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Hawaii's Hottest Issue: Update On Geothermal Development, Paul Faulstich

Pitzer Faculty Publications and Research

Walking through Hawai'i's Wao Kele O Puna rainforest, you can hear the coarse volcanic soil crunch underfoot. A surrealistic calm lingers in the thick air while songbirds call out from the understory. Yet this is a forest under siege.

Geothermal developers want to tap the volcanic heat beneath the Wao Kele O Puna forest and use it to make electricity and profits.