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Action Rainforest May
Alert #96 Action Network 1994
[photo, "activists protest True's geothermal operation in Hawai'i."]
Years of opposition through lawsuits, lobbying, protests, and
grassroots education paid off on March 4, 1994, when True Geothermal
Energy Company announced their decision to pull out of a geothermal
drilling project in eh Wao Kele O Puna Rainforest on the Big Island of
Hawai'i. "The recent announcement by True Geothermal is a victory shared
with the Rainforest Action network, its members, and all of the RAGs
[Rainforest Action Groups] who have supported the ongoing campaign to
protect Hawai'ian rights and native rainforests," said Palikapu Dedman
of the Pele Defense Fund at a celebratory press conference. Although
True's withdrawal marks a major milestone for grassroots action in
Hawai'i, local residents remain concerned for the future of the forest
because it is not protected.
Wao Kele O Puna is a World Heritage Ecosystem and home to many
species unique to Hawai'i. Situated on the flanks of the Kilauea
volcano, this area is a mosaic of forest types shaped by periodic lava
flows and forest regeneration. Native Hawai'ians use this area to
practice traditional religious, cultural, and subsistence activities.
"When True Geothermal opened a wound in the volcanic rainforest to drill
into Pele, we conducted rituals to heal that wound," said Dedman. In
1985, this rainforest was designated as a "geothermal resource subzone"
and illegally swapped from protected public lands status into the hands
of Campbell Estate who still controls the land. As private land, and
without protected status, the Wao Kele O Puna Rainforest, [the USA's]
largest expanse of lowland tropical forest, faces the continuing threat
of geothermal development.
The State of Hawai'i has been promoting geothermal development as a
"state-federal-private partnership" to develop up to 500 megawatts of
geothermal electrical energy for export from the Big Island to O'ahu via
a 200-mile undersea cable. Now it appears that the state government
plans to "bail out" True by taking financial responsibility for True's
exploratory well, thereby continuing to encourage geothermal developers
by providing "resource monitoring and assessment" research.
The state's Board of Land and Natural Resources has approved this
bailout without ever addressing critical questions of financial and
environmental liability including toxic emissions from the well, road
maintenance, and the cost of finally plugging the well. Negotiations on
this proposal are underway between the State and Campbell Estate and
True. Meanwhile, Campbell Estate asserts that they are in negotiations
with a new developer--one who could try to take advantage of a lull in
national outrage over the destruction of this key watershed, endangered
habitat, and cultural resource.
A strong call for restoration and permanent protection for Wao Kele
O Puna is now needed. Activists are pressuring the Governor, the state
legislature, and the US EPA to take responsibility and oversee the
following clean-up and restoration activities:
1. Return Wao Kele O Puna to protected status through state, federal,
or private means;
2. Officially abandon the 500 megawatt geothermal/cable project;
3. Complete well-plugging and abandonment, as required by state and
federal law;
4. Complete reforestation of all "denuded areas, including access
road and secondary fields roads," as required by True's development
permit.
WHAT YOU CAN DO
Please use the following sample letter to write the decisionmakers.
Keith Abue
Director, Department of Land and Natural Resources
State of Hawai'i
P. O. Box 621
Honolulu, HI 96809 USA
Ms. Keaulike Kawananakoa
Campbell Estate Heiress
900 Fort St. Mall, Suite 1450
Honolulu, HI 96813
Dear --:
I am encouraged to hear that True Geothermal Energy Company has
formally pulled out of the Wao Kele O Puna Rainforest. I urge you to
recognize that this forest has more value as a Native Hawai'ian
Rainforest for the Protection of Cultural and Biological Diversity than
it does as a future geothermal exploration site.
The state government and Campbell Estate will assume great liability for
the continued use of True's well and access road for development and/or
monitoring purposes. The eyes of the world continue to watch in the
hopes that you will take responsibility to repair the geothermal
damage, respect Native Hawai'ian rights, and permanently protect Wao
Kele O Puna.
With respect,
<you!>
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Transcribed for electronic redistribution by Cameron Spitzer, San Jos\'e,
California. cls@truffula.sj.ca.us
Rainforest Action Network, 450 Sansome STE 700 San Francisco CA 94111 USA
(415)398-4404