Wednesday, May 9, 2018

USA, Hawaii: Further Action to Secure Puna Geothermal Venture Power Plant

Ige to issue emergency proclamation to secure Puna geothermal plant (Star Advertiser)

The East Rift zone from the on-going Kilauea eruption as seen from a helicopter on Wednesday morning. Pictured at the bottom right is the Puna Geothermal Venture plant. Honolulu Star-Advertiser photo by Cindy Ellen Russell 
Gov. David Ige will issue a supplemental emergency declaration to provide authority for him “to do everything he needs to do” to secure the Puna Geothermal Venture power plant, which is increasingly threatened by the Lower East Rift eruption of Kilauea volcano.

Mike Kaleikini, senior director of Hawaii affairs for PGV, said the company plans to move at least 12,000 gallons of pentane away from the plant today and hopes to move a total of 50,000 gallons in the next day or two. “This is priority number one for us,” he said.

Kaleikini declined to discuss the governor’s proclamation, saying “I don’t know any details. I need to see the proclamation. We’re all waiting for it.”

He added, “What I think is, this action being taken is to help open up for more resources to help with the mitigation efforts. I think we’ve got a handle on it from my perspective, but it doesn’t hurt to have additional resources available.”