Malu 'Aina

Malu ‘Aina Center for Non-violent Education & Action

May 14, 2013

 Hawaii County Council

  Strongly opposes Bill 78 –cutting off county geothermal relocation funds and taking those funds for other reasons

       Our organization strongly opposes Bill 78 – cutting off county geothermal relocation funds and taking those funds for other purposes.

       This county should not cut off people that could need to relocate when the next accident happens at PGV. The county and state is in a mess with geothermal caused because Kanaka Maoli spiritual beliefs about Pele, an Hawaiian deity, have not been respected. Drilling into Pele is sacrilegious. In addition, poor county and state land use decisions were made for financial interest of geothermal companies over the health and safety concerns of residents. This is true from the get go of HGPA planned 1 month open venting, geothermal prospecting in the Wao O Kele Rainforest, and the reopening of a PGV damaged blowout well KS8 that experts said should never have been be reopened. The county allowed that well to be reopened for the financial benefit of PGV and again the people around that plant suffered when the well failed for a 2^nd time before being permanently shut in. The list of geothermal horrors is ongoing.

       Over the history of geothermal development in Hawaii, the lack of proper regulation and monitoring by the Hawaii Department of Health (DOH) and other state and county agencies have been shameful. And the legislature has now compounded the problems by allowing further geothermal exploration and development virtually anywhere. Hawaii is headed toward major upheaval over geothermal expansion that could surpass the hundreds of arrests and legal action it took to stop geothermal industrial development in Hawaii’s last intact lowland rainforest and the seedbed for new lava flows. Hawaiian spiritual beliefs, people’s basic civil rights and the environment are being trashed by geothermal profiteers greed.

       Please leave resident relocation funding in place until all geothermal is shut down and Ormat (PGV’s parent company) is relocated back to its home base of Israel where its windfall profits have been going from the rape of Pele and the poisoning of the people and land of Puna for far too long. There are better, safer, and more respectful alternatives than geothermal for our energy needs. Mahalo.

Jim Albertini, President

 Jim Albertini 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

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