Puna Fights On: A Call for Help as an Unjust System Fails Us

The fight for Puna is far from over. It is a battle against a system that has repeatedly ignored the health of our community, the science of our land, and the cries of our sick children. This week, we stand on the front lines once again, not just against Puna Geothermal Venture (PGV), but against a corrupt system that allows them to operate with impunity.

The images you see here capture a truly disturbing scene: new, unpermitted equipment being moved onto the PGV site under the protection of the Hawaiʻi Police Department. This is happening as our legal battle against this foreign entity is deliberately being dragged out, and it is a brazen act of defiance against a community fighting for its life.

This is the backstory you won't hear in the news: In 2024, our community of over a dozen people, including residents with children who can't breathe, were included in an injunction against PGV, filed pro se by Sara Steiner, for the Puna Community. We presented a mountain of evidence: a 157-page lawsuit, sworn testimony from sick community members, irrefutable scientific proof from volcano scientists of irreversible damage, and even accounts from USGS insiders about seismic cover-ups.

Yet, a lower court judge, Judge Nakamoto to be exact, Hawaii 3rd circuit, ruled in a summary judgment against us. Our rights to a fair trial were thrown in the trash. Our scientific evidence was ignored. The suffering of our keiki was dismissed.

We have not given up. We are now fighting for our rights in the intermediate appeals court. But the legal system is slow, and we believe this is a deliberate tactic. PGV is using this delay to their advantage, trying to sneak in this new equipment and cement their unpermitted expansion before our day in court. This is a highly criminal act, and they believe they can get away with it because they have for so long.

To add insult to injury, this is a company with a proven track record of disregard for the law. We recently worked with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to bust them for unpermitted wells—a clear example of their contempt for regulations and community safety.

The human cost of this injustice is immense. Our neighbors are being "gassed" daily and sent to the hospital in ambulances. The air we breathe is a toxic cocktail, and yet there is no oversight, no care, and no acknowledgment of this crisis from our state, our country, or the company itself.

We are calling on you, the wider community, to stand with us. This is not just our fight; it is a fight for justice, for human rights, and for the protection of sacred ʻāina. We need your help to show that we will not be "gassed out" of our homes and that our collective voice is louder than their corporate greed.

Please join us in a protest and vigil at the entrance of Puna Geothermal Venture in lower Puna Hawaii. Your presence is our power.

We will announce the date and time soon, so please stay tuned.

Mālama Puna. Mālama PELE. Protect the ‘Āina. Your presence is our power.

If you want to join our peaceful demonstration and stay updated on our fight, please email wearepuna@gmail.com to be added to the PGV entrance protest/vigil day updates.

Jasmine Steiner

KahuPuna

Aloha Activism

You can find the injunction documents all on this website--> exit to main homepage.