Not sure if i followed 100%.

But yeah, that fee is absurd if it is true… and i take it from your comment that it is.

It is not one bad project, it’s the whole program. HGP-A, and PGV.

You can put lipstick on it but you can not make it compatible right in the middle of thousands of people.

Most of us are not even on the grid we are independent. We are pulling more than our share already and have paid dearly so others can have power. It’s time you look elsewhere for your added power.

There are much better alternatives why choose a proven loser (in Hawaii) when we could simply install Solar water heaters and shut down power plants instead of building them?

According to the state over 39% of residential electrical use is to heat water. Are you saying it’s easier to drill geothermal wells and build power plants than to design a program to put solar water heaters on those 39% of homes that do not have them?

The problems with geothermal in Hawaii are real, the alternatives are there. There is a cleaner, safer, and cheaper way to reduce or eliminate our oil use and turn off power plants.

The answer is not more power plants, the state and HEI want to sell more power because they both profit from that. If we reduce the amount of power instead HEI loses big money and tax revenues drop.

Look at the big picture, geothermal is a way to continue the energy monopoly. It just changes from oil to geothermal and lower Puna and the people that live there will pay a high price in quality of life and health and safety.

Those are facts not rhetoric, I understand this better than some people would like and the bottom line is geothermal fails on it’s merits in Hawaii when all options, impacts, and alternatives are given a level playing field.

A sorce of energy can be “alternative” and / or renewable without necessarily being “clean” After all by some measures Nuclear is emission free and alternative but not renewable or “clean.”

It is part of working with wells and “exploration” that some work and some do not. Successful drilling is a matter of likelyhood and percentages, not necessarily public reaction or pollution.

As mentioned previously it seems that in Hawaii wells are likely to become clogged easily. Using open wells is only one way to tap geothermal energy. In your rhetoric you would tar any alternative attempts with the same broad brush. Industry reaction is naturally to avoid any public disclosure and you create the monster you might try to avoid.

The answer is to narrow your focus to one companies specific practces, or better one individual’s perspective and the particular technologicalj or social problem.

People suffering is always a concern but shooting from the hip is just as likely to hit innocent bystanders. This whole matter could also be read as a zoning issue. Industry and residencies often don’t mix but we need both.

That is why they have to keep drilling and abandoning wells and why people are getting sick and against it.

There is also a nature culture in Hawaii that wants to preserve a natural state which rubs raw against industries desire to change the environment and supply a cheaper, environmentally sound, and readily available alternative to burning fuel oil for electricity.

As I read the article cited above it appears that there may be more problems keeping the wells clean (always an issue with geothermal) that is combining with a more toxic heat supply to make this site more of a problem than others around the world.

Whatever the specific issues the area is physically and culturally volatile. Adding explosive rhetoric that suggests “all geothermal is bad” is perhaps painting with too broad a brush and tends to make a bad situation worse.

Geothermal may not be best applied in this situation. Housing may not be appropriate for this area. But this cannot be used to suggest that housing or geothermal is not appropriate anywhere.

And this: “HELCO capped their solar net metering program and now charges each new system up to $15,000.00 for an individual study in order to hook up. Basically doubling the cost to the homeowner.” WTF?!

It sounds good until you really look at it. It is not clean. Here is an article about this geothermal site.

The Brimstone Battles / Hawaii / Residents say operators of geothermal power plant are committing sulfuric sacrilege in goddess’ garden / Poison in Paradise

http://www.chron.com/CDA/archives/archive.mpl/1997_3014355/the-brimstone-battles-hawaii-residents-say-operato.html