Two Big Island organizations are questioning why Puna Geothermal Venture operated its power plant in the face of an approaching hurricane, resulting in PGV’s release of hydrogen sulfide into a community trapped by downed trees.
The Puna Pono Alliance and the Sierra Club Moku Loa Group outlined their objections in a letter Thursday to the Hawaii’s congressional delegation, the governor, Hawaii County mayor, Environmental Protection Agency administrator, state legislators and the president of Hawaii Electric Light Co.
"Why was the plant operating when Hawaiian Electric Light Co., PGV and State and County regulators should have known that operating the plant during a major storm would possibly, in fact probably, lead to an upset?" the letter asks.
Puna took the brunt of Tropical Storm Iselle when it hit the Big Island on Aug. 7.
Puna Geothermal Ventureofficials did not respond to Puna Pono Alliance’s question and others as posed Thursday by the Honolulu Star-Advertiser.
Residents first heard, then smelled the steam release.
In a video account, Mike Hale, a Puna resident who lives in Leilani Estates, told community members, "We heard the jet engine going off. We were confused and thought it was the hurricane."
He smelled the sulfur odor, and he and his wife experienced scratchy throats and "a headache developed quickly," he said.
He called PGV and 911 to find out whether they should evacuate, but couldn’t get an answer.
Once Hale saw on Facebook the civil defense advice for people to evacuate if they felt sick, he packed up his family and tried to leave. He was met by police and fire personnel who told him the roads were blocked and told him to go home and close the windows.
A fire official near his home told him levels of hydrogen sulfide were at 1 part per million, he said. The Fire Department has hand-held monitors.
Hale said he returned home and, while making a bed inside a walk-in closet, passed out and could not be awakened by his wife for nearly 12 hours. He remained groggy most of the following day, he said.
Hale said he went into a sweat, had a low-grade fever for days, had a conjunctivitislike discharge from his eyes and felt tingling in his arms. When he could finally get out of the area Saturday, Hale said he was given oxygen at the emergency room.
Deputy Director for Environmental Health Gary Gill said, "In a hurricane, cyclone or tropical storm with winds going 50 mph, any kind of long-term exposure to hydrogen sulfide would be nearly impossible."
Health Department spokeswoman Janice Okubo said the department has received reports that 10 people were sickened by the hydrogen sulfide.
But at a community meeting Thursday afternoon at the Hawaiian Arts and Science Academy charter school, about two-thirds of the 60 residents in attendance said they experienced symptoms including burning eyes, respiratory problems and fogginess in their thinking.
"A lot of people we know were so sick they didn’t want to leave their homes," said Barb Cuttance, a Puna resident.
County Civil Defense alerted residents to evacuate if feeling ill, but PGV said "there was no need to evacuate" since a PGV worker monitored levels at "the fence line" and found a peak reading of 25 parts per billion.
"The Health Department requires that we not exceed 25 ppb on an hourly average," PGV said.
PGV, in a written statement Thursday, said it prepared for the storm by reviewing emergency procedures, increased night crews and reduced the 38-megawatt plant’s output.
When PGV lost transmission lines to the HELCO grid at 7:30 p.m., the plant shut down as designed, and caustic soda and water were added to the steam to "scrub" it of hydrogen sulfide, PGV said.
Most of the sulfur-smelling steam was released within the first 10 minutes, PGV said. The rest was released and the wells shut down in about 45 minutes, but a valve malfunction caused a low steam flow for 15 minutes more.
"As a community member and someone who knows the people who were affected, I’m deeply angered and committed that we need to address these issues and get them fixed," said Tom Travis, vice president of Puna Pono Alliance. "It’s been way too long."
Travis said the monitoring systems went down when the plant lost power, including the Health Department’s single unit.
He said a report issued a year ago by the mayor identified monitoring-system problems, and the EPA told PGV to provide backup power at the plant.
PGV said it has remained offline since the storm. Scheduled maintenance began Monday, and the plant should be up as early as Friday, depending on transmission line availability from HELCO.
The department has not received a report from PGV, which is required to submit a report five days after a violation. Okubo said health officials have had problems contacting PGV officials, have not heard from them and don’t know whether a violation occurred.
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CLARIFICATION: State Health Department spokeswoman Janice Okubo said Friday that department officials have been in contact, and are coordinating, with Puna Geothermal Venture regarding the hydrogen sulfide release last week. Okubo said she was incorrect earlier when she told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser for this story that the department has had no contact with PGV.
