The state Board of Land and Natural Resources has delayed taking action on a new lease proposal for the site of the Big Island’s first geothermal power project.
The state Board of Land and Natural Resources has delayed taking action on a new lease proposal for the site of the Big Island’s first geothermal power project.
The board was to consider approving the new 65-year lease for the Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii Authority on Friday.
It chose instead to defer action at the request of lab Executive Director Greg Barbour, said agency spokeswoman Barbara Ward.
Barbour made the request after speaking with Hawaii Council Chairman Dominic Yagong, who had asked to have the issue delayed until the lab could make a presentation to the council on potential uses of the site.
The property in Pahoa, located adjacent to the Puna Geothermal Venture power plant, hosted a 3-megawatt power plant during the 1980s and early 1990s.
Its well was fully capped in 1999.
The lab’s current lease will expire in 2014.
Barbour said the state agency wants the new lease so that it can be used again for geothermal use or research.
He said that would likely not involve retapping the well, but the lab isn’t taking that option off the table.