(BIVN) – State and county officials, including Governor David Ige and Hawaii Emergency Management Agency administrator Tom Travis, told a room full of anxious Puna residents that they have managed to plug up the 11th and final well on the Puna Geothermal Venture property, as lava from the lower East Rift Zone eruption nears.
A packed Pahoa High School cafeteria was given an update on the eruption on Tuesday night.
“The last time I came to the community meeting more than a week ago, that’s what I heard. That the number one concern was about PGV,” Governor Ige told media tonight, “and as you know we were very proactive about… initiating the authority for for me to be able to take whatever action is necessary to mitigate the risk and secure the plant.”
The governor said “as of today, 10 of 11 wells are quenched and are stable, and 11th well is plugged and the pressure in the well has diminished to the point that we believe it’s stable,” Ige said. “The PGV plant itself is safe.”
“I’m confident that we’ve done the best we can to set up PGV so that it’s willing to handle lava,” HI-EMA head Tom Travis told the crowd in Pahoa.
by Big Island Video News10:56 pm
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STORY SUMMARY
PUNA, Hawaii - Officials say the effort to plug the 11th geothermal well has succeeded, and the governor says he thinks PGV is safe even as lava nears.