www.hnei.hawaii.edu/sites/dev.hne...202013.pdf Page 16

The Relocation or Geothermal Asset Fund was largely included in PGV's Geothermal Resource Permit (GRP) as a response to the 1991 "blow-out" that the EPA states "occurred because of inadequacies in PGV’s drilling plan and procedures and not as a result of unusual or unmanageable subsurface geologic or hydrologic conditions."
http://www.epa.gov/eab/disk11/puna.pdf Page 9

The nighttime drilling ban (Bill 292 -> County Code 14-113) was passed after PGV's last well was drilled in 2012. While it was stated that the law would not affect PGV's current Geothermal Resource Permit, apparently County Council overlooked the drilling permit required from the DLNR for each new well? The law passed is overly simple and does not make any distinctions. http://www.hawaiicounty.gov/lb-file-revi...pter14.pdf Page 53
(cut and paste link)

Comparisons to geothermal plants elsewhere (Iceland, Germany, etc) tend to overlook that these developments are done with clear governmental oversight and legal requirements, including emission controls and adequate noise suppression. Unfortunately, this is not how geothermal has been done here, creating ongoing issues requiring efforts from residents and industry, as well as county, state, and federal government.

If the actual goal is efficiency and reduced electricity costs, there is plenty of room for improvement from all parties involved perhaps?
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#10
Has anyone relocated by the geothermal been paid UP TO 130% of their home value or even 100%? I have seen a couple of the homes bought out and resold, for the life of me I don't know why anyone lives in them now. I talked to an old couple who happened to buy their home which was a relocation home at an auction, they said the price was to good to pass. They moved over from the mainland and said they never knew of geothermal until after they moved in. Maybe the county has a special law to where they can't buy back the same house more than once from this relocation fund?.
I only know of Bob P. Doing what you guys say of being bought out by this relocation fund and then buying again close to geothermal. Your wrong I believe because his home in leilani was not bought by this fund. He then bought down the hill from the geothermal thinking the ocean trades would spare him from the gas releases he was use to at the bottom of leilani. To my knowledge no one has abused this grey area of selling and buying in the same zone.
Being that this thread is about drilling and the new drilling laws, I apologize for the misdirection. You see what we have here is a failure to community. This nighttime drilling ban was created for many reasons one being to help protect nearby residents quality of life in paradise (sleep). Our county and state chose this path for geothermal and its residents being such close neighbors. Mark my words, This three month long drilling of a new well will be like no other. This drilling will affect many in a very negative way for multiple reasons, a few of course being related to ORMAT ignoring this nighttime drilling ban. Also the losses of geothermals sound barriers(albesia trees)during the hurricane will be noticed by many. A few years back my wife and I would be woken up during sleep by a very deep continuous drum like drilling sound. The noise would come from below our ground or land and yet we live at the top of leilani, the sound carried through the lava tubes on the upper part of our acre for months. I Also became sick with dizzy feelings and vomited yellow bile a few times during that drilling. No I did not go to the doctor, that's not my practice.


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