The Hawaiian Islands are commonly referred to as being paradise; the islands are often utilized as a remote tropical get-away for tourists from around the world. The majority of the people who visit the Hawaiian Islands are seeking an idyllic vacation and often fail to realize the complex and corrupt nature that exists on the islands. As a result of US colonialism, the Indigenous Native Hawaiian Culture and Religion has suffered severely. The State has essentially prostituted the land and culture out to tourists and non-native business ventures for financial gains.

The development of the Puna Geothermal Venture (PGV)on Big Island, HI is one of the most significant displays of the State promoting foreign business at the expensive of Hawaiian culture and religion while simultaneously exploiting Hawaiian land and resources. PGV has a long history in Hawaiʻi and is quite possibly one of the most controversial aspects of the Island. In order to understand the severity of the PGV situation, it is imperative that the reader realize that not only do Indigenous Hawaiians have their own religion but many Hawaiian Natives believe that their identity and ultimately their well-being is intertwined with the land. Hawaiians also have a strong belief in Mana, which is essentially the spiritual life force that lives within all things.

Traditional Hawaiian religion has a deep reverence for a vast system of Gods, Goddesses, and Demigods. Many Hawaiians believe that these Gods and Goddesses are alive and live within the Island . Tūtū Pele is one of the most respected and well known Goddesses that live on Hawai’i. Madame Pele makes her home within the Kilauea Volcano. Kilauea Volcano has even been described as the “Navel of the Earth.”

image credit goes to Herb Kane

It is important to understand that there are Hawaiians who are alive today that hold claim to being direct lineal decedents of Tūtū Pele. This is often an aspect of Hawaiian history and culture that is over-looked and misunderstood. When we consider the reality that the ancestral lineage of Hawaiian’s is directly associated with the supreme beings they hold such reverence to, it allows for us to have a deeper respect for the ancestral relationship Hawaiian culture has to the land. This isn’t merely a story of Hawaiian mythology and lore; it is the entire history and origin of the Hawaiian People that has now deified.

Credit for this image goes to Herb Kane

Pele is a Destructress-Creatrix; a Goddess who destroys in order to birth new life. Pele can be a vengeful goddess. She has been known to cause volcanic explosions out of spite;She is swift to punish selfishness and arrogance. However, it is often said that Pele gives mercy to those who respect her and show aloha.This is one of the major reasons why many Hawaiians give lei (offerings wrapped in ti leaves) hula,and chant.

photo obtained from indigenize.wordpress.com

I take no credit for this image, please contact me if this is your photograph

The first geothermal venture sites on Hawai’i were originally reported as being “experimental” and 4 small wells were drilled into the Kilauea Middle East Rift Zone in order to“test” the viability of the project. This was ultimately seen by Native Hawaiians as being a massive desecration to Goddess Pele. The concerns and outcries from the local community were ignored and belittled; the desecration of Pele was often considered baseless and accused of being comprised of an outdated mythological belief system. This is arguably one of the most harmful and on-going violations of the Religious Freedoms Act in modern American history.

Geothermal drilling began on in Hawaiʻi in 1961 despite years of opposition, lawsuits and controversy regarding the environmental risks and religious impacts that geothermal development would have on the island. The geothermal projects often changed hands of ownership. Projects were commonly bought and sold by a wide variety of corporations, estates, and federal/state funded projects. PGV is now owned by subsidiaries of Ormat Nevada, Inc. Ormat Inc. is the largest geothermal corporation in the world and owns ventures in 30 different countries. Ormat recently settled a civil suit for 5.5 million dollars with the federal government for fraud and misusing federally funded tax payer grant money in regards to the continued geothermal development on the island.

PGV has a partnership with the privatized electric company known as Hawaii Electric Light Company (often referred to as HECO.) The headquarters for HECO is located on Oahu. HECO has been accused of having a monopoly on the Hawaii energy infrastructure.

The initial desecration of the Kilauea volcano was preceded by years of seemingly unethical drilling without community consent tied together with infringing upon the religious belief system that encompass Hawaiian culture. There is also long history of massive EPA violations and extreme environmental hazards that have been associated with the geothermal development in Hawaii.

image obtained from kilaueamilitarycamp.com

It is important to note that the geothermal development near volcanoes almost always generates energy from the heat produced from the tectonic plates moving. The geothermal ventures on Hawaii harness energy from “hot spots” found within the volcano. There are high amounts of concentrated hydrogen sulfide that are within the geothermal drill sites. Subsequently there are toxic residues and fumes that are released during geothermal production in Hawaiʻi. PGV is one of the only geothermal project in the entire world to generate energy in such a manner. It is also the only geothermal production site that is located within a residential living and agricultural zone. It is important to note that these areas were recognized as residential living spaces prior to the development of the geothermal facility.

image of geothermal facility obtained from higp.hawaii.edu

The PGV site relies upon a “caustic soda”, a mixture of highly volatile and substances which includes hydrogen sulfide. Other ingredients found within the geothermal brine contain lead, nickel, chromium, and mercury. It is reported that PGV relies upon 60,000 gallons of pentane per day. During normal operation, the facility pumps 3,000 gallons per minute of the geothermal “caustic soda” brine into the underground injection wells. Many of these wells sit directly on top of “hot spots.” This creates a dangerous and troubling scenario in the event that an earthquake or lava eruption were to happen. It has also been reported by PGV officials that the plant loses between 40–100 gallons of pentane into the environment per day, despite the companies public statements that the geothermal facility is allegedly considered to be a “closed loop system.” To this day there is no effective or consistent testing done to verify the ecological impacts the PGV site has on the underground water sources, soil, and air.

early construction of geothermal sites on the island obtained from higp.hawaii.edu

In 1973 the Hawaii Geothermal Project (HGP-A) received massive support in the form of contracts and grants from the following agencies:

U.S. Department of Energy (Contract)

Energy Research and Development Administration (Contract)

National Science Foundation (Grant)

State of Hawaii (Grant)

County of Hawaii (Grant)

Hawaii Electric Co (Grant)

The drilling for HGP-A began in 1976 and was given a 2 year trial period to test the effectiveness of the site. This test site project indicated that this was not to be considered a “production well” but a source of collecting data regarding the viability of geothermal on the island. Despite the test results indicating that the wells had poor permeability, the HGP-A project was fast tracked and in 1982 a three-megawatt power plant went on-line without informal community hearings or consent. The HGP-A project continued for nearly 8 more years and was subsequently shut down in 1989. Federal regulatory agencies eventually deemed the HGP-A site as being unacceptable. During the operation of the site, HGP-A continually dumped toxic waste into unlined retention ponds which led to the contamination of underground water sources. This also contributed to other environmental hazards and the death of many animals on the island. It was further reported that toxic amounts of hydrogen sulfide and other pollutants were often released into the Puna community during regular plant maintenance and well cleaning sessions.

protesting the development of geothermal on Wao Kele o Puna

In the early 1980s the Campbell Estate joined hands with True Oil Corp and began exploratory geothermal drilling near the forest east of Volcanoes National Park. There was a volcanic eruption soon after this drilling began. Many Native Hawaiian’s attributed this volcanic eruption to Pele taking vengeance upon those who desecrated her home. This explosion covered 25,000 acres of land with lava and buried the original proposed geothermal site. Despite the spiritual community expressing concerns over the blatant disregard to Goddess Pele, the Campbell Estate and True Oil Corp fast tracked a land swap deal with the State and moved their drilling operations to Wao Kele o Puna, a protected natural reserve area. This area encompassed 27,000 acres of Rainforest, which was home to native plants, fauna, and animals. This area was originally described as the “last original rain forest within the US.”

Na Maka o ka ‘Aina as the copyright owner. images depicted in this documentary http://www.hawaiianvoice.com/products-page/environment/wao-kele-o-puna-save-the-rainforest/

In 1993 this project was officially abandoned due to a lack of financial funding; a move that ultimately led to the site being taken over by the State. Throughout 1980’s and early 1990’s the State continued to drill into the volcano to get a better grasp on the availability of power resources. During this time period, there were many technical and managerial mistakes that led to massive accidents. Some of these incidents include underground

well blow-outs and the venting of HS2 which negatively impacted the residential community and the environment.

In 1991 there was a major accident at the PGV site. The accident involved an underground well being blown out which led to over 2,200 pounds of toxic hydrogen sulfide being vented into the air during a 31 hour period. This incident resulted in the death of many animals and the forced evacuation of at least 75 Puna Residents. It was stated that the EPA wouldn’t allow some of the local residents to return to their home for nearly 6 months due to the toxic and lethal amounts of HS2.

image titled “PGV Flow test” obtained from higp.hawaii.edu

Soon after this incident, a federal judge halted all projects pending the review of an Environmental Impact Statement. It is important to note that in 1992 shortly after the federal mortorium, the State and Federal government spent millions of dollars on an inter-island underwater cable to transfer energy from the geothermal sites from Hawaii to Oahu. This project may indicate that the State intended to keep on exploiting the geothermal sites to supply other islands with energy. At the time of this exorbitant and controversial project, there had been almost no official follow up with new or updated safety policies to protect the local community from the dangers reported at the geothermal sites.

During this time period, PGV and its parent corporation Ormat allegedly went through great lengths to limit any financial liability in the event of a catastrophic accident relating to the geothermal sites. It does not appear that PGV made any notable attempt at improving the safety protocols at the geothermal sites.

In 1995 the EPA began investigating the environmental hazards that the geothermal projects have on the Island. In 2000 the EPA released statements and offered several recommendations for the geothermal project to fix. One notable recommendation was the requirement that the geothermal project develop an emergency response plan to prepare for potential chemical spills and volcanic explosions. In light of the recent Kilauea volcanic explosion and the PGV and State response to the incident, it is evident that a proper emergency response plans has not been established.

documents obtained from the EPA report circa 2000

During the late 90’s and mid 2000s, there were many concerns from citizens regarding the on going leaks from the plant. Without any proper air or water regulation and testing, many citizens have expressed that the community was unable to monitor the pollution coming from the PGV site. There were 18 declared civil defense emergencies related to the PGV site between 1991 and 1999. However, it is believed that this number is actually much higher, but unfortunately records relating to PGV accidents prior to 1991 have not been released to the public.

November 7, 2011 PGV was affected by a lightning strike which forced the plant to go offline. This resulted in the releasing of toxic and lethal hydrogen sulfide gas being vented into the residential community and environment.

image of geothermal site obtained from hawaiipublicradio.org

Despite decades of environmental concerns and religious violations, in 2012 the passing of ACT 097 ultimately led to geothermal sub-zones being eliminated which allows for the development of geothermal plants and drill sites to be conducted anywhere on the island. This was commonly referred to by locals as the“Green Energy Corruption Act.” SB 2001 was also enacted, which allegedly requires “consultation with and input from the Native Hawaiian community and general public in developing geothermal projects on public lands.” It is obvious that the religious concerns of desecrating the Goddess Pele were not respected and the geothermal industry continued to trample upon the sacred mana within the island.

In April of 2013 the PGV site had a massive failure within its system which led to a $76,500 EPA fine for chemical safety violations. The following statement was later released by the EPA:

“The April 2013 release was caused by a pump failure, resulting in a leak of geothermal condensate (composed primarily of water with some contaminants, including hydrogen sulfide) for about 15 minutes before PGV personnel were able to isolate and stop the leakage,”

The EPA has officially stated that Hydrogen Sulfide ( HS2) can “reasonably be anticipated to cause serious or irreversible chronic human health effects at relatively low doses.”

In Aug. 2014, after tropical storm Iselle, the PGV plant was forced to shut down. As a result, PGV vented an estimated 67 pounds of toxic hydrogen sulfide into the air. This ultimately led to several hospitalizations and massive environmental hazards. There was a class action lawsuit brought against the company as a result of this incident.

Geothermal development on Hawaiʻi has a long history of corruption and a complete disregard for Hawaiian culture. There have been blatant and offensive religious infringements as well as deeply concerning environmental hazards. There are serious concerns regarding the impact that these geothermal sites will have on human health. It is apparent that none of these concerns have been taken seriously by the corporation who owns PGV. Furthermore, in what appears to be a serious lack of ethical consideration, the elected state officials from Hawaiʻi often downplay public concerns regarding these issues. This has become even more apparent during the most recent volcanic eruption that is unfolding on the island.

When the most recent volcanic eruption began on Hawaiʻi, many citizens immediately began expressing their concerns regarding the geothermal facility during a local meeting.

During the community meeting on 5/5/2018 when locals expressed their concerns about PGV, the local State Officials attempted to downplay those concerns. Mayor Harry Kim was quoted as saying “Anyone who’s been here since 1980’s, 90’s, 2000, I know some of the emotions of the geothermal. I’ll ask you to trust me on this. They’re in complete shutdown, Obviously, I trust them on the shutdown, but I don’t trust them as far as just taking their word for it.”

PGV representative Mike Kaleikin also made public statements while at this community meeting and was quoted as saying: “Pentane is a hydrocarbon, which is flammable just like propane,” Kaleikini stated, “and so we shut that down. We inventoried it. We moved it out of the inundation zone. And as soon as the first reports of lava was spewing, what we did next was shut down the entire plant.”

Initially, PGV stated that they shut down the facility as per EPA emergency regulation. It is currently unknown how much HS2 was vented into the environment when the facility went into emergency shut down mode. PGV stated that they moved the pentane out of the “inundation zone” which was essentially 100 feet away from the site,at a higher elevation. Even when the lava flow was reported as being within ½ mile of the PGV facility, the PGV corporation and State officials continued to maintain that everything was safe and up to code.

The proper protocol is that pentane should be evacuated when fire/lava is within ½ mile of the facility.

Furthermore, the PGV corporation did not follow typical EPA protocols that require the facility to have the appropriate holding tanks on site in order to properly evacuate the flammable substance in a timely fashion. This means that despite the dangerous proximity of the lava flow it took days to evacuate from the area due to a lack of proper holding and transportation tanks. It is also important to note that PGV did not follow up with the 2016 mandated EPA requirement to “analyze and report on a worst-case release scenario and estimate the population that would be affected by an accidental release of pentane

As of 5/11/2018 it has been reported in that all of the pentane has been removed from the facility and transported to another location on the island. There are still valid concerns regarding the underground geothermal wells that even Gov. Igr has recently addressed .

If the lava begins to flow towards the wells it could lead to massive explosions and irreparable damage to the island. PGV has stated that they have closed the wells off with cinder but many citizens have continued to express concerns. If the island experiences more earthquakes, it could also impact the geothermal wells, which could potentially cause a ripple effect of damage.

The Governor of Hawaiʻi has released an official statement on Twitter stating that a massive evacuation of the Puna area is beyond their capabilities.

This appears to be another massive failures from the State Government. The EPA report circa 2000 recommended that there be proper evacuation protocols established in the event of an emergency situation such as this. After the 2016 EPA fine, the EPA also requested updated reports for “worst case scenarios” which have obviously been ignored. It is evident that despite having over 18 years to prepare for such an event, the State of Hawaii has not attempted to listen to the incredibly valid concerns regarding PGV. Sadly, the State Government has continued to push the responsibility of this crisis off on to PGV and the EPA. Meanwhile, PGV has maintained that they have been following EPA protocols.

This controversial situation has received very little national news. In fact, FOX NEWS officially misreported the volcanic explosion as being on Oahu. Meanwhile, The Daily Show, made a brief segment regarding the potentially catastrophic and devastating events unfolding in Hawaiʻi that was merel comprised of jokes and satire. There has been no real attempt from mainstream media to accurately report the concerns of Hawaiian citizens regarding the PGV facility.

This leaves the local Hawaiian community to ask the question: Why Don’t Hawaiian Lives Matter? When we dig deeper, I believe we can ask the question: Why Is The Hawaiian Religion Not Protected By The Religious Freedom Act?

Meanwhile, local Hawaiian’s maintain that ultimately, it is Pele who is the boss and she will have the final say. Those on the island must live with the consequences of Pele. The curse of Pele will always find its way into the lives of those who disrespect and desecrate her home. According to legend, Pele is a protective matriarch, she is known for being incredibly protective and sometimes zealous of her land and children. Pele considers lava rocks to be her children; after all, we must acknowledge that it is only through the volcanic eruption process that the lava rocks are birthed into reality. The legend of Pele’s curse is known world wide. It is said that those who take things away from the island will experience the wrath of Pele in the form of personal calamity and bad luck. The Volcano National Park can confirm that every year countless people from around the world return items that have been taken from the island. This includes rocks, gem stones, sand, sea shells and even shoes. These items are often accompanied by remorseful letters from people who have experienced the Curse of Pele. The bad luck is often reported in regards to relationships ending, loved ones becoming sick, suffering severe personal injuries, and one of the most common reports are of family pets dying.

(I want to give credit for the above painting of Pele. It was painted by Arthur Johnson, a well respected artist. I do not have copyright permission for the image and hoped to use it under “fair use”)

Madam Pele is the goddess of fire, lightning, wind, dance and volcanoes. Through her powerful nature, she is able to devour land with fountains of molten lava and in doing so She create islands so beautiful they are referred to as being Paradise. When an eruption occurs, native Hawaiians often believe that it is a form of Pele giving a gift; she rebuilds, transforms, and cleanses everything in her path.