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KGMB9 Weekend Team
Task Force Tackles Vog Print E-mail
Written by Jim Mendoza - jmendoza@kgmb9.com   
June 20, 2008 05:49 PM

 
It's nature's one-two punch. Halemaumau crater's explosion and Kilauea's leaking of lava give the Big Island not one but two outlets for venting sulfur dioxide.
"Experts told a House vog task force that over time the toxic gas could wreak havoc with all sorts of things.
"One of the possibilities is prolonged activity at Halemaumau," said Jim Kauahikaua of Hawaiian Volcano Observatory.
Scientists warned the committee that the longer vog particulates are injected into the air the greater the chance for less rainfall.
"No individual droplet is able to accumulate enough mass to actually precipitate," UH Hilo geochemist Donald Thomas said.
That's bad news for Big Island farmers. They are already seeing crop damage from the toxic air. Less rainfall would be devastating.
Another concern is breathing problems.
Doctors at Kau Hospital are seeing more respiratory infections that may be linked to vog.
On the south side of the Big Island you can't escape it.
"One of the emergency room physicians told me he has come into the hospital on high vog days and actually seen a layer of vog down the hallway," Dr. Cliff Field said.
Committee chairman Rep. Robert Herkes wants air monitors like those used in coal mines installed in every school to measure sulfur dioxide on voggy days to keep kids indoors.
"I'd rather be wrong than wait til kids get sick and then send them home," he said.
The og committee wants to compile information and form a game plan to deal with vog over the long term.
"The eruption rate of lava is on the average of a half a million cubic meters per day. That's a lot of lava," Kauahikaua said.
And it's not going to stop anytime soon. With Halemaumau also venting toxic gas, scientists and medical experts say it's time to do more than watch and wonder.


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Last Updated ( June 20, 2008 05:49 PM )
 

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