"KAPAA — The Hawaiian Homes Commission voted Friday to reject a proposal by Green Energy Team, LLC to lease 2,143 acres of Hawaiian Home Lands in Anahola.
“For myself, I have taken a lot of the testimony that’s been provided to heart,” said Jobie Masagatani, chair of the HHC and director of the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands. “I wish we had more time to seek that opportunity to potentially come together, but time has run out on us. And I still have a number of unanswered questions.”
For those reasons, Masagatani said she would not support the lease.
By a 5-3 vote, the commission voted against the measure, despite DHHL Land Management Division’s recommendation for approval.
“With that the motion fails,” Masagatani said, drawing an extended applause from those gathered at Kapaa Elementary School.
The 20-year lease would have allowed Green Energy to clear existing Albizia trees from the land and establish a eucalyptus tree plantation to fuel its $90 million biomass-to-energy facility near Koloa. In return, DHHL would have received annual rent and 2 percent of the gross revenue generated by the harvested wood, as well as improvements to the land.
In the first five years, Green Energy would have cleared and returned 267 acres to DHHL for homesteading. An additional 819 acres would have been cleared and replanted with eucalyptus trees over the 20-year period. At the end of the lease, all the land would have been returned to DHHL.
The incentives were not enough for the local community, who have stood firm against the proposal since a pair of public hearings were held in March.
“I am encouraged that several in the Anahola community wanted a chance to be a part of the ultimate goal of getting these lands ready for homesteading,” Masagatani said in a release.
“They want a chance to have their voices heard. We look forward to working closely with the people of Anahola to explore ideas on the future use of these lands.”
The 2,143 acres in question belong to native Hawaiians under the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act of 1920.
Prior to the vote, Commissioner Ian Lee Loy said he believed Green Energy could have been a “tool” to clear the land and make it accessible, which would have allowed DHHL to begin awarding subsistence agricultural lots.
The bottom line, he said, is that the department does not have the resources to do it itself.
“If we walk away from this divided, nothing is going to change for a long time,” he said. “So, there’s an opportunity, folks, for us to move forward, for us to seize this. It may not be perfect, but its an opportunity that is not afforded to us otherwise.”
Commissioner Leimana DaMate said her biggest concern was the potential affects eucalyptus trees might have on the land. After not receiving a response from the Department of Land and Natural Resources’ Division of Forestry and Wildlife, DaMate said she put her trust in local residents, who testified that the trees would poison the soil.
“I put my faith in the Anahola people and kupuna of the area,” she said. “I believe they can (clear the land), and based on this, my vote has to be no.”
Commissioner Renwick Tassill said he made a commitment 40 years ago to act on behalf of the beneficiaries, but that he was having a hard time making a decision about Green Energy’s proposal.
“I see benefit, I see shortfall,” he said.
In the end, he also voted against the lease, along with DaMate, Masagatani, Perry Artates and Gene Ross Davis.Commissioners Loy, Jeremy Hopkins and Michael Kahikina voted in support.
During the pair of meetings Thursday and Friday, the HHC heard feedback from dozens of individuals, many from the Anahola area. Eighty percent of the testimony was in opposition of the project, according to a DHHL release."
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