Malu 'Aina

August 15, 2013 comments on “Geothermal Public Health Assessment” Draft V-3 7/23/13

(Background:  Mayor Billie Kenoi contracted Peter Adler, PhD at a cost of $50,000 to form a volunteer study group to do a “Geothermal Public health Assessment.”  That Assessment draft can be viewed here http://www.accord3.com/pg68.cfm

My testimony at the Pahoa Community Center 3:30PM  Public Hearing are below.

by Jim Albertini for Malu ‘Aina Center For Non-violent Education & Action P.O. Box AB Ola’a (Kurtistown) Hawai’i 96760 Phone 808-966-7622 Email ja@malu-aina.org www.malu-aina.org

1. I commend the members of the study group for all their hard volunteer     work and good faith efforts in preparing
the assessment. I support the findings and recommendations in the assessment but with some additions.

I also support the points raised about the assessment by members of Puna Pono Alliance in an email sent out by the group yesterday

2. A main point I want to speak to is that despite good faith efforts, we sometimes lose sight of the forest for the trees. More than 20 years ago in the struggle to save the Wao Kele O Puna rainforest from destruction by 500 MW of geothermal planned for that area, a very important video was put together by the Pele Defense Fund entitled “Pele’s Appeal.” I know that many of you in the study group have seen this video. Besides the importance of saving the forest, the video raises profound questions. What are the psychological health impacts to Native Hawaiian practitioners of geothermal drilling into the Hawaiian deity – Pele? Everyone in this room knows that Pele is the Hawaiian goddess of fire, the goddess of the Volcano. How does geothermal drilling into Pele affect the health of an entire race of people when their spiritual beliefs are not respected, but in fact, desecrated by geothermal drilling into Pele. In the Geothermal Public Health Assessment p. 33 Section 4 General Findings. It states the sole focus of the assessment is “what health stressors have been created by geothermal?” Well, the psychological health effects of geothermal drilling on native Hawaiians religious belief in Pele as a deity was grossly overlooked.
3. I note that no Native Hawaiians, especially Pele Practitioners, were on the Study group. Dr. Maile Tuali’i, PhD from Honolulu was suppose to be a member on the study group but had to withdraw leaving no one to represent a native Hawaiian cultural and religious perspective. Surely, there were others that could have been invited: Palikapu Dedman of the Pele Defense Fund, Dr. Emmett Aluli, UH Dept. of Hawaiian Studies, many of Puna’s Hawaiian Cultural practitioners, etc.
4. My main recommendation is this: Include as a separate recommended action on page 8 the need for a comprehensive study of the psychological health effect of geothermal drilling on Native Hawaiian religious belief in Pele as a deity. Put this at the top of the list of your 7 or 8 other recommendations. By putting this at the top of the list of recommendations, you would be showing respect for Hawaii’s host people and culture. You would be saying clearly that respect for Native Hawaiian religious beliefs is a top priority and the responsibility of all of us who now call Hawaii home. Also list the video “Pele’s Appeal” in the Bibliography resource list.
5. I would further recommend that the study group calls for a complete moratorium on any new geothermal development until all the recommendations called for in this assessment are completed. It’s common sense. Before you cause impacts, you first need to study and understand the possible impacts of the proposed actions. Like the EIS process. You study first to eliminate or minimize the impacts. Otherwise the cart’s before the horse. The geothermal cart has been before the horse for over 30 years. Put a stop to that. Call for a halt to any new geothermal before your recommendations are completed.

   Mahalo.

Jim Albertini

Bob
—

Please view this very important video.  See video link below.

Palikapu Dedman is the long-time president of the Pele Defense Fund and the newly elected president of Ohana Ho’opakele.

Please visit www.ohanahoopakele.org and on facebook too.

I believe that solidarity with Hawaiians and respect for Hawaiian religious beliefs need to be the lava rock foundation of opposition to geothermal.
Jim Albertini

——– Original Message ——–

Geothermal Update 7/22/13
Aloha

There are several things coming up this week that I want to make sure your aware of.

Tuesday at 1:45 pm the county council will be taking testimony on:

Council testimony re: Comm. 314:  PRESENTATION BY DEPARTMENT OF RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT

RELATING TO CURRENT AND FUTURE ENERGY RELATED MATTERS IN THE COUNTY OF HAWAI‘I

Dear Committee Members,

I am writing to voice my support for other alternative energy sources besides geothermal.

I have personally spent ten years, alongside my friends, developing a Permaculture farm and Foundation in Opihikao. (http://permaculturefoundationofhawaii.org) This farm would be detrimentally impacted by this development.  We are trying to do everything we can to be sustainable, and that effort needs to be supported, not hindered, by your decisions.

Puna contains the largest off-grid community in the state.  Young people come here from around the world to study the arts of sustainability.  Our leaders say they support sustainability, but locating dirty industries next to our farms and homes is unconscionable.  This area has much to teach the rest of the state in terms of how we can transition to a lifestyle of less energy consumption.

It makes economic sense to locate power generation closer to where it is utilized.  Locating another geothermal plant in Puna makes the island energy supply quite vulnerable to a volcanic eruption.  The likelihood of inundation by lava in any fifty year period has been estimated between 60 and 90 percent.

Puna already carries the burden of pollution from the oil fired plant in Keaau, and the geothermal plant that makes 20% of the power used on the island, yet Puna only uses 6%.  The environment and lifestyle of Puna should not be sacrificed to support the electricity used in other areas.

We’ve had geothermal for 30 years in Puna and yet still pay the highest rates in the state. We want to explore other alternatives that are safer, cheaper and cleaner than geothermal.

Aloha

Council testimony re: Comm. 314:  PRESENTATION BY DEPARTMENT OF RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT

RELATING TO CURRENT AND FUTURE ENERGY RELATED MATTERS IN THE COUNTY OF HAWAI‘I

Dear Councilmembers:

Regarding the Island of Hawaii’s energy future, the public is being told fairytales about geothermal – that it is safe, clean and renewable. It is none of those.

Whose Job is it to Protest War & Injustice?

This is a story about four people named
Everybody, Somebody, Anybody, and Nobody.
There was an important job to be done and Everybody was asked to do it. Everybody was sure Somebody would do it.
Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did it.
Somebody got angry about that, because it was Everybody’s job.
Everybody thought Anybody could do it, but Nobody realized that Everybody wouldn’t do it.
It ended up that Everybody blamed Somebody when Nobody did what Anybody could have done.
(author unknown)
Peace and Justice is Everyone’s Job!
We’re all in this together!

1. Mourn all victims of violence. 2. Reject war as a solution. 3. Defend civil liberties. 4. Oppose all discrimination, anti-Islamic, anti-Semitic, anti-Hawaiian, etc.
5. Seek peace through justice in Hawai`i and around the world.
Malu `Aina Center for Non-violent Education & Action P.O. Box AB Kurtistown, Hawai`i 96760.
Phone (808) 966-7622.  Email ja@malu-aina.org   http://www.malu-aina.org

Hilo Peace Vigil leaflet (June 14, 2013– 612th week) – Friday 3:30-5PM downtown Post Office