Campbell Estate\u2019s geothermal well in Wao Kele O Puna \u2013 KA1-1 \u2013 penetrates 7,000 feet deep into the flanks of Kilauea volcano. Drilled more than a decade ago, the well has a life of 20 to 30 years, after which point it will start to weaken.<\/p>\n
A weak well on an active volcano is \u201ca gigantic future risk,\u201d says Sheri Mann, a Department of Land and Natural Resources forester who heads the state\u2019s Forest Legacy Program.<\/p>\n
The U.S. Geological Survey has informed the DLNR that if the well is not filled, a rift could unleash toxic fumes and destroy the surrounding forest.<\/p>\n
The DLNR, the Office of Hawaiian Af fairs, the Trust for Public Land, Hawai\u2018i County, and the Hawaiian activist group Pele Defense Fund all agree that the well needs to be plugged. Mann says hundreds of thousands of cubic feet of special heat-tolerant cement are needed to fill the hole.<\/p>\n
While OHA is poised to acquire title to Wao Kele O Puna sometime next year, it will be the DLNR\u2019s responsibility to fill the well once the property is acquired through TPL from Campbell Estate.<\/p>\n
Although there is a geothermal well special fund, \u201cit keeps getting raided,\u201d Mann says.<\/p>\n
DLNR, OHA, TPL and Hawai\u2018i County have agreed to lobby in the next legislative session for funds to seal the well completely. If that fails, DLNR, OHA and the county have an agreement to share the cost, with DLNR paying 50 percent, OHA 20 percent, and Hawai\u2018i County the remaining 30 per cent. The percentages were derived from the profits that have been received from money generated from geothermal development.<\/p>\n
\u201cRight now, there happens to be an international well-digging team on the Big Island,\u201d Mann said in mid-August. According to OHA staff, the team is helping nearby Puna Geothermal Venture expand its operation.<\/p>\n
Jonathan Scheuer, an OHA policy analyst, says that although it is DLNR\u2019s responsibility to plug the well, OHA would rather help pay to close it than lose the opportunity to use a contractor that is already on the island.<\/p>\n
If the state can get the team to fill the well while it\u2019s here, it\u2019s been estimated that plug ging the well will cost about $800,000. If not, and the state has to pay to bring a contractor and its equipment to Hawai\u2018i, it could cost about $1.5 million to fill the well.<\/p>\n
— Teresa Dawson<\/p>\n
Volume 16, Number 4 October 2005<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Campbell Estate’s geothermal well in Wao Kele O Puna – KA1-1 – penetrates 7,000 feet deep into the flanks of Kilauea volcano. Drilled more than a decade ago, the well has a life of 20 to 30 years, after which … Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[123],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1544","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-october-2005"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1544","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1544"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1544\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1544"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1544"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1544"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}