Scoping Meeting Summary, Waimea, Hawai'i, March 16, 1992, 2 PM Session

The meeting began with presentations by the facilitator and the representative from DOE. The facilitator introduced those on the podium. He then described the general structure of the meeting and its purpose: to hear the issues and concerns of those present regarding the proposed Hawaiian Geothermal Project. He described his role as assuring the impartiality and fairness of the meeting. Dr. Lewis of DOE further defined the scope of the project, introduced those of the EIS team present and briefly described the EIS process. A number of process issues were covered, including the current State dependence on imported petroleum (>90%), the public nature of the DOE EIS process, DOE's responsibility to consider general impacts to the global situation, and database availability. Dr. Lewis assured those present that the EIS would examine transmission system/cable-related impacts and alternatives to the proposed action, within geothermal and outside it (including coal), including different mixes of supply- or demand-side options on each island using an integrated resource planning approach. With respect to prior and on-going geothermal developments in Puna, Dr. Lewis explained that although DOE will not conduct new environmental reviews of the HGP(A) and other federal geothermal development in Puna, these and the present developments will be considered (including medical records) from the perspective of cumulative impacts