Revised environmental impact statement for the Hawaii Geothermal Research Station utilizing the HGP-A well at Puna, Island of Hawaii

This environmental impact statement describes the proposed development of the wellhead generator project at the HGP-A well

Hawaii Geothermal Project : quarterly progress report no. 3 (December 1, 1973 through February 28, 1974)

Discussion of early exploration research conducted under the Hawaii Geothermal Project.Support for project provided by National Science Foundation, State of Hawaii, County of Hawai

Economics, Psychology, and Social Dynamics of Consumer Bidding in Auctions

With increasing numbers of consumers in auction marketplaces, we highlight some recent approaches that bring additional economic, social, and psychological factors to bear on existing economic theory to better understand and explain consumers' behavior in auctions. We also highlight specific research streams that could contribute towards enriching existing economic models of bidding behavior in emerging market mechanisms.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/47034/1/11002_2005_Article_5901.pd

Ownership of geothermal resources in Hawaii

Mounting energy problems in the United States have sharpened concerns in Hawaii over the state's heavy reliance on imported petroleum. A major objective of the 1978 Hawaii State Plan is the lessening of this dependence through utilization of natural energy sources. Among the sources under study are solar and wind energy, conversion of growing plants and organic garbage into fuel, the warmth of the ocean's top layers, and the heat of the earth accumulated underground in reservoirs of superheated water or steam-geothermal energy. A geothermal reservoir has been found on the Island of Hawaii capable of producing electricity with the application of technology already in commercial use at other geothermal areas. However, among the impediments to developing geothermal power in Hawaii is the uncertainty of the ownership of the subsurface reservoirs. There is doubt as to whether they belong to the owners of the overlying land or have been reserved to the state government as "minerals." The purposes of this comment are exploratory: to identify the causes of the uncertainty, to trace the history of mineral reservations in Hawaii from which the uncertainty arose, to ascertain if case law has disposed of the uncertainty, and to present arguments which may be advanced on either side to resolve the issue. Finally, the divergent approaches to analogous questions of natural resource ownership taken by the Hawaii Supreme Court and the Federal District Court in Hawaii in recent years are contrasted to indicate that the choice of forum may be important in resolving the problem

Geothermal development policy for an isolated state : the case of Hawaii

From the Proceedings of the Second U.N. Symposium on the Development and Use of Geothermal Resources, vol. 3, May 1975, pp. 2383-2388."Hawaii presents the case of an industrialized economy almost completely dependent on imported fossil fuel, but possessing potential indigenous energy sources. Publicly financed exploration for geothermal resources is under way, and the Hawaii state government is considering what actions should be taken to encourage and also regulate the resource should it be economically useful. In determining the level and kinds of support to give geothermal development, the state should consider benefits going beyond the substitution of geothermal power for imported oil. These benefits may include: 1. insurance against the interruption of petroleum imports or additional increases in their price; 2. stimulation of local employment; 3. population decongestion, with encouragement of population growth near geothermal areas, away of Honolulu; and 4. environmental enhancement, with the institution of power production less polluting than burning oil. Methods of approximating the value of these spillover effects are shown using Hawaii data as an example.

Do native Hawaiians have a special claim to geothermal resources in Hawaii? : a legal analysis

"An attempt to demonstrate that native Hawaiians have some special claim to geothermal resources might proceed on either of two theories. The first is that geothermal fluids, or the steam or heat from them, were among those natural resources access to which was guaranteed to descendants of the aboriginal population as part of the native Hawaiian rights preserved during the Great Mahele -- the division of estates which here created private ownership in land. As is well known, the government of Kamehameha III (Kauikeouli) under strong Western influence, in the mid-19th century replaced an essentially feudal land system in which outright ownership of land had no place with an allodial system generally based on the ownership concepts of Anglo-American common law. However, the declarations and statutes which brought about this radical change repeatedly acknowledged that some customary rights of access to natural resources were preserved for the native tenants of lands now held in fee by their old landlords and by their successors in title. The first theory could assert that the bundle of rights so protected includes rights to geothermal resources which remain in force today, more than a century after the Great Mahele. The second possible theory is that, irrespective of other property rights preserved to native Hawaiians, they are the beneficiaries of a trust, the corpus of which includes geothermal resources. It is the primary purpose of this paper to examine each of these theories in the light of Hawaiian history and case law to ascertain if either provides the basis for making a prima facie case asserting ownership of geothermal resources by or on behalf of native Hawaiians. The secondary purpose is to state what group within the population are "native Hawaiians" in this context."Department of Planning and Economic Development, State of Hawai

Preliminary report : Environmental Studies Program

Phase I of the Project began in the summer of 1973 to conduct exploratory surveys, develop analytical models for interpretation of geophysical results, conduct studies on energy recovery from hot brine, and to examine the legal and economic implications of developing geothermal resources in the state. Phase II of the Project, initiated in the summer of 1975, centers on drilling an exploratory research well on the Island of Hawaii, but also continues operational support for the geophysical, engineering, and socio-economic activities delineated above. The project to date (October 1975) is between the exploration and test drilling stages

Property rights to geothermal resources in Hawaii

"A sharp discontinuity in the administration of Hawaii's unique land laws has created uncertainty as to the ownership of geothermal resources in the state. Until Hawaii was annexed to the United States and governed under the Organic Act of 1900, mineral rights had with rare exception been reserved to the government, even though the statutory requirement for making the reservation had been repealed in 1859. Beginning in 1900 and through 1955, the practice was reversed and lands were patented without mineral reservations -- even some lands which had originally been granted subject to a reservation. Further, the Land Court created by the Territory issued certificates of titles to lands registered under the Torrens system, omitting mineral reservations made at the time of original conveyance by the government. It is unclear whether reservations are to be implied in some or all of the titles issued without express reservation clauses. The uncertainty is compounded by contradictory arguments which can be readily made as to whether mineral reservations in Hawaii encompassed geothermal resources in grants made prior to a 1974 statute which states that they do. The Hawaii Supreme Court has recently shown a receptivity to social policy arguments, while in parallel cases regarding ownership of natural resources, the federal District Court in Hawaii has been the more protective of private property rights under the 14th amendment.""This paper is a further development of a comment in 1 UNIV. OF HAW. LAW REVIEW 69, "Ownership of Geothermal Resources in Hawaii," (1979). Appreciation is due to three who ably assisted in this research: Carla Tinning, who made the first study of Puna land grants referred to below, Carole Nishikawa, who did the second study, and Patrick Canan, who helped research the law governing the discretionary powers of public land administrators. Thanks are also given to the Hawaii Department of Planning and Economic Development for its support of surveys of land grants cited herein.U.S. Department of Energ