Land and Power - Redux

[ironyak]

In light of the current events, Civil Beat has a great article on the Big Island tax-mine subdivisions (i.e. home)
http://www.civilbeat.org/2018/05/big-isl...divisions/

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

In 1987, Frierson asked then-Hawaii County Planning Director Albert Lono Lyman why the county had acquiesced to all those substandard subdivisions.
“Greed and short-sightedness,” he summarized, noting that “the majority of those lots were sold, sight unseen, to mainland buyers.”

I once asked a worker at the real estate tax office for which type of programs my payment was used. Exasperated, she quickly rattled off a list, and I replied that I didn't use a single one of those things.

Sight unseen, still at work in 2018.

[ironyak]

While maybe the original plating of these tax-mine subdivisions was done in ignorance of the volcanic risks, the state and county have managed to turn their inundations to their advantage. Federal disaster funds, suspension of public review processes, a reduction in Puna's population (threatening to top Hilo), and the return of a service free source of revenue again are just the start. Wait 50 years, rinse and repeat.

[randomq]

Might be cheaper for them to offer buyouts of all the empty lots now during the crisis, than to pay for services or disaster relief in the future...

[ironyak]

Cheaper to who? Local govt is coming out golden. FEMA is in play and home owners have to deal with insurance issues (bit of a mess developing as there are houses undamaged by fire/lava but heavily damaged by SO2/acid rain - whose got that coverage?) While the exact details of who pays for what isn't settled yet, I would expect to see more hard to understand projects (Beach Rd to Makuu?) come from County & State. Keep those contractors happy on someone else's dime.

[VancouverIslander]

ironyak: is there evidence of damage from acid rain or is this one of those things that is 'going around' right now? I would think that it would take quite some time (months?) for acid rain to have any noticeable effect on a home - although a few weeks could kill off some plant life.

The concentrations of sulphur and the thermodynamics of the so2 + h20 --> h2s04 reaction would indicate low concentration h2s04 in the rain and a slight acidification.

Me ka ha`aha`a,
Mike

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

is there evidence of damage from acid rain

I know of a flower grower located southwest of the fissures who lost their entire productions due to acid rain. Not sure yet whether it's just current production, or if it also affected the plants. That was after one or two rains.

Haven't heard about the condition of the nursery infrastructure, but as you noted VancouverIslander, that may take more time to show effects.

Portion of Hawaii’s drinking water that comes from underground wells : 9/10
Gallons of raw sewage that leak into the ground from Hawaii cesspools each day : 53,000,000 - Harper's Index

[geochem]

Vancouver,
Those plumes of "smoke" coming out of the vents in Leilani and Lani Puna is not just sulfur dioxide - it is sulfuric acid aerosol. Chemgeek factoid: gases are clear and often colorless - the blue-tinged white plume you see coming out of volcanic vents is typically sulfuric acid aerosols that cool and condense water vapor to form an acidic plume. The density of the plumes coming out of those fissures says they are pumping sulfuric acid in a big way. Any houses that are directly exposed to the plume generated by those fissures are going to likely be totaled: the electrical circuits would not be at all reliable - every junction, switch, connection is likely to have significant corrosion; copper piping might survive for a while but its life will be seriously compromised.

No idea what those folks whose homes are near the vents are going to be able to do...

[kalakoa]

cheaper for them to offer buyouts of all the empty lots now during the crisis, than to pay for services or disaster relief in the future...

That's been true for decades. I can hardly wait to see what happens when the subdivisisons start demanding the services they've paid for.

[randomq]

If they were ever going to do it, now would be the time. Think of all the absentee mainland (and Oahu) owners watching the network news and thinking the whole island is going to explode. You could probably cash them out at half price.

FEMA and state money may not be so easy to come by in the future. Insurers may drop out of markets where states force them to cover such high risk areas. The voting public may get sick of subsidizing the losses of people that choose to live on rifts, lava zones, coasts and flood plains...