HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0825.066 2012-2014 Page 1 of 2
Murashige, Laura
From: Hank Banquer[hbanquer @earthlink.net] - F s. [ 2
Sent: Wednesday, October 17, 2012 7:00 AM
To: counciltestimony @co.hawaii.hi.us
Subject: Spam Bill 292, Draft 1 Testimony-Ongoing meetings-the importance of Geothermal on our island
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Aloha Hawaii island County counciland the people of our island
Firstly some background about me:
1. On the Big Island Energy advisory commission (mayor).
2. 35 plus year working in the energy industry (petroleum and geothermal) for Schlumberger
3. Coming to the Big Island for 30 plus years and retired here in 2002.
I want to convey to you my testimony and thoughts regarding Geothermal exploration,
evaluation and development.
Many people want to see geothermal developed on this island, as I see, it has become a necessity
not an option.
We have been down this road before and as oil became cheaper for a short time, after the1973
crisis, we soon forgot about our situation.
Our situation is unique in many ways being an isolated island state but it is also blessed with
many potential energy sources.
Geothermal is the best, readily available energy source we have. it is available 24/7 with proven
technology and operating in some very strict and environmentally aware places like Iceland,
California and New Zealand.
We have a golden opportunity to ween ourselves off fossil fuels and do the right thing for our
children's future.
Geothermal can be safely, environmentally freindly and dependably developed if we make the
commitment.
Other nations such as Indonesia, Iceland and the Philippines have developed this resource and
both Iceland and the Philippines committed themselves to not sending their USD away to buy
oil and become ever more dependant on this addiction. Today these are the countries and
economies that will be able to withstand an oil shock caused by geopolitical instability and the
whims of the oil producers, profiteers and speculators as they are not totally dependent on
imported oil. Indonesia has rich reserves of oil, natural gas and coal but they understand it is
better to use geothermal where they can and export the fossil fuels for revenues and not
consume them esapecially when they have geothermal readily available to supply the internal
needs of the country, specifically the island of Java.
We could develop our geothermal and everyone could benefit from this ie: lower electric costs,
jobs created directly and indirectly from this energy source, to not sending over 1 billion USD
annually away from this island for the importation of oil. Geothermal does not take land that
could and should be used for food production nor would the price of food need to compete with
the price of oil because farmers would not see the viability to plant energy crops when in most
situations geothermal was a cheaper solution.
That said there is an immediate need for an easily portable fuel source for existing vehicles,
while we convert to a non-hydrocarbon based economy on this island and the state. There are
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direct and indirect revenues here for the state, county and Hawaiians as well. Our schools systems,
hospital and state and county supplied services would benefit from geothermal as an energy source and
as revenue producing product (geothermal leases with revenues based on a fixed base amount plus
production revenue sharing).
If we transferred the electrical base load to geothermal and kept the old (inefficient) fossil fuel power
plants moth balled we would have back-up. Eventually every geothermal or other energy producer
selling into the grid would need to keep some predetermined excess in reserve as a ratio to what they
supply to the grid, in the event of any power generation failures.
We could either send power to other islands such as Oahu or make a product that is energy intensive but
is clean and environmentally freindly. An example of this are ores like titanium sands and bauxite are
sent to places like Iceland, Norway and New Zealand for processing as a way of exporting their excess
electrical power. As we well know countries like Norway zelously guard their environment so these
industries that use cheap electricity must not compromise their pristine environments. I know because I
have lived and worked in Norway.
Lets use Norway as a standard for oil and gas production as well as ore refining. The Norwegians have
had a history of clean, safe and environmental standards. One reason is they do not allow self
regulation. They keep observers and inspectors on the job as well the companies working in Norway
and its offshore industry actually have an ethical and moral consciousness so there is minimal friction
between the regulators and the industries. They are determined to protect their environment for future
generations yet make a profit.
Please lets not squander this opportunity to move ahead in a responsible way and develop our
geothermal resources for the betterment of the people, county, state and the global environment. This
also means we do not hold up responsible geothermal developers from working here. We need to
review each proposal with our own technical specialist or other off island specialist for each project's
benefits, specific, possible hazards /risks or how to mitigate any hazards.
Ultimately we need to draft a detailed set of standards for geothermal development on this island,
county and state for developers to use. This can in part be made up of adopting others standards where
other governemnts have successfully demonstrated their standards protect the people and environment.
In the meantime we can still go ahead and start exploration, analysis and possible development based on
current knowledge and industry standards drawing particularly from other countries or states that have
proven track records. Yes every geothermal source is different in some way but there are many common
technologies and standards that can be adopted.
Regarding the cultural aspect I believe that Pele has put this resources here for our use, to free the
Hawaiians and other residents from the slavery oil economies are toiling under. This resource is to be
used wisely and for the benefit of the people on these islands.
Mahalo for allowing me to address you on this subject and I hope you take what I have written into
consideration.
Henry Yale Banquer
PO Box 807
Volcano, HI 96785
10/17/2012