Hawaii County Approves Nighttime Drilling Ban

by Peter Sur (Tribune-Herald)

Puna Geothermal Venture must stop nighttime geothermal drilling, the County Council said, sending a bill to Mayor Billy Kenoi’s desk.

The vote was 5-2, with councilmen Fred Blas and Donald Ikeda excused. Council members Brenda Ford, Pete Hoffmann, Angel Pilago, Brittany Smart and Chairman Dominic Yagong all voted in favor of it, with council members Dennis Onishi and J Yoshimoto opposed.

But the final test will be approval of the mayor, because supporters of Yagong’s bill did not have the six votes needed to overcome a potential veto.

The vote came around 6:25 p.m., when lawmakers were so weary that at one point the chairman addressed Ikeda as “Mr. Amendment.”

Yagong was referring to an amendment that Ikeda had introduced that would have exempted geothermal drilling operations from additional regulations prior to the expiration of PGV’s current permit. That amendment was defeated by a vote of 5-3, with Ikeda joining Onishi and Yoshimoto in support.

With a few notable exceptions, most of the public testimony was in favor of the measure that prohibits exploratory and production geothermal drilling from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. when it’s done within a mile of a residence.

The bill is targeted at the only geothermal production well in Hawaii, Puna Geothermal Venture. People living nearby have complained about the constant noise emanating from the plant.

“The noise impact is real. It affects people here,” said Tom Travis.

PGV plant manager Michael L. Kaleikini submitted testimony against the bill. He cited several concerns, chief among them that “stopping drilling at night will not eliminate the sound produced from mandatory equipment that must run for the entirety of drilling,” Kaleikini said in written testimony. “Quite simply, the bill will not accomplish its purpose.”

“Passing Bill 292 is not consistent with safe drilling practices, will not serve to substantially reduce noise, and will greatly increase costs to ratepayers,” Kaleikini wrote. “Geothermal power has the potential to provide the most inexpensive renewable energy on the Big Island. Bill 292 would severely compromise this potential.”

Since the plant began, PGV has drilled no less than 10 wells without being forced to curtail evening drilling, Kaleikini said. Since receiving its most recent development permit, PGV has drilled seven wells.

The last drilling of a well ended in July and took 120 days; prior to that a well that was drilled in early 2010 took 90 days, Kaleikini said.

Source: West Hawaii Today

Mayor Vetoes Geothermal Bills

By PETER SUR
Tribune-Herald staff writer

A pair of bills relating to geothermal energy have died on Mayor Billy Kenoi’s desk, unless the County Council can engineer an override of the veto. Both bills generated tremendous public testimony prior to their passage by the County Council last month. Kenoi’s veto messages described both as unnecessary legislation.

One bill would have required the county Civil Defense Agency to prepare an emergency response and evacuation plan for geothermal facilities and to submit it to the County Council for approval by Aug. 1. The bill is aimed at people living near Puna Geothermal Venture. The bill would have allowed the administration to ask for a 90-day extension to write the plan.

Kenoi’s veto message for the Civil Defense bill states that first responders already have a plan for all emergency situations, including geothermal, based on the Federal Emergency Management Agency-developed incident command system.

“Since effective plans are already in place, there is no need for a new plan,” Kenoi wrote.
Council Chairman Dominic Yagong, who introduced both bills, said he was disappointed with the mayor’s action.

“In my estimation, that’s playing politics with people’s lives,” he said.

Councilwoman Brenda Ford said residents of lower Puna should have an idea of what to do in the event of a geothermal mishap.

“The community needs a plan on what to do, and they need guidance from the county on how to respond to a disaster,” he said. “You know, Plan A, Plan B, Plan C. That has not occurred, and I am supportive of that type of community evacuation plan being designed by the county and delivered to all the residents so that they know what to do.”

Ford said the county uses its incident command system “beautifully,” but “the average citizen hasn’t a clue what to do.”

A community evacuation plan would help in that situation, she said.

The other vetoed bill, which would affect people in lower Puna, would have renamed the Geothermal Relocation and Community Benefits Program to the Geothermal Relocation and Public Safety Program, although it’s popularly known as the “geothermal royalties” fund.

This bill would have redirected money from the community benefits program into uses that relate to public health and safety, including air quality monitoring and a public notification system. It would also have made eligible for relocation all homes within a mile of Puna Geothermal Venture.

“The thought that the county would not let us use money to determine what is making these people ill is the most egregious, lack of concern and compassion I have ever heard of,” Ford said. “These people are not making up these illnesses.

“Now, I do not know what is causing it,” Ford said. “They’ve got problems and nobody’s looking at it. … They’ve got very unusual illnesses.

Kenoi’s message to the council says the bill duplicates the purpose of the $2.1 million Geothermal Asset Fund, which is dedicated to funding public health and safety mitigation measures.

Kenoi also wrote that a “significant number” of people who have seen community benefits from PGV would like to see those benefits continue. But Ford said there were “far more people” who supported the bill than opposed it. She pegged the number of supporters at 60 to 70 percent of those who testified.

Kenoi wrote that the bill would result in lower tax revenues for Hawaii County by acquiring and holding homes from people who wish to be relocated, and liability issues that would arise from those vacant homes.

“It would be irresponsible for me to sign (the bill) into law due to its legal and technical flaws and because it is unnecessary,” Kenoi wrote.
But his critics think otherwise.

“Is he saying that health studies are inappropriate? Is he saying that the people of Puna are making these stories up?” Yagong asked.

Kenoi said that’s not the issue.

“The goals of protecting public health, safety and doing a thorough, comprehensive health study, we can already achieve through existing legislation and authority,” he said, and said the county was going to conduct a “thorough, open, transparent and community-involved study with health care professionals, independent researchers who have already inquired. … We’ll go to the community to address those goals.”

“We don’t believe this legislation is based on good science, good authority,” Kenoi wrote. “There’s too much ambiguity, and the first hurdle in signing any piece of legislation is a good law. And unfortunately this legislation has too many flaws.”

The County Council approved the evacuation plan bill by a 7-2 vote and the relocation and public safety bill by a 6-3 vote. Yagong has not indicated whether he would call for a veto override.

Email Peter Sur at psur@hawaiitribune-herald.com.

Source: Hawaii Tribune Hearld