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WHEREAS, Fissure 8 reactivated on the night of May 23, 2018, sending a fast-moving <br /> flow northward that crossed Pohoiki Road, surrounded Puna Geothermal Venture, crossed <br /> Highway 132, covered Noni Farms Road and Railroad Avenue, inundated papaya farm land, <br /> crossed Highway 137, entered Ka Wai a Pele (Green Lake), burned hundreds of homes in <br /> Kapoho Farm Lots, Kapoho Vacationland, and Kapoho Beachlots, filled in Kapoho Bay, and <br /> destroyed the Wai`opae Tidepools Marine Life Conservation District, Kua 0 Ka La New <br /> Century Public Charter School, and 'Ahalanui Park/Mauna Kea Pond; and <br /> WHEREAS, eruptive activity from the 23 other fissures have become concentrated at <br /> Fissure 8, where a gushing fountain has built a broad cone approximately 180 feet high; and <br /> WHEREAS, the U.S. Geological Survey defines a volcanic fissure as an "elongate <br /> fracture or crack at the surface from which lava erupts," making "Fissure 8" an inaccurate name <br /> for the large tephra cone located on the East Rift Zone within Leilani Estates; and <br /> WHEREAS, the ongoing eruption is creating numerous other new and unnamed volcanic <br /> features, including but not limited to the enlarged crater or nested caldera at Halema`uma`u, the <br /> collapsed crater at Pu`u `O`o, the line of fissures and steam vents extending through Leilani <br /> Estates and Lanipuna Gardens, the ocean entry at Malama Ki Forest Reserve, and the <br /> channelized lava flow to the ocean at Kapoho Bay; and <br /> WHEREAS, the naming of a volcanic feature in the Hawaiian language may encode <br /> information about its physical characteristics, historical events associated with its formation, <br /> ecological surroundings, geographical location, or related oral histories; and <br /> WHEREAS, the U.S. Geological Survey uses informal names to identify and <br /> communicate information about volcanic features, but defers to the local community, including <br /> Hawaiian elders, for formal names; and <br /> WHEREAS, the global community of amateur lava watchers have suggested many <br /> names for Fissure 8, but the names for this and other new volcanic features associated with the <br /> current eruption should be provided by community members with direct traditional, cultural, and <br /> familial ties to the district of Puna; now, therefore, <br /> BE IT RESOLVED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE COUNTY OF HAWAII that the <br /> State Board on Geographic Names is urged to consult with community members who have direct <br /> traditional, cultural, and familial ties to the areas of Puna and Ka`u that have been impacted by <br /> the recent volcanic activity, in order to establish appropriate names for the Fissure 8 vent or any <br /> other features of the 2018 eruption of Kilauea volcano. <br /> 2 <br />