Richard Ha writes:
There have been some very interesting developments regarding geothermal possibilities on this island – ones that could possibly see the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands, and therefore the Hawaiian people themselves, as beneficiaries receiving monthly checks. But only if their leadership steps up soon.
In 2012, when Mayor Kenoi led a delegation to see a geothermal plant in the Philippines located on a volcano that last erupted 100,000 years ago, the question immediately came up: How about on the flanks of Maunakea?
If the Philippines is getting geothermal energy from a volcano that last erupted 100,000 years ago, how about one that last erupted 4,000 years ago, like Maunakea?
While doing some exploratory drilling for water at Pohakuloa not long ago, they hit boiling water at the 6,000 foot level. Boiling water. And, interestingly, that heat was not associated with a rift zone.
While doing surface exploration, they found hot rocks on Hawaiian Home Lands around Humuula. That resource could be bigger than the entire East Rift zone.
Since the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands (DHHL) owns the geothermal resource, they don’t pay any other agency royalties for geothermal developed under their lands. What this probably means is that the beneficiaries could get a monthly cash payment for a portion of the development. That’s entirely up to the DHHL and the beneficiaries.
But they will need to act quickly or it will be developed somewhere else entirely, and Hawaiians will not benefit from it.
Now the maka‘ainana will see who the real leaders are.
Remember what the Law of the Splintered Paddle basically comes down to: You cannot be ali’i if you cannot feed the people.
Richard, it’s not just the ali’i. More important are the kahuna and high priests and priestesses. It isn’t easy finding who they are, but I got to meet Kimo Pihana, the kahuna of Mauna Kea and he sees perfectly the technology coming to Hawaii island is integral to the growth, not slow death, of the Hawaiian culture. He wasn’t happy about everything on Mauna Kea. I have heard there are two observatories up there, totally stripped of equipment, the only thing left is the asbestos insulation that was used at that time, too expensive to tear down, even though the agreement was to tear down and clear obsolete observatories.
Anyway, the next thing on your plate is the geothermal RFP. All the bidders last time chose the East Rift Zone for a location. East Rift Zone and the southeast Puna is out of the picture for a plant. The simple fact, in all this energy talk, is the Hawaii island east side has far less demand for power than the west side. On the west side, air conditioning is almost a necessity. The kahuna, priests and priestesses need to see geothermal power is a benefit of the volcano rather than offending or hurting it. The volcano is incapable of being hurt.