Public Protest Too Much For PLDC?

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By Dave Smith

A protest over the Public Land Development Corporation. Photo courtesy Hawaii News Now.

It looks like it will be try, … again for the Public Land Development Corporation.

The controversial new state agency designed to increase revenues from state lands using public-private partnerships is continuing its efforts to establish its administrative rules.

Following statewide hearings in August, the agency revised the guidelines and added a strategic plan.

The PLDC’s five-member board met on Thursday and voted to take the amended rules to public hearing.

However, only one of those is planned, on Nov. 13, and that will be on Oahu.

Lloyd Haraguchi, the PLDC’s executive director, was not available for comment on why other islands were not included in the schedule.

According to a statement from the PLDC, even though state law required only one hearing be held, the agency’s board of directors in August took the “extra step” of holding hearings statewide. The reason, it said, was to familiarize the public with the new state entity.

Now the PLDC says it will hold an additional public hearing on the amended rules, as required by law.

The rules can be viewed at hawaii.gov/dlnr/pldc, and “any member of the public may submit advance testimony via email or USPS mail by Tuesday, November 13,” the agency said.

“The PLDC remains committed to transparency, and its newly adopted strategic plan, project flowchart and rule amendments show that opportunities for public comment actually expand under the PLDC for potential projects,” the statement said.

But one can’t help but wonder if the primary reason for not taking the revised rules on the road is that the PLDC – and its director – have had their fill of the rough reception they received across the state.

The first time the agency took the draft rules out for public hearings, it encountered large and hostile crowds.

And recent public protests across the state drew hundreds of participants.

Sierra Club Chapter Director Robert Harris described the PLDC’s decision to hold only one public hearing a “new low” for the agency. He went on to say that Haraguchi was “insulting thousands of neighbor island residents by excluding them from the process.”

Much of the criticism has centered on a section of state law exempting the PLDC from “land use, zoning, and construction standards for subdivisions, development, and improvement of land.”

The mission of the PLDC has been called everything from a land-grab, to anti-democratic, to Nazi-ism.

Despite the revision of rules and addition of a strategic plan, county councils on the neighbor islands are all expected to unanimously pass resolutions seeking to abolish the Public Land Development Corp.

Nor did the changes soothe those testifying when the Hawaii County Council overwhelmingly approved its version of a resolution urging Gov. Neil Abercrombie to repeal Section 171C of Hawaii Revised Statutes — also known as Act 55, the law that created the PLDC.

A harried Lloyd Haraguchi tries to convince the Hawaii County Council not to vote in favor of a resolution calling for the dissolution of his agency. Photo by Dave Smith.

And Haraguchi, who appeared before the council to defend his agency, has not been spared the ire, as some of the public testimony as well as some private comments have been aimed at the agency’s appointed director.

At the Oct. 3 council meeting he was called “evil,” among other things, by Puna resident Aurora Martinovich, a frequent geothermal protester.

Following the council vote, she was observed following Haraguchi as he walked to his car in a parking lot a half-block away, obviously giving him a piece of her mind.

At one point Martinovich’s comments prompted Haraguchi to pull out his phone and call the police.

While she wouldn’t name names, a Hawaii Police Department spokeswoman has confirmed that a call for assistance was made at the time and place of the confrontation between Martinovich and Haraguchi, but when officers arrived, the caller declined to initiate a criminal complaint.

Although PLDC staff has acknowledged that a police report was generated, Haraguchi has refused to discuss it.

Council to Hold Hearing for Nighttime Geothermal Drilling Ban

By TOM CALLIS
Stephens Media
tcallis@hawaiitribune-herald.com

A proposal to prohibit geothermal drilling at night ran into a snag Wednesday when the Hawaii County Council opted to hold a public hearing on the issue rather than take a final vote.

Hilo Councilman Donald Ikeda proposed the hearing, approved in a 5-3 vote, citing confusion over whether the nighttime ban would apply to Puna Geothermal Venture. Council members Fred Blas, Brenda Ford and Pete Hoffmann voted no.

The hearing, to be held in Puna on a yet-to-be-determined date, would follow two bill readings by the council and a positive recommendation from the council’s Agriculture, Water and Energy Sustainability Committee. Public testimony was taken at the three previous meetings, sometimes at length, from supporters of the ban as well as PGV representatives.

Ikeda said the hearing would allow PGV to better explain what it does to limit noise during drilling, as well as its “vested rights.” He also mentioned what he saw as a disconnect between some of the testifiers and how PGV runs its 38-megawatt plant, the only geothermal facility in the state.

“I don’t like to be the only dissenting vote, look like I don’t support the people,” Ikeda said before proposing the hearing. “I do, but I also believe Puna Geothermal has rights, too.”

A few council members said they believe the county’s legal staff determined that the bill couldn’t affect drilling at PGV since it already has a permit from the Windward Planning Commission for future drilling, and questioned the need for a hearing.

“I think I heard the Corporation Counsel clearly indicate it can’t be retroactive,” Hoffmann said.

“Therefore, I don’t see PGV related to this issue at all.”

Hilo Councilman Dennis Onishi said he had the same interpretation.

“I think people could misinterpret what could happen,” he said.

Hilo Councilman J Yoshimoto suggested the council adopt an amendment stating the bill doesn’t apply to PGV.

Council Chairman Dominic Yagong, who introduced the bill, said an amendment is not necessary, leading to it being dropped during discussion.

“I think the (executive) session we went through was quite clear,” he said. “I don’t think there is any confusion there.”

Deputy Corporation Counsel William Brilhante said he couldn’t comment on whether the bill would apply to PGV, citing potential liability.

Either way, the bill would still apply to new geothermal operations.

Brilhante said enforcement would be up to the county Planning Department.

Planning Director Bobby Jean Leithead Todd couldn’t be immediately reached for comment.

The bill was prompted by drilling at PGV earlier this year that some nearby residents said was too disruptive and caused them to lose sleep.

PGV Plant Manager Mike Kaleikini told the council he received about 45 complaints during drilling, lasting from March 1 to July 7.

That’s up from the four complaints during drilling in 2010, which he said was a few decibels louder.

Kaleikini said the plant uses insulation and a barrier wall to reduce noise.

It’s also considering adding another wall, he said.

Hawaiian Volcanos Observatory Scientists Say Geothermal Drilling Won't Cause Sinking

Kilauea Volcanic Rift Zones subside whether or not they host geothermal developments

Recently, Hawaiian Volcano Observatory scientist’s have been asked if Hawaii Island’s geothermal development causes subsidence of the ground surface, as has been observed at U.S. mainland geothermal areas, such as those in California– Coso, Geysers, the Imperial Valley, and Casa Diablo in the Mammoth Lakes area.

The largest of these mainland developments is heated by magma reservoirs that supplied eruptions through non-volcanic rock layers. The magma, thousands of years old, still heats groundwater within California’s sedimentary basins, where, fluid withdrawal during geothermal energy production can reduce pressure within the subsurface rock formations. When this happens, the ground surface subsides.

The highest subsidence rates are measured at the Geysers Geothermal Field within the Clear Lake Volcanic Field in northern California. The 78 square kilometer (30 sq mi) developed area produces 1,500 megawatts (MW) of electricity from a vapor-dominated reservoir within fractured sandstone that is capped by a zone of rock filled with geothermal minerals at the top and heated by magma below.

The Clear Lake volcanic field is one of several in California and Nevada that are monitored by HVO’s sister California Volcano Observatory (CalVO; http://volcanoes.usgs.gov/observatories/calvo/). CalVO also monitors the Long Valley caldera, in which the Casa Diablo geothermal development (40 MW) is located; the Salton Buttes volcano, which includes the Imperial Valley geothermal field (>300 MW); and the Coso Volcanic Field, where a 270 MW geothermal development is located.

As volcanic activity waxes and wanes, each of these areas exhibits its own deformation and seismicity. For example, the Long Valley caldera has experienced several episodes of heightened unrest, including earthquake swarms, ground uplift, and volcanic gas emissions during the past several decades. Thus, CalVO watches this area closely. The subsidence related to geothermal development must be documented carefully to separate the effects of volcanic activity from those due to drilling and energy production.

PLDC - Public Land Develompent Corp to Consider Rule Changes October 11

by Dave Smith

The Public Land Development Corp. will meet Oct. 11 in Honolulu to consider the approval of a strategic plan as well as some changes to its draft administrative rules.

The controversial new agency issued a statement Saturday night saying that it was posting notice of its next board meeting early – “well before the six-day notice” required by the state’s Sunshine Law — to give the public “ample time” to submit comments on the plan and rule amendments.

The statement said the proposed amendments to the PLDC’s operating rules will reflect the strategic plan and address concerns raised at public hearings held by PLDC Executive Director Lloyd Haraguchi on the draft rules across the state.

Testimony at the August hearing on the Big Island and elsewhere in the state was was overwhelmingly critical of the PLDC and its administrative rules.

Gov. Neil Abercrombie, who in 2011 signed Act 55, the state law authorizing the PLDC, was a recipient of some that ire on Kauai on Aug. 19. Although the agency’s public hearing there wasn’t scheduled until later in the month, Abercrombie, who had brought his cabinet for a talk-story session, was heckled and booed over the PLDC and its enabling legislation.

Part of the reason for Abercrombie’s treatment on Kauai could be attributed to comments he made several days earlier calling critics of the agency the “usual suspects” who took advantage of the hearings to create “conspiratorial hysteria.”

Some critics of the PLDC have called for the abolishment of Act 55. Those include Hawaii County Councilwoman Brenda Ford, who has introduced a non-binding resolution urging the Legislature to disband the PLDC.

Ford’s resolution will be taken up at a council meeting Wednesday in Hilo.

The PLDC was created, its backers say, to create public-private partnerships to generate badly needed revenues for the state Department of Land and Natural Resources from what they call underutilized state lands. Abercrombie has said that the public corporation has the ability to reduce government bureaucracy.

Critics of the agency have railed against vague wording in the draft administrative rules as well as the law exempting the agency from some state environmental laws as well as county zoning and subdivison regulations.

The backlash at public hearings also prompted Big Island state Sen. Malama Solomon to propose creation of a strategic plan to help dispel what she called “so much misinformation” about the corporation’s mission.

In Saturday’s statement, Kalbert Young, director of the state Department of Budget and Finance and the chairman of the PLDC’s Board of Directors, said the proposed changes will address “the issues – and many misconceptions – that have been raised” in public hearings.

“We have heard the concerns of the community, and the PLDC board will now consider adoption of a strategic plan to better define what the PLDC can and cannot do,” Young said.

The draft strategic plan is available on its website listing for items accompanying the agenda for the Sept. 20 meeting.

According to the agenda for the Oct. 11 meeting, proposed changes to the draft administrative rules include removal of a section which called for the agency’s delegation of authority to its administrator “as it deems reasonable and proper” to effectively carry out Act 55.

Another proposed change include deleting of a section requiring 20 days advance notice for public testimony on meeting agendas and a requirement that the agency maintain a list of persons requesting notification of board meetings.

A proposed addition would limit testimony at PLDC meetings to subjects on the agenda and allow its administrator to limit the amount of time allowed each testifier.

The amendments include removal of the words “development” and “developer,” which in some cases are replaced by “project” and “project partner,” respectively.

The Oct. 11 meeting agenda and proposed changes to administrative rules is available at http://hawaii.gov/dlnr/pldc/meetings.

Testimony can be submitted by email to Joy Kimura at joy.y.kimura@hawaii.gov or faxed to 808-587-0390.

Source: Big Island Now