UPDATE: 8:45 a.m.
47 structures damaged or destroyed so far.
A relatively small lava flow has begun to move in the opposite direction from the lava river pouring into the ocean along the Puna coastline, and that flow is advancing through the Puna Geothermal Venture property.
A Hawaii County Civil Defense spokeswoman said the flow from fissure 22 next to the PGV site broke out on its northwest side, and “there’s very active fountaining.”
The flow last night was approaching the well pad at PGV, but had stalled at a berm on the property, said county spokeswoman Janet Snyder.
Residents of the surrounding area have been worried that a lava flow or earthquake could damage one or more of the geothermal wells on the property, causing an uncontrolled release of potentially dangerous volcanic gases.
The wells are 6,000 to 8,000 feet deep and are used to tap into extremely hot water and steam that is used to run turbines to produce electricity. The plant has been closed since shortly after the May 3 eruption began, and PGV officials relocated 60,000 gallons of flammable pentane away from the site as a safety precaution.
There are three active wells on the PGV site, and the state has been working to “kill” those wells by pumping cold water into them, and then plan to use an iron plug to seal them.
Tom Travis, administrator of the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency, said through a spokeswoman this morning that those efforts are in the “final stages” for geothermal wells KS9 and KS6, but crews encountered difficulties with quenching another well known as KS14.
“Difficulties with quenching KS14 have led us to evaluate alternative procedures for killing the well. Preparations are being made to do that,” the spokeswoman said. No further information about the “difficulties” or the planned solution to them was available.
Gov. David Ige earlier this month issued a supplemental emergency proclamation instructing Travis, Hawaii County Mayor Harry Kim, and Hawaii Civil Defense Agency Administrator Talmadge Magno to “lead a team to develop and implement mitigation steps as necessary to protect public health and safety.”
That team includes federal and state agencies, as well as PGV, and the group was tasked with reviewing and assessing the existing PGV Emergency Response Plan as well as “develop a specific mission strategy deemed appropriate to mitigate potential impacts from lava,” according to the Ige administration.
Ige told reporters Sunday that “we are mitigating the risk to the geothermal plant and … that is an ongoing concern of ours that we want to protect the people as best as we can.”
Ige described the situation at the plant Sunday as “relatively stable.”
“The big risks have been mitigated and it’s really continuing to the original plan,” he said. “We do want to shut down the wells so that we would eliminate the broader risk of uncontrolled release.”
He described the work as “a complex operation. We haven’t done it in the past so we definitely want to be careful. We don’t want to take the risk in terms of reducing the general risk to the public and then create a different kind of exposure that didn’t exist. So, you know, we are being thoughtful. We have reached out to experts to help us through with what we’re planning to do, and they’ve been very responsive in providing their expertise.”