VIDEO: Officials Discuss Lava Impacts on Puna Geothermal Wells, Plants (Big Island Video News)
(Video 3:35 Minutes)
As lava approaches Puna’s populated areas on the big island of Hawaii, some are expressing concern over how the flow will impact existing geothermal wells and power plants.
Puna Geothermal Venture (PGV)’s senior director of Hawaiian affairs, Mike Kaleikini, has found himself talking often about the Pohoiki power plant’s plan to move potentially hazardous chemicals (like the 60,000 gallons of pentane) out of the way of any lava that might come their way.
But PGV is in Pohoiki and is far removed from the pending lava threat. Of more immediate concern are the plugged geothermal wells closer to the June 27 lava flow.
On Tuesday, Hawaii County Civil Defense administrator Darryl Oliveira assured the audience gathered at a public meeting in Pahoa that the KA1-1 Geothermal Well in the Wao Kele O Puna Forest Reserve should not present an added danger if lava should come in contact with it.
Oliveira refereed to a summary report prepared for the Department of Land and Natural Resources, which contracted with Oceanit to plug the geothermal well (as well as a second well in Puna, known as SOH-4.)
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