Foes of cane burning cheer sugar’s demise
KRYSTLE MARCELLUS / 2013
The burning of sugar cane by Maui’s Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Co. was among Maui’s top environmental issues. The county’s environmental coordinator says his office has fielded more than 1,000 complaints annually over the last three years.
STAR-ADVERTISER
STAR-ADVERTISER
Those who have been waging a campaign to stop cane burning on Maui were practically euphoric Wednesday, following the announcement that sugar would be phasing out of production.
“I’m ecstatic,” said Karen Chun, a lung disease sufferer and leader of Stop Cane Burning. “I’m really optimistic about the health of our island.”
THE END OF AN ERA1870: Samuel Thomas Alexander and Henry Perrine Baldwin plant their first sugarcane crop on their newly established Alexander and Baldwin plantation below Makawao, Maui. Their company will eventually become one of Hawaii’s Big Five dominant firms. 1878: Claus Spreckels of San Francisco, Calif., founded Hawaiian Commercial Co. (predecessor to Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Co.) with a factory in Spreckelsville, Maui. 1878: The Hamakua Ditch is completed, a 17-mile irrigation system of tunnels, ditches, siphons, flumes and reservoirs built to provide water for over 3,000 acres of sugarcane belonging to A&B as well as several neighboring plantations. 1898: A&B gains a controlling interest in HC&S. 1918: War and scarcity of fossil fuel results in HC&S embarking on the production of “etherized” alcohol, known today as ethanol, from waste molasses to operate its tractors. 1948: HC&S merges with Maui Agricultural Co., making HC&S the largest sugar producer in the United States. 1950: HC&S replaces the railroad as the main sugarcane transportation system with tournahaulers, the largest motor vehicles in Hawaii at the time, to carry harvested cane from the field to the plantation’s two factories. 1962: HC&S merges with Alexander & Baldwin, Inc. and becomes a wholly owned division of the company. 1974-1999: HC&S installs drip-irrigation throughout the plantation at a cost of $30 million. Jan. 6, 2016: A&B says it will cease sugar production this year, ending 146 years of operations in Maui. Source: HC&S |
In a move to force an end to cane burning on Maui, Stop Cane Burning filed suit against the state Department of Health in July claiming that the regulatory system that allows open-air agricultural burning is unconstitutional. An Environmental Court hearing to consider a preliminary injunction to stop the practice is scheduled for Feb. 17.
While economics are largely to blame for the fate of the 36,000-acre plantation, Chun said the lawsuit and a growing number of residents who object to the burning helped nudge A&B to move in a new direction.
“It’s amazing how this community came together,” agreed Brad Edwards, a plaintiff in the lawsuit. “People from all walks of life were pushing for (cane burning to end). There really was an expanding web of people who were negatively affected.”
Rob Parsons, the county’s environmental coordinator, said cane burning was the No. 1 environmental issue during his nine years on the job, with more than 1,000 complaints coming to his office annually over the last three years.
There have been a number of campaigns on Maui to search for cane-burning alternatives since the 1990s, and Parsons said the drumbeat of complaints grew louder as residential development encroached on the cane fields and more people than ever moved to areas downwind of the plantation.
Parsons praised A&B for its plan to transform its plantation into a diversified agricultural operation. While Maui will take a hit economically in the short term, he said, it will benefit in the long run with an agricultural industry not so reliant on one crop.
But Albert Perez, executive director of the Maui Tomorrow Foundation, said he wouldn’t welcome any expansion of seed-growing companies into the former sugar fields.
“That would be least desirable,” he said, adding that companies such as Monsanto would bring even more pesticides and chemicals to Maui. “Those are chemical companies masquerading as food companies.”
Perez said he’d like to see alternative crops such as hemp and breadfruit take root in Maui’s Central Valley.
Chun, of Stop Cane Burning, urged A&B to take care of its laid-off employees by taking the $30 million it would have lost this year and using it for retraining and education.
“With 675 workers, they could give each worker $44,000 for educational and living expenses while they find new jobs,” she said.
32 responses to “Foes of cane burning cheer sugar’s demise”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Long over due.
Hopefully, A&B will consider biotech crops, which have great adaptability and produce higher yields. The last thing local ag needs is to go back to 19th Century farming and lower productivity, with much of the crop being lost to insects, fungus and other diseases, and weeds
Papayas and watermelons have been successful. But polination is getting worse? Time to switch.
Bread fruit is an amazing food and requires no pesticides….Be careful good people of Maui because they will soon start planting houses.
They should plant houses everywhere. The more houses the better. Cover every square foot of mountain with homes. That way inventory will increase dramatically allowing more people to afford a home. It is much too expensive to live on Maui because there are not enough homes for everyone. If we flood the island with homes homes will get cheap. Put a home on every mountain and every grass field on Maui and we will all end the high home price crises and homeless crisis. LET’S PAVE OVER IT ALL!!!!
Sad to say, but this is likely what’s going to happen. Other crops won’t have quite the same economic effect as sugar cane, and even then, it’ll take time to build another industry. Meanwhile, Maui will be suffering the economic blow from one of the major employers in the island shutting down. Housing construction will be touted as the savior. Mainland outsiders will be the only ones with the money to buy up this property. So the “sugar cane foes” will be reaping what they sow with a worse economy and more residents to contend with.
Move if you want cheap housing.
Or move if you don’t like burning… yeah right…better you complain and throw workers who’ve lived for generations on Maui out on the street.
The ukubazzilons of people moving here are what’s jacking up housing costs: simple supply and demand. And what they don’t understand is that every house they move into means one less home for a local family.
These complainers are idiots. Ms Chun, why would you think that A&B won’t lose $30mil plus wind down write off’s? Who pays for all the losses this year? You better learn about real life and STOP complaining.
The county should not build so close to the fields. Malihini’s can’t take the smoke.
If no can handle then maybe go back home?
Her logic of using $30 million is beyond reason (stupid). She wants to lose “another” $30 million for training. Duh.
To the historical era of sugarcane – RIP!!
most of the ag workers will have to move out of state to find jobs. Maui is changing.
The anti cane burning people are cheering the shut down of the plantation. You know those folks who moved to Hawaii for a certain lifestyle and won’t tolerate anything they don’t like and have the money to sue sue sue. They got the super ferry closed down, but wait till the developers get hold of that vacant sugar land. Subdivisions galore. They may have stopped the government from operating the super ferry but developers contribute to much to campaigns to be stopped. Look at Oahu, maybe those folks should consider moving.
Yup. The same people got fireworks banned, more or less. Please give assimilation a try. Getting the world to fit your life can be exhausting. Not only for the transplants but for the locals as well.
Economic downturn has its ups and downs.
“With 675 workers, they could give each worker $44,000 for educational and living expenses while they find new jobs,” she said. I like how causal she is about spending somebody else’s money after working to put 675 people out of a job.
It is always easy to spend someone else’s money.
These same foes will soon cry out louder when the new home construction takes the place of a vacant sugar cane land. Traffic. Noise. People. Crime.
675 displaced workers working at a minimum wage job?
The only people who are allowed to cheer in Hawaii are from Wall Street.
Chun has no shame – she speaks out of both sides of her mouth. First, she puts people out of work and then tells the bankrupt business to pay them extra. Hard face she has.
Shun Chun.
Yes! Sustain our ʻāina – people and land – through regeneration first. At the start, the soil needs to be made pono again by neutralizing as best they can all the bad chemicals, pesticides, etc. I hope and pray there is room in the future planning for this aspect.
This is a haves vs the have-nots ending. The haves just created a whole new group of have-nots. Many of the haves are recent immigrants, who pretend to embrace the local culture. But fail to have empathy for those who grew up in it.
Very observant from_da_cheapseats – agree with your comment.
So ironic as well as arrogant for Chun to say that she hopes A&B educates those affected by the layoffs. SERIOUSLY???? Then what? Do you have plans to employ over 600 affected people? Are you going to pay them what they were earning there?? Are you going to pay their mortgages and put food on their table????? Oh but as long as your ‘ecstatic’ Miss Chun, I guess that makes it all OK. Keep paying Edwards to make life all but possible for the poor lives that are about to change for the worse!
All transplants behind this? We grew up for generations in the smoke and now all these new arrivals want to change things to make Hawaii their version of paradise.
I was thinking the same thing …. It’s sad that a few loud mouths have so much power
Just take a look at Miss Chun’s website “Stop Cane Burning/Maui Legal Fund”. First thing that caught my eye was that there are only 164 people that donated to their fund. Funny how it was stated by Edwards that he was amazed how the ‘community’ came together to put a stop to cane burning. Really, 164 make a community I guess! Again, a select few with money that makes life miserable for the rest of us middle class LIFE LONG residents of Maui County! Just go back where you came from..PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!