Kilauea’s eruption reignites debate over Hawaii’s geothermal plant
THE ONLY geothermal plant on Hawaii’s Big Island has been closed for more than six weeks because of the Kilauea volcano’s eruptions. But a faction of local residents who believe that tapping the volcano for energy carries serious health and environmental risks - and is an affront to Hawaiian values - want it to stay closed for good.
The plant, Puna Geothermal Venture, began commercial operation 25 years ago despite objections from locals who worried the release of geothermal fluid, including hydrogen sulfide, endangered residents. Some members of the Puna community, including native Hawaiians, also say that geothermal development would subvert their worship of the volcano goddess Pele. Now, the closure of the plant has given new life to their objections.
The growing opposition is also a sign of the hurdles the Hawaiian government will face from its own people as it moves toward 100 per cent renewable energy by 2045, one of the climate-related objectives Gov David Ige, D, enacted in 2015, along with the goal of carbon neutrality by the same year enacted this month. Renewables promise to lower energy prices for Hawaii, which the Energy Information Administration reported in February has the highest residential electricity prices in the nation.
State Sen Russell Ruderman, a Democrat who represents Puna, said he has been protesting geothermal energy for about 30 years. He described what he called a “triple whammy” of issues with PGV: the toxicity of the geothermal steam, the geologic instability of the area where the plant resides and the proximity to residents of the area.
“Those three things combined cause unavoidable problems no matter what your politics are about it,” Ruderman said.
After the Kilauea eruptions began May 3, lava began to encroach on PGV’s facility, and the same geologic force providing electricity to the island forced the plant to shut down. But Michael Kaleikini, senior director of Hawaii affairs for PGV’s parent company, Nevada-based Ormat Technologies, said most of the facility is intact.
And proponents of the plant are optimistic it can and will reopen. “If the eruptions were to stop today, we definitely would be looking at making preparations for restarting our plant,” Kaleikini told The Washington Post, noting Ormat has said it’s “committed” to the facility. “We don’t know when it’s going to stop. It’s premature (to decide) while the eruption is going on.”
However, Ruderman said just the images of the plant, which is surrounded by lava, illustrate his concerns. “Even if you don’t know anything more than that, it’s obviously not the place to put any critical infrastructure,” he said.
He and others who have lived in the area described experiences over the years, before the Kilauea eruptions, when the gases released from plant operations made them sick. He said a major blowout from one of the plant’s wells in 1991 led to uncontrolled release of the steam and hydrogen sulfide that naturally occurs in the ground.
“We could hear it and we could smell it,” he said. “I know at least a dozen people who were knocked unconscious or lost their ability to breathe normally for weeks or months.”
But Kaleikini said there has been “exactly zero” emissions of hydrogen sulfide from the plant during the Kilauea eruptions.
Kaleikini acknowledged the outcry from community members about health concerns related to the plant, but said PGV hasn’t had an uncontrolled release of geothermal fluid since the 1991 blowout.
He said people often refer to that event in criticising PGV, but insisted it had since gone through a strict review and that six or seven wells had been successfully drilled without any uncontrolled emissions.
Robert Petricci, who moved in 1981 to Leilani Estates, near where the current volcanic activity is centered, was around for that - and is an outspoken advocate of shuttering the plant. — WP-Bloomberg