Important information via A'OLE PGV FB Group page #wearepuna #doyourresearch #aolepgv
- Jasmine Steiner
- Jul 14, 2023
- 7 min read
Via sara steiner jackson post in A'OLE PGV ( link to original post at end) --
"ATTENTION PUNA PEEPS!!!
From Robert Petricci:
Aloha
I have a long list of links to geothermal news articles and documents, I will send them out in a series of emails as I get time. There are a lot of them so I did not want to try and put it all in one email. Some of you may be familiar with some of these already, but a lot of you may not have seen this information. There is a lot here PGV, DOH, DLNR, EPA, USGS, and Dr Don Thomas would like to forget about. It will take time to read and absorb everything in the series of emails and you may want to skip some of them if it is not something you want to read, but it will be very useful for some of you when talking about geothermal history or impacts to our community. I also have been collecting pictures. If anyone wants to see them, let me know. If you want to keep this information for future use please download or copy it, these things have a way of disappearing from the internet never to be seen again. I would not count on being able to get the links to work once PGV or whoever does their scrubbing finds out we are using them. PPA used to have information links on our webpage and the links would die often. When that happened more than a few times I was not able to find the information again on the internet. Just a heads up, if you find something useful copy it, do not trust it will be there later.
Bob
USGS on geothermal and the community tells them about it....The comments at the end of the video from the community are gold...10/10/2012
Hot rocks in Hawaii | Al Jazeera America Lots of information in this one....
PUNA, Hawaii — At 7:45 p.m. on Friday, August 7, an emergency alert went out to some residents in this agricultural district of the Big Island. The Hawaii County Civil Defense warned of an “uncontrolled release of hydrogen sulfide” from the local geothermal plant. Residents were urged to stay indoors or, if they felt any discomfort, to evacuate. But tropical storm Iselle had just begun to pound the land with heavy rain and strong winds, downing trees and power lines and making evacuation difficult for any who tried.
The incident sparked another round of conflict between supporters and opponents of geothermal development in Hawaii. Activist Robert Petricci, a sustainable farmer with a broad network of contacts in the community, called a gathering of the Puna Pono Alliance, an anti-geothermal group he founded almost three years ago. At the meeting, residents who said they had passed out or gotten sick from the hydrogen-sulfide gas gave testimonies that were videotaped and uploaded to the group’s website.
Megan Funk and Mike Hale were among those who tried to flee but had to turn back. They live less than a mile from the Puna Geothermal Venture plant, in the residential development Leilani Estates. At around 7:30 p.m., they heard what sounded like a jet engine roaring, which was followed by the rotten stench of hydrogen sulfide. They got headaches and scratchy throats. Funk’s eyes began to burn, and she had a “weird feeling.” When they found that fallen trees were blocking the road, the couple returned home, where Hale says he “passed out” for 12 hours straight, and Funk couldn’t sleep due to a racing heart. “I’ve never felt like I was going to die before,” she says. “I thought I was going to die laying there.”
(PGV's lies) But a spokesman for PGV said that the gas release was deliberate and did not exceed regulatory limits. The plant’s neighbors were never in danger, he says, and the hydrogen sulfide was actually proof that controls were working as they should: The release of the gas was an emergency response set in motion when the storm tripped the power offline. (not true, PGV had lost HELCO power for their emergency systems and the back up generator failed to work. They almost lost control of the plant. Tom Travis gave me that information)
“None of the seven workers on location [that night] got sick or passed out,” says Mike Kaleikini, director of Hawaiian Affairs for PGV. “But if you tell me you’re sick, I’m not going to tell me you’re B.S.ing me, because I don’t know and I’m not a medical person.”
( Don Thomas, he should be in prison for the lies he has told and the harm he has done. I have known him since 1981) Thomas believes the opponents of geothermal energy in Puna are all “counterculturalists” suffering from NIMBYism, or “not in my backyard,” ( here is a good example, Don Thomas claims "all" the residents that complain are lying, when the truth is we have good reason to complain and he has been lying since day one.) he says. “Petricci was one of the earliest and loudest complainers.” Nevertheless, Thomas is currently leading a team of scientists (why would we trust him) to identify lower intensity geothermal resources throughout the state. Palikapu Dedman recently restarted the Pele Defense Fund, a Native Hawaiian activist group he founded that is allied with the Puna Pono Alliance; he still objects to geothermal development on the grounds that to tap the island’s heat for energy is to rape the fire goddess Pele, keeper of the island’s volcanoes. “I think it’s funny that we have to define what Pele is or this god or that god. But they don’t ask those questions of any other religion,” he says from the PDF headquarters, in a Hawaiian art gallery in Puna, on a day of pouring rain. But his group has other priorities now, Dedman says. Most Native practitioners of Pele worship, those who dance the hula, prefer not to get drawn into politics these days, according to another member of the Pele Defense Fund, Terri Napeahi, who owns the art gallery. On one wall hangs a painting of Pele’s spirit rising from the center of a gaping volcano.
📷
Pele Erupts; Combating Geothermal Corruption in Hawaii | by WolfOfJournalism | Medium Good article, you have to sign up to read it but it is free.
It is important to understand that there are Hawaiians who are alive today that hold claim to being direct lineal decedents of Tūtū Pele. This is often an aspect of Hawaiian history and culture that is over-looked and misunderstood. When we consider the reality that the ancestral lineage of Hawaiian’s is directly associated with the supreme beings they hold such reverence to, it allows for us to have a deeper respect for the ancestral relationship Hawaiian culture has to the land. This isn’t merely a story of Hawaiian mythology and lore; it is the entire history
Hawaii residents: Geothermal power plant should never have been built | Daily Mail Online
In June 1991, according to the Washington Post, the plant accidentally released into the air 180 pounds per hour of hydrogen sulfide and other toxic compounds, including lead, chromium, arsenic and mercury, according to an environmental study conducted the following month.
(Note of interest many may not remember about the KS-8 blowout, during the 1991 blowout of KS-8 PGV placed an I beam across the wellhead and parked bulldozers on it to keep the well head from being blown out of the ground)....
Hydrogen sulfide can irritate eyes and lungs, but in large quantities can cause severe headaches, dizziness, respiratory paralysis and death.
According to a published report from Goddard and Goddard, the release posed a 'significant health concern' that violated emission limits and caused health problems in the area.
It's claimed at least 123 people reported health issues, the report said.
The following year protest groups managed to put a stop to a new geothermal plant being built on the island, meaning the PGV site remains the only one.
More recently in 2013 the PGV plant was fined $76,500 by the Environmental Protection Agency after a pump failure resulted in the release of contaminants, including hydrogen sulfide.
And in 2014, Hurricane Iselle triggered another accident, with locals reporting a sound like a 'jet engine' roar, smelling sulfur, and experiencing headaches, coughing and lethargy when a plume of gas was released from the plant.
At the time plant officials said the release was intentional and did not exceed regulatory limits for toxins.
12/ 1/2014
Civil Defense Reports Steam Release At Puna Geothermal Venture (bigislandvideonews.com)
According to Hawaii County Civil Defense, the Puna Geothermal Venture reported having a steam release from the plant re-injection system at approximately 7:30 a.m.
The release lasted about 1 minute, civil defense says, and no release of hydrogen sulfide was noted. Emergency crews are investigating and no actions or evacuations are needed.
Officials monitoring Puna Geothermal Energy Plant after overnight steam release (khon2.com) October 3, 2016
Civil defense officials are monitoring the Puna Geothermal Energy Plant following an incident that prompter firefighter response Monday morning.
They say at 2:30 a.m., there was a release of steam at the plant, not an explosion.
“There was another release due a high-pressure situation, where one of the wells, and the emergency release steam facility actually released some steam as a result of the high pressure that was built within the system,” Hawaii County Fire Department’s Chief Gerald Kosaki said. Puna Geothermal says the situation was contained and secured and that there is no threat to the public and no evacuation is necessary.
Monday morning’s release follows one last week that caused an alarm to trip. In that incident, fire officials said monitors showed the discharge was well below levels considered dangerous.
“There was a buildup of steam or pressure in the pipe, which one of the pipes had ruptured causing a release of steam, and because of that, they had to do some repairs, which took a little while,” Kosaki said describing last week’s incident.
Hawaii fines geothermal plant for hydrogen sulfide release (hawaiinewsnow.com) 1/15, 2015
HONOLULU (AP) - The state Department of Health is fining Puna's geothermal plant nearly $24,000 for violations related to the release of poisonous gas during a tropical storm last August.
The state said Thursday Puna Geothermal Venture released 39 pounds of hydrogen sulfide into the atmosphere on August 7.
A department report says a pressure release valve at the plant failed. This resulted in accumulated gas being released into the atmosphere without first passing through a hydrogen sulfide abatement system.
The department says Puna Geothermal Venture failed to submit a written report about the release within the time required. It also allegedly failed to maintain required meteorological and ambient air quality monitoring stations. The fine covers alleged operational, emission and notification violations.
The company didn't immediately respond to a voicemail message seeking comment.
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