Big Island Residents Back Geothermal Subzones (Hawaii Tribune-Herald)
Hawaii County residents offered a unified front against actions the Legislature took last year regarding what areas of the state could be used for geothermal energy.
Testifiers spoke in support of a County Council resolution calling for the state Legislature to repeal Act 97, which got rid of geothermal subzones and opened the door for developers to locate geothermal production wells anywhere.
Council members, meeting Wednesday at the West Hawaii Civic Center, apparently took the many testifiers’ pleas to heart and unanimously approved the resolution.
“Subzones are needed for a very good reason,” said Nelson Ho, who participated in the movement that created subzones in the early 1980s. “It is needed because the development of geothermal is a heavy industry with often toxic consequences for the environment and the people unlucky enough to be in the vicinity. … Act 97 has the unintended consequence of focusing and hardening community opposition to geothermal.”
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