Kaʻū News Briefs Oct. 30, 2024

Hawaiian Home Lands on Hawai'i Island in blue, some of it with geothermal resources, which the agency may consider for alternative energy development. Map from DHHL

HAWAIIAN HOMES COMMISSION is revisiting the idea of harvesting geothermal energy to produce electricity on Hawaiian Home Lands to create income for beneficiaries and renewable energy for the island. Hawaiian Home Lands in Kaʻū with potential geothermal resources are at Kalae. Other possible geothermal hotspots in Kaʻū that are not on Hawaiian Home Lands are in the Kaʻū Desert, according to a U.S. Department of Energy map, which also shows hotspots on Hualalai and other places around Kona and Kawaihae, and in Puna into the south end of Hilo.

     Hawaiian Homes Commissioner for East Hawai'i is Michael Kalekini, who has worked for Puna Geothermal Venture for 28 years. Commissioner for West Hawai'i is Makai Freitas, a labor leader with the ILWU who works as a longshoreman. Freitas was recently quoted in a story on geothermal by Hawai'i Public Radio, which said, "DHHL would have control over any geothermal found under land in its trust. Freitas thinks it could end up being a big economic opportunity for the department." 

    HPR quoted Freitas saying, "It can advance us. We don't have to go to the state Legislature every year asking for money like every other state department does. We can start basically an internal revenue stream that's constant for generations.We’re not relying on anybody else. That’d be huge for our people."
    Freitas gave the example of a Maori group in New Zealand owning geothermal energy resources and producing power and benefits for Maori communities.

Department of Energy map shows possible geothermal sites in the striped areas in red, including Kalae, which is on Hawaiian Home Lands.

    See and listen to the HPR story at https://www.hawaiipublicradio.org/local-news/2024-10-30/hawaiian-homesteads-geothermal-energy-beneficiaries.

    The discussion in Hawai'i comes during a time when the federal government is encouraging more geothermal development across the country, including the enhanced geothermal system"that produces energy by injecting water into hot subsurface rock formations and then extracting the heated water to generate electricity, rather than depending on naturally occurring underground hot water like traditional geothermal systems," according to a Department of the Interior statement issued on Oct. 17.
    For public lands it oversees on the mainland, the Department of Interior's Bureau of Land Management is seeking to hasten the geothermal site investigatory  process by easing environmental requirements on exploratory sites of 20 acres or less. Exploration would include core drilling, creating temperature gradient wells, and/or resource wells to confirm the existence of a geothermal resource, to improve injection support, or to demonstrate connections between wells. Such Categorical Exclusions from some environmental studies have already been adopted by the U.S. Forest Service and Department of the Navy.