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Great protest at HELCO today: No More Geothermal

Published by jalbertini on August 19th, 2013 in Geothermal, Public Events, Social Justice, Take Action!.

Aug. 19, 2013 No More Geothermal protest at HELCO, Hilo, Hawaii

A videographer walked the line and counted 442 people standing in protest on both sides of the street fronting HELCO today from 10AM- till noon today.  I haven’t seen that many Puna folks out since the rainforest protest in 1990.   It was a lively gathering, including drumming, chants, and lots of creative signs. People actually marched more than 20 miles from Pahoa to Hilo over 3 days, including many senior citizens. The final leg today had about 200 coming in from Panaewa/Puainako.  Organizers did a great job.  They delivered a petition to HELCO CEO Jay Ignacio with over 3400 signatures.  This was a big event for Hilo.  The response from cars passing by was enthusiastic.  HELCO is not loved.  There should be coverage in the Trib tomorrow.  HELCO and the powers that be better take this seriously.  If they push forward with more geothermal there is likely to be large scale non-violent civil disobedience, similar to what helped stop the destruction of the Wao Kele O Puna rainforest by 500MW of geothermal energy planned there.
Jim

Petition:
“We want Hawaii Electric Light Company (HELCO) to stop its contract for new geothermal development on the Island of Hawaii, because the contract was excluded from the utility company’s recent public planning effort, and previous geothermal sites on this island have been notoriously unsafe, unclean, and poorly regulated.’

Petition Background

Prior geothermal activity in the Pohoiki area of the Island of Hawai`i has caused serious community harm, resulting in successful lawsuits by more than 100 residents. Hawaii Electric Light Company’s present effort to contract for new geothermal development without considering the community’s concerns is unreasonable and should be stopped.

For further information please visit http://punapono.com/index.php/save

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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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