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<br /> e.~G~_7F~C. h',,'!GR ~Cttl -The tifl!nStOne bGIG25 t ~ r <br /> hitpLwwwchi omlcon.enJchronicfelne0om`t,?vhzr-;~,~btini <br /> The ~a~,a in the Puna Dist!~ict hc~nn in December 1975, when the first sell was drilled f~>r i?~e <br /> state am Hawaii Geothcmiai Ptr.>ject, an rxpcrimental, three-ntegarvatt power plant ?car <br /> Leilani L'stales that went on line in 1981 <br /> Alm<~st from the start, residents complained about the rotten-egg stench, a sure sign shat <br /> hydr~~gen sulfide was prCSeni. <br /> H<~wcver, when the crate Health ilepartment compared the one-year prevalence of illness in <br /> Leilani Estates with that in Hawaiian Beach tistates, a subdi~~ision farther front the plant, it <br /> found no compelling differences although it said that more of the Leilani L- talcs reside~~t~ <br /> see~ued to sutTcr from wilds <br /> The experimental plant :vas closed in December 1989. But geothermal was far from dead on <br /> the Big Island <br /> Plans were made to drill into the East Rift Zone of the acti~~e Kilauea ~~olcanu. Transmission <br /> lures would slice through the uxtienng Ohio trees of the Wan Kele O Puna {Green Foust of <br /> Puna), the Last majt~r rain forest in the !~`nited States <br /> Nathc ]tawaiians and sympathetic em i~unntentalists were enraged by what they considered <br /> to be the supreme act of sacriEege, a defifemenl of Pele herself. <br /> "lf nu ether place in the world is like this, it has to stay like ~ <br /> this," said Palikapu Dedman, president of the Pole Uelcnse <br /> Fund. which organised lar~!e prntos[s against the A <br /> undersea-cable project s' <br /> b <br /> The Su-~~ear-nld Dedman is a fisher man and cofTcc gr~>r~~cr <br /> w}'n~ talcs his rclibirxts beliefs serioush_ Ile likrna <br /> ,eotacrnus{ drilling In sacred area= to the sacking of a <br /> Chrictiar. church <br /> "Our rclr~ir7n is sornethinc you can sec and feel," Dedman <br /> said as he crouched on tf~e edge ~~f the Kilauea crater, in <br /> whet is now ?fa~~aii Volcanoes National Part. Steam <br /> wafted from cracks in thr ea,th around him proof; he said, <br /> *.hat the volcano is a lip ing thing <br /> The first PG~~ wel! waS drilled in !ntc 1990, with the Palikapu Dedman, head of the Pclr <br /> biessin ~ of In,~~~.rye, thy. seasoned Democrr,tic senator and I~fcnse Fund, calls geothermal <br /> 1~ acid N,'sr 11 hero dulling n sacrilege <br /> Inuu•,c had msde no secret ;if his Ihndncss for gcothcunal energy He e~tulled it on the flour <br /> of the Senate on June 27. 1 ~~r'0, notin}~ that Hawaii depended on 130,+)00 barrels of imported <br /> UI; (7e( ~;i~ an,t ^Cided :i .a eII'1 et, n10rC `Ci~;lb~C ~OU1.C Uf e?CCg~~ as IRSLITa?tC <br /> ins !ettr~ to th; Ge~_,thrmial Resources Cnuncif dated Oct 1991. Inouye declined an <br /> ~r.~, r..~.t ~.~n l~~ t'~c thi E,c~ n:rte ~j'c~~ihci at the en~up~s anni:,;l mrcung but pronux~ hb wn[i:aic.1 <br /> <br />