Critics of geothermal development in Puna left a Windward Planning Commission on Thursday a little more hopeful that they can break through a bureaucratic logjam that has held up a study on impacts to Native Hawaiians.
Tom Travis, a representative of Puna Pono Alliance, said they would be resubmitting a request to have the $293,760 study funded through Hawaii County’s geothermal asset fund, established to mitigate impacts from Puna Geothermal Venture.
The commission had approved the claim in January 2015 but rescinded it two months later because of concerns that the proposal didn’t meeting the fund’s procurement requirements.
And then nothing happened, prompting study supporters to slam commission members and planning officials at a meeting last March.
But on Thursday, commission members again assured them they share their frustrations and also want to get the study done. The claim just needs to satisfy all the strings attached to the fund, they said.
“It needs to (get through) the bureaucratic bumblings,” said commission Chairman Charles Heaukulani.
The best way for the group, which included longtime geothermal activists and Hawaiian cultural practitioners who worship the volcano goddess Pele, to accomplish that was to rewrite the proposal to better fit the requirements, officials said.
Travis said he hoped to bring the matter back on the commission’s agenda next month.
James Owens, a claims adjuster hired by the county Planning Department, said he recommended the claim be denied since it wasn’t written to be Puna specific and wasn’t addressing a specific injury. No one also was identified as being responsible for handling the funds, he said.
“It says they will look for a claim,” Owens said of the proposed study. “A claim has to exist already.”
As an example, Owens said he could claim an injury for someone punching him in the face and causing a physical injury but not for insulting him.
“I think at this point some people want to punch us in the face,” joked commission member Raylene Moses, sensing the frustration in the room.
Heaukulani asked if that means he would rule out spiritual impacts from geothermal development. Some Hawaiians see that as an insult to Pele.
Owens said he would have to see the claim first.
Claimants Puna Pono Alliance, Pele Defense Fund, Sierra Club-Moku Ola Group, Ohana Hoopakele and Malu Aina had selected Michael Edelstein, an environmental psychologist, to conduct the study.
The funding request says Edelstein would “conduct a baseline and prospective psycho-social impact assessment on the Big Island of Hawaii in order to identify both past, existing and potential adverse impacts upon Native Hawaiians associated with the development of geothermal energy generation facilities.”
Email Tom Callis at tcallis@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
