Baseline air quality -- Kilauea East Rift : Puna and Kaʻu Districts, county of Hawaii

Contents: Executive Summary -- Summary Report"The Kilauea East Rift on the Island of Hawaii is the most technically promising area within the State of Hawaii for future geothermal development. However, the East Rift area also contains large tracts of pristine forests, comprises a portion of the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, and is surrounded by several small communities and a number of residential subdivisions. The Kilauea East Rift is volcanically very active and naturally emits air pollutants normally associated with industrial sources. Extensive baseline air quality monitoring has been conducted along the East Rift to quantify predevelopment concentrations of environmentally hazardous pollutants so that any future change in their concentrations which may occur due to geothermal development can be assessed. The report presented here is a summary of the results obtained from five recent baseline air quality studies. These are: 1 Environmental Baseline Survey, Kilauea East Rift December, 1982, through December, 1983, study period, Department of Planning and Economic Development, State of Hawaii. 2 Environmental Baseline Survey, Kilauea East Rift Year Two 1984 study period, Department of Planning and Economic Development, State of Hawaii. 3 Remote Environmental Baseline Monitoring, Hawaii Volcanoes National Park 1984 study period, National Park Service. 4 Ambient Air Quality Monitoring Survey, Kahaualea Geothermal Project February, 1984, through February, 1985, study period, True/Mid-Pacific Geothermal Venture. 5 Ambient Air Quality Monitoring Survey, Puna Forest Reserve February and March, 1985, study period, True/Mid-Pacific Geothermal Venture. In addition to the data directly generated from these studies, a survey of data obtained from scientific research and other monitoring which have been done on the Island of Hawaii has been conducted. Relevant research performed by scientists associated with the University of Hawaii, the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory HVO, the Mauna Loa Observatory MLO; air quality monitoring conducted by the Hawaii Department of Health; and meteorological monitoring conducted by the National Park Service, MidPacific Geothermal, Inc., the Thermal Power Company, and the National Weather Service have been incorporated into this report.