The Dirty Brew at...
C. brewer
Sightings from The Catbird Seat
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From wikipedia:
C. BREWER & CO., LTD
C. Brewer & Co., Ltd. is a Honolulu-based company that was once part of the Big Five companies in territorial Hawaii. The company at one time did most of its business in agriculture.
The company was founded by Captain James Hunnewell of Massachusetts in 1826, making it the oldest of Big Five companies. The company originally traded sandalwood with China. After the sandalwood industry in Hawaii died, a man named Charles Brewer joined the company. The company was later renamed after Brewer, who shifted the company's focus to supplying whaling ships. In 1863, the company entered Hawaii's sugar cane industry, managing three plantations on Maui.
The company emerged to become one of Hawaii's Big Five companies. Between 1978 and 1986, the company was owned by International Utilities Corp. In 1986, the company's Hawaii president led a $200 million buyout by other executives, investors, and friends. The move once again put control of the company into Hawaii hands, but it left the company in heavy debt.
By the end of the 20th century, the company still owned some 70,000 acres (280 km²) throughout the state. In 2001, however, the company's shareholders voted to liquidate C. Brewer & Co., Ltd. The company's chairman, John W. A. "Doc" Buyers, said he would buy a large portion of the company's assets and form a successor company called C. Brewer Enterprises, which would be focused on the "wellness" industry.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C._Brewer_&_Co.
Excerpts from...
LAND AND POWER IN HAWAII
by George Cooper, Gavan Daws
... Not only did legislative leaders get extensively involved in development, but in their land business and their other enterprises they crossed lines of political party, political faction, and social class.
The 15 men listed in Table 4 below were all Democratic legislative leaders. The business associations listed occurred while they were legislative leaders. Most though not all associations involved land.
----------------------------------------- TABLE 4 ---------------------------------------
ARIYOSHI, GEORGE R. - ... Elected director 1966 Hawaiian Insurance & Guaranty Co., Ltd., wholly-owned subsidiary of C. Brewer. As attorney represented Brewer 1967 before Honolulu City Council re improvement district matters involving Brewer downtown Honolulu property....
Historical Timeline of Hilo
1998 - C. Brewer & Co. relocated its corporate headquarters from downtown Honolulu to Hilo. C. Brewer, was one of the state's largest agricultural companies and moved its offices to a former sugar mill on a 10.34-acre site at Wainaku Point, overlooking Hilo Bay. C. Brewer, founded in 1826, said it wanted to be closer to its main assets and subsidiaries on the Big Island, which included Mauna Loa Macadamia Nut Corp., Hilo Coast Power Co. and Brewer Environmental Industries.
2004 - Hershey buys out Hilo’s Mauna Loa Macadamia Nut Corp from the Shansby Group, (formerly owned by C. Brewer & Co, one of the Big Five) impacting 400 workers in Hilo.
2007 - Hershey sells Mauna Loa Mac Nut plant, 130 acre property, to Hawaiian investors, PLK Partners. Mac nut prices have plummeted by 50 percent over the past two years due to increased supply from foreign countries.
http://www.hiloliving.com/Hilo_Culture.html
September 27, 2007
State Land Department Plans to Cut Off Water to More Than 20 Farms in Kilauea Ka Loko Reservoir
Owner James Pflueger Demands that the State Shut Down Kilauea Irrigation System, Which Distributes Water to 200 Acres of Kilauea Farm Land; Farmers are Furious Saying They Will Be Put Out of Business; State, Already Siding with Pflueger, in Part Because of an Insurance Issue.
By Malia Zimmerman, Hawaii Reporter
KILAUEA, KAUAI: Retired Automobile Dealer James Pflueger and his family’s estate, the Mary Lucas Trust, which own hundreds of acres of land in Kilauea encompassing Ka Loko Reservoir, are petitioning the state to block the Kilauea Irrigation Company from routing fresh water to more than two dozen Kilauea farmers -- a move area farmers fervently oppose.
Currently millions of gallons of fresh water flow every year into Ka Loko Reservoir from Puu Ka Ele Stream via the Ka Loko Ditch, which was built many years ago by the sugar cane growers. The water is then diverted three ways: to the Mary Lucas estate, to Pflueger’s property and through the Kilauea Irrigation System. The Kilauea Irrigation System, in turn, routes the water through a collection of pipes to more than 20 area farms that grow a wide variety of fresh produce on 200 acres of farmland.
David Whatmore, who grows a wide variety of crops from citrus, to mangoes, to exotic fruits on his 10-acre Hula Daze Farm since 1985, warns that if the Kilauea farmers lose this vital water source, they will be out of business. Whatmore, like most of the Kilauea farmers, bought his property years ago specifically because of the access to Ka Loko’s fresh water.
He says there is not enough county water in Kilauea to meet daily demands and in addition, the county water is considerably more expensive ($1.26 to $4 per 1,000 gallons for county water compared to 44 cents per 1,000 gallons for Kilauea Irrigation).
If the farms go, so will an estimated 1 million servings of fresh produce harvested there and distributed to hotels, restaurants, grocery stores and farmers' markets on Kauai annually, in addition to exports to the U.S. Mainland and Canada, Whatmore says.
But the state Department of Land and Natural Resources is apparently siding with Pflueger and against the farmers, recommending this week to the Board of Land and Natural Resources that it revoke Kilauea Irrigation System’s permit, citing an insurance issue. The matter will be addressed at the Board’s Friday, September 28th meeting beginning at 9 a.m. in room 132 of the Kalanimoku Building (1151 Punchbowl Street, Honolulu). The Kilauea farmers, many who just learned of the DNLR’s intention on Wednesday, plan to fly over from Kauai to testify against the recommendation.
Battle for Precious Water: An Ongoing Saga
This isn’t the first struggle over water rights in Kilauea. Farmers say the Kilauea Irrigation System and Pflueger battled over water from Ka Loko virtually since Pflueger bought the reservoir and dam in 1987. Documents in the Department of Land and Natural Resources show former Kilauea Irrigation Company owner C. Brewer and its current owner Tom Hitch complained about Pflueger’s refusal to give them access to the ditch and pipe system for maintenance purposes. Pflueger denies these allegations.
However, the tension between Pflueger and Kilauea Irrigation System rocketed to an all time high when the Ka Loko Dam breached in the early hours of March 14, 2006. Between 400 million and 500 million gallons of water raced down the mountain sweeping 8 people to their deaths. Also destroyed were millions of dollars in private and public property, hundreds of trees ripped from the dense forest, and the sparking waters of Wailapa River and the vibrant reef in Kahili Bay, now covered with mud, debris and black muck.
Pflueger takes no responsibility for the breach and mostly blames Kilauea Irrigation System for the costly disaster.
After Pflueger was sued by the families of the victims who died and the landowners along the dam water’s destructive path, Pflueger filed a lawsuit against the former and current owner of Kilauea Irrigation Company saying just that poor maintenance caused the breach. He also sued the state saying dam inspectors never gave Ka Loko a safety inspection as required by law.
Tom Hitch, who bought Kilauea Irrigation Company just months before the dam breached, and took care of the system for years before for C. Brewer Co., counters that lack of maintenance wasn’t the reason for the disaster and says he is not responsible.
So far, state experts seem to agree with Hitch, saying in a report at http://www.Kalokodam.net that Pflueger apparently covered the dam’s most important safety feature, its spillway, and that is mostly likely what caused the excess water to “overtop” and erode the dam’s wall.
Three civil lawsuits have been consolidated in Kauai Circuit Court with a trial set for 2009.
The state attorney general continues to consider whether the state will file criminal charges against the dam’s owner.
Disaster Wreaks Havoc Many Months After Breach
Farmers, although not hit directly by the dam’s waters, feel they are yet another set of victims of the Ka Loko dam breach. They have not consistently had water since the earthen dam broke in March 2006. The dam’s wall, which holds the reservoir's water in, has not been repaired in the last 1.5 years, so very little water can be contained. (The state DNLR says the dam owner is responsible for repairs.)
The Ka Loko Reservoir, which has funneled water consistently to the farmers for 60 years, even through the worst of drought conditions, has essentially run dry several times this year.
A visit to the Ka Loko Dam in July shows water levels as low as 17 inches -- the height where the Kilauea Irrigation’s intake pipes sit.
Because there has been very little rain this summer, the backup water source has been particularly important. But instead of easy water flow, farmers have often faced a sputtering water supply and sometimes no water flow at all.
Not only has the dam structure caused problems, so have sabotage and theft. Each farmer has permission to take water from the irrigation system via a diversion permit or water use permit, but there are people living along the Kilauea, Mooala and Wailapa rivers who don’t have either, yet because of the drought, they have lifted boards from the water ditches to divert water into private properties along the route.
Amy Moorhead, owner of Kauai Sunrise Farms and Whatmore’s neighbor, has watched in frustration as her eight fields of organic lettuce crops -- or 2,000 pounds per month -- withered and died this summer. The organic farmer, who for the last 9 years has also grown beets, potatoes and tropical fruit on her 13-acre farm, says while other crops can be sustained with less water, her lettuce needs water every day or it spoils. Phil Davies, owner of Kailani Farms, who has farmed 19 acres of lettuce and ginger in Kilauea for more than 16 years, producing between 500 and 1,500 pounds per week, also has lost lettuce crops this summer because of a lack of water from Ka Loko.
DNLR Cites Dam Owners’ Petition, Lack of Insurance
as Reasons to Halt Water Supply
Farmers on Kauai are in an uproar over the DNLR’s recommendation, not only to turn off their water, but to remove the Kilauea Irrigation System altogether. They want the continued access to the water they’ve had for 60 years, they want the dam repaired so water is available when they need it, and they want the state to repair the streams along Wailapa River that were destroyed last year.
But the state cites the petitions by Pflueger, including an August 24, 2007, letter from his attorney William McCorriston, and the Mary Lucas Trust to shut down Kilauea Irrigation Company, as one reason to go against the farmers’ wishes.
The DNLR also cites the fact that Hitch has not been able to find a company to insure the system before the lawsuits are settled in 2009. AIG was the only insurance company to agree to provide insurance, DNLR documents show, but that was for $25,000 annually -- an amount considerably above what Kilauea Irrigation Company paid in the past or its owner says he can afford now.
Because Hitch couldn’t get insurance, he was no longer able to obtain a bond and had to put his contractors license on inactive status. His financial situation spiraled downward from there.
Hitch left his family behind and in June went to work overseas in Thailand. Two Kauai irrigation experts employed by Hitch temporarily took over the maintenance of the Kilauea Irrigation System. Hitch wants the situation resolved so the farmers can continue to operate. But he needs help, and the DNLR says no one on the state level, including the Department of Agriculture and the Agribusiness Development Corporation is willing to get involved.
The county government set aside $75,000 for an engineering study of Ka Loko Reservoir and Dam and the irrigation system, which could be used to generate more state funds, but that might be moot if the state shuts down the system before the study is complete.
Although Laura Thielen, director of the DNLR, did not return calls to Hawaii Reporter, DNLR documents show that the agency is recommending immediate termination of Hitch’s permit, and with it all obligations of the state. The agency would also order the removal of all of the irrigation pipes, which have funneled water to the farmers for more than 60 years.
Steve and Janine Hunt, members of the Kilauea Farms Homeowners Association, who have lived and farmed in Kilauea for 25 years, are asking the state to reconsider or at least postpone the matter, until all the farmers are made aware of the state’s plans and have an opportunity to comment.
“The Kaloko water is important to the 25 or so farmers who need the water to survive. The source of water is also essential for the survival of the Waiakalua Stream and Reservoir, as Waiakalua is fed by Kaloko and is necessary to be preserved. Please do not allow the water to be stopped. We ask that the staff analyze the consequences of building a structure to stop the diversion of water into the Kaloko ditch and help find a way to mitigate the damages of drying up the Waiakalua Stream and Reservoir.”
Bill and Margo Flaherty, active members of the Kilauea Farms Community Association, asked the state to delay the decision making so all farmers can voice their opinions. Among their concerns, they say the drought that Hawaii has been experiencing over the last few years may continue for years to come.
“To dismantle or allow these critical Reservoirs and surrounding wetlands to dry up is very short sighted. … Due to the continued drought situation occurring in Hawaii it is essential these water resources be preserved for future emergencies.”
They add that beyond the obvious reasons to keep the water available to farmers, the aesthetic value of the Waiakalua reservoir, stream and surrounding wetlands are a habitat for native and endangered species “and beyond any dollar value and therefore must be preserved at all costs.”
Farmers also note it would only be fair to hold a meeting so important to their future, on their island, rather than in Honolulu, so all farmers can more easily attend.
Whatmore summed up his concerns: “Local agriculture, which is dependent upon water availability especially during drought, has many public benefits including produce, which is healthier by being fresher, food security, preservation of open spaces, and expansion of our such as farm tours, and farm bed and breakfasts. The state should be doing whatever it takes to help us, not shut us down.” ...
– Reach Malia Zimmerman, editor and president of Hawaii Reporter at mailto:Malia@hawaiireporter.com
August 25, 2005
Battle brewing on Big Isle
over coffee roasting plant
By Stewart Yerton, Star-Bulletin
There's a $25 million project brewing on the Big Island and the venture is not something that the local coffee industry wants to wake up with in the morning.
Albert Kam, a founder of PLK Air Services Group LLC, said the company's proposed coffee roasting and packaging center will enhance the Big Island's coffee industry, providing a market for growers and a boost to the island's heralded export.
The proposed project, to be built at Hilo Airport, also will process and package macadamia nuts for export and include a fulfillment center where PLK can process orders before sending them out on airplanes.
But many Hawaii growers, roasters and packagers say the venture is bad for the local coffee and nut business. They say the Big Island doesn't need more roasters battling for a limited supply of unroasted coffee beans. A new player the size of PLK, they say, would drive up local prices of unroasted coffee beans and macadamia kernels to unsustainable levels, leading to a painful bust in the future.
In addition, there's a question of whether PLK will sell only Hawaiian-grown coffee. Although Kam insisted that it will, others fear PLK will import nuts and coffee beans from elsewhere, package them on the Big Island and misleadingly label the products as Hawaiian.
Finally, Big Island coffee and nut producers point to their central gripe: PLK has gotten special support from the state Legislature, which granted PLK the right to issue $25 million in tax-exempt bonds for the project.
The project has turned into a political football, just as PLK faces more bureaucratic hurdles before it can issue its so-called special purpose revenue bonds to finance the facility.
Last week, Gov. Linda Lingle's senior policy adviser Linda Smith attended a meeting in Kona where more than 100 Big Island coffee and macadamia growers and executives, including some of the state's biggest players, decried the project as a state-supported behemoth that would hurt their businesses.
PLK must submit an application with the state before it can issue the bonds, and the state Department of Budget and Finance must study the company's business plan to determine if it is sound before granting approval.
Smith said there's no guarantee that the state will grant final approvals.
"There are actually numerous special purpose revenue bonds that are approved (by the Legislature) that never get issued," Smith said.
"We just feel (PLK) has been given unfair advantage and there's no need for it," said Una Greenaway, owner of Kuaiwi Farm, an organic coffee grower.
Dennis Simonis, president and chief executive of nut grower ML Macadamia Orchards, agreed.
"I think the last thing Hawaii needs is another processor of macadamia nuts," he said.
Also this week, one of the original sponsors of the measure backing the project's bonds, state Rep. Josh Green, D-Honokohau-Keauhou, said in an e-mail to coffee executives that he had been asked to support the bill only because it would "support Kona businesses."
"I now realize the intent of the bill was misrepresented that day," Green wrote.
With the tide apparently turning against him, Kam is engaged in a bitter fight to keep his project on track.
"These people -- when you read through the rhetoric -- simply don't want competition," said Kam, whose partners in PLK are Frederick Parr and Robert Lindsey Jr.
"It's ridiculous that anyone wants to contest a bill that went through public hearings, that went through public testimony," Kam said.
Kam said the minutes of the Hawaii Coffee Association's March meeting show that the group discussed the bill, and therefore was aware of it back then.
But Jim Wayman, chairman of the Hawaii Coffee Association's governmental affairs committee, said the group didn't understand the bill's significance at the time.
Wayman, president and chief executive of Hawaii Coffee Co., said the association didn't hear about the bill again until it was about to become law.
"Who's fault is that?" Kam said. "Are people supposed to call (the Hawaii Coffee Association)? That's a lame excuse."
Kam also is fighting the perception that he is getting a special break from the state. He said the project needed the special purpose revenue bonds because the airport would not grant the type of long-term lease PLK needed to obtain standard financing.
Special purpose revenue bonds essentially transfer to a private entity the state's ability to issue tax-exempt bonds, Smith said. The bonds are not serviced with taxpayer money, she said. Plus, PLK is required to provide collateral covering the full amount of the bonds, Smith said, so the state's coffers would not be exposed if the project were to fail.
Still, Smith said, the tax-exempt status of the bonds represents a benefit to PLK that has not been granted to many other coffee companies, which would face new competition if PLK's project got off the ground.
Kam acknowledged that his project could drive up prices for unroasted Kona coffee beans, which he said would be good for local farmers. Kam noted that Howard Yamasaki of C & H Farms of the Big Island testified in favor of the project before the Legislature, saying it would "ensure a more secure marketplace for farmers."
"How can we be bad for the industry if we're here to help farmers?" Kam said.
Kam, who was once a senior executive with the predecessor of Wayman's Hawaii Coffee Co., said it is wrong to assume that the market could not sustain higher coffee prices. Whether consumers would be willing to pay higher prices in the long run is a question of marketing, he said.
Kam cited Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee, which he said sells for $48 per pound.
As for whether he would import coffee from elsewhere, Kam said: "We are marketers of 100 percent Kona coffee. I have never said we're going to do anything but that."
Critics are unmoved by such rebuttals. In the end, Wayman said, if PLK wants to develop its facility, it should do so without support from the state.
"The state is creating a preferred competitor by backing them," Wayman said. "I haven't heard anything from PLK to change my mind."
www.archives.starbulletin.com/2005/08/25/business/story2.html
East Maui Watershed Partnership
In late 1999, the Conservancy's Board of Governors chose the East Maui Watershed Partnership to receive the organization's highest honor: The President's Conservation Achievement Award. This award is given to an individual or organization that works in partnership with The Nature Conservancy to advance biodiversity protection. Out of all the partnerships in which the Conservancy is involved globally, only six receive this award annually.
The East Maui Watershed Partnership has pioneered a model for protecting large landscapes quickly and efficiently. Before this partnership, the Conservancy had helped protect 50,000 acres in Hawai`i. This one project alone brings active management to more than 100,000 acres of critical watershed and native forest habitat.
Our Approach
The East Maui Watershed Partnership (EMWP) was formed in 1991 through the joint initiative of the State Department of Land and Natural Resources, The Nature Conservancy, the County of Maui - Board of Water Supply, Haleakala Ranch Co., East Maui Irrigation Co., Ltd., Haleakala National Park, and Hana Ranch. Since its formation, the EMWP has made significant strides to control Miconia calvenscens and has built strategic, upper-elevation fences to control feral pigs.
"Perhaps the most important reason the Conservancy recognized the partnership is for its role as a model for similar partnerships throughout Hawai`i, including the West Maui Mountains Watershed Partnership, the East Moloka`i Watershed Partnership, and the Ko`olau Watershed Partnership on O`ahu," said Suzanne Case, Executive Director of the Hawai`i Chapter. "By working together as neighbors, under a unified management plan, we exponentially expand the effort that each group can make to protect East Maui's natural resources."
From the Hawaii Department of Land & Natural Resources website:
WATERSHED PARTNERSHIP PROGRAM
Forested watersheds provide us with nearly all of our state's fresh water.
Watershed Partnerships are voluntary alliances of public and private landowners committed to the common value of protecting large areas of forested watersheds for water recharge and other values.
More than 200,000 acres of important watershed areas in Hawai`i have been placed within these unique public-private partnerships...
~ ~ ~
West Maui Mountains Watershed Partnership
(50,000 acres)
Partners
Maui County Board of Water Supply
Kamehameha Schools
C. Brewer and Company Limited
Amfac/JMB Hawaii, LLC
The Nature Conservancy
Maui Land & Pineapple Co., Inc.
State Department of Land & Natural Resources
County of Maui ...
December 3, 2003
Asking Questions
About a Pepe'ekeo Development Project
Proper land use, loss of shoreline access are just some of the
concerns of East Hawai'i residents.
by Alan D. McNarie
Pepe'ekeo Point seems an odd place for a controversy. The area holds a lighthouse, a former sugar mill site, a functioning power plant, an abandoned sugar worker's camp and little else. There are some nice ocean views, but high cliffs make ocean access difficult, and the area was badly trashed in plantation days; the roots of ironwoods clinging to the cliff are still littered with old engine blocks and other industrial debris that mill workers pushed over the edge when the machines had outlived their usefulness.
But that craggy, abused coast, a few miles north of Hilo, is the only shoreline that Pepe'ekeo residents have -which may be why approximately 100 of them crowded the County Council Room in Hilo on November 15, when the County Planning Commission held a hearing on the proposed Pepe'ekeo Point Subdivision.
An Alabama-based, New Jersey-registered company named Continental Pacific LLC has purchased the land around the point from former sugar-growing giant C. Brewer, and plans to develop some 93 lots, including 11 within the Special Management Area (SMA) near the shoreline.
Residents who spoke at the Planning Commission hearing expressed a number of concerns about the proposed subdivision. Some demanded that approval of the zoning changes and SMA permit be linked to the removal of a huge coal ash pile that a C. Brewer spin-off company, Hilo Coast Power, has been storing on one of the Continental Pacific parcels. One resident worried that, with C. Brewer removed from the picture and the coal ash pile being attached to smaller and smaller pools of assets, "The asset value of the greater parcel may become diminished to the point where it becomes unfeasible for the coal ash pile to be cleaned up," suggested local real estate agent Claudia Rohrer. (The Journal reported in depth on the coal ash controversy in "Coping With Sugar's Dirty Legacy" in the October 15-31 issue.)
Other residents worried that an influx of wealthy subdivision residents would alter the nature of the community, and expressed concerns that land prices in the new subdivision would drive up property taxes on existing homes. Some questioned whether the county would make Continental Pacific pay its fair share of the infrastructure costs that the subdivision would generate.
But the most common concern seemed to involve what would be the effect on shoreline access. Despite county and company assurances that at least pedestrian access would be maintained, several residents worried that community members, especially those unable to walk great distances, would be cut off from their beloved ocean.
"Ever since I've been here, I've been seeing gates going up - not just on the makai side, but on the mauka side, also," lamented one resident. "What are you doing to the people? Where are they going to go?"
Meet the New Neighbors
Continental Pacific, based in Troy, Alabama, was formed from a merger of two Alabama limited partnerships, Strother Timberlands and Henderson Timberlands, in the late 1980s. Though the company was formed primarily to invest in timberland, an online company description claims that both of the company's principle investors, J. Barron Strother and Jere Henderson, come from banking families, hold real estate licenses, and "have experience in all areas of land operations."
In 1998, Strother and Henderson became interested in the Hawaiian land market.
"The principals discovered Hawai'i to be the ideal investment to fit their business format - they could buy large tracts of agricultural land at a below-market discount and spin off smaller tracts and parcels with financing for a strong retail profit. Learning this, they purchased the 2,200 acres and about 6,000 additional acres in multiple transactions," says the online bio. "Nearly all of their investment has already been returned to them in the form of cash and first mortgage notes, creating the desire to continue business in this market where the factors have unchanged."
Strother and Henderson launched an unsuccessful effort to buy Buyco, C. Brewer's parent holding company, which culminated with Continental Pacific and its principles suing C. Brewer for fraud, breach of contract, and other alleged offenses after the deal went sour. Negotiations to buy the Hilo Coast Power Company and its Pepe'ekeo power plant from Brewer Environmental Industries also broke down, and the company helped defeat Hilo Coast Power's proposal to create a garbage-to-energy plant on the site. But the Alabama company did manage to acquire two large tracts of land of former C. Brewer land: 1300 acres surrounding the power plant at Pepe'ekeo Point, and another 1500 acres around Onomea.
The company's current proposals before the Planning Commission include applications to downzone areas around the power plant and former plantation camp from their current industrial, "Village Commercial" 20-acre agricultural lot classifications to 20,000-square-foot single family lots.
"Part of it is zoning realignment," Strother told the Journal, in a phone interview after the meeting. "There's different residential zonings. They don't match with the way things are."
The Hearing Notice for the November 15 meeting also said that the company was applying for a "Special Management Area (SMA) Use Permit to allow the development of 30 lots, including portion of a roadway lot, and related improvements. But in a phone interview after the hearing, Strother told the Journal that in the areas currently being considered by the Planning Commission, only 11 lots were within the shoreline Special Management Area, and 67 lots were outside of it....
Smokestacks and Family Dwellings
Not all of Continental Pacific's Pepe'ekeo holdings are going to become part of Pepe'ekeo Point Subdivision.
"Out 1300 acres, 900 acres are in two bulk parcels," Strother told the Journal. "The majority of it is being leased to farmers."
Much of that land is going to a local company called Hawaiian Rainbows, which plans to lease 20-acre parcels for fruit farms. Hawaiian Rainbows is also running a soil-mining operation to recycle the huge mounds of dirt that the sugar plantation had dredged from settling ponds after it was rinsed from truckloads of cane.
According to County Planning Director Chris Yuen, some of the land in the proposed Pepe'ekeo Point Subdivision itself was already zoned urban because of the former plantation camp, while other land, located near or adjacent to the power plant, is currently zoned industrial; the company is applying to downzone those lots to residential, because industrial zoning does not allow housing.
"If they go through with this, one of the lots is right next to the power plant," Yuen noted, in a phone interview with the Journal.
Yuen declined to comment on the wisdom of placing homes so close to the power plant, which has a history of clashes with the Federal Environmental Protection Agency over water pollution violations, but is currently in compliance.
"From the planning point of view, we're just saying that they have to disclose it [the proximity of the power plant]," he said....
http://www.hawaiiislandjournal.com/2003/12b03b.html
For more, GO TO > > > Paradise Paved; The Puna Connection
March 2, 2002
Donation helps
save forest land
The funds enable the Nature
Conservancy to buy 4 Big Isle tracts
By Diana Leone, Star-Bulletin
An anonymous donor helped the Nature Conservancy of Hawaii buy 3,548 acres of pristine native forest in the Kau region of the Big Island yesterday.
The four separate parcels, all adjacent to and makai of the state's Kau Forest Reserve, are dominated by native koa and ohia forests.
The Kau Forest is the largest and most intact expanse of native forest in the state and home to forest birds including the iiwi, apapane and amakihi and the io, or Hawaiian hawk, said conservancy spokesman Grady Timmons.
The conservancy paid a market price of $2.1 million to Mauna Kea Agribusiness, a C. Brewer & Co. subsidiary, Timmons said. C. Brewer recently announced it would sell all its Hawaii lands....
Suzanne Case, the conservancy's acting executive director, praised the donor who made the purchase possible, saying, "We are deeply appreciative of the vision and commitment of this individual to protecting Hawaii's natural heritage."
Kim Hum, conservancy land protection director, said quick action was needed to protect the native forest.
"During the last century, the adjacent sugar cane fields were burned every eight months, keeping most weeds out of the forest," Hum said. "But the demise of sugar has opened up the old cane fields to new weed invasions, which in turn threaten the native forests."
Jon Giffin, Big Island district forestry and wildlife manager, said he would meet with conservancy representatives Monday to discuss cooperative plans for the area.
"We are very pleased to be able to ensure the long-term protection of this important watershed through a sale to the Nature Conservancy," said J. Alan Kugle, chief executive officer for real estate at C. Brewer.
The conservancy is a private, nonprofit organization that has a statewide system of 10 preserves totaling 27,000 acres and has participated in cooperative projects on another 175,000 acres.
http://www.starbulletin.com/2002/03/02/news/index6.html
October 16, 2001
Brewer Environmental
sells core divisions
The purchase by a local group
is slated to close this year
By Russ Lynch, Star-Bulletin
The core businesses of Brewer Environmental Industries LLC, the former Brewer Chemical Co., have been sold to a five-member local partnership consisting of two of its own executives and some significant outside local investors.
BEI's distribution and environmental services divisions have been acquired for an undisclosed price by a partnership called Phoenix 5 LLC. The purchase, scheduled to close by the end of the year, includes most of the business of Hawaii's largest distributor of fertilizer and chemicals for agriculture and industry.
While BEI has operated in recent years as a separately incorporated business from the company that formed it, C. Brewer & Co., state business registration records show that some of its officers and directors are C. Brewer-related people.
Under the new setup, it will be run as BEI Hawaii, headed by Richard T. Hill, president and chief executive officer. Hill has been a vice president of Brewer Environmental Industries LLC, but not an officer of C. Brewer. Marc C. Tilker, vice president and chief financial officer of another related company, Brewer Environmental Holdings LLC, was named executive vice president and chief financial officer.
He is the son of Marvin Tilker, one of the partners in the 1986 purchase of C. Brewer & Co. from Philadelphia-based International Utilities Corp. Marvin Tilker is a partner in the purchase, along with Hill and Marc Tilker, as are two non-Brewer people -- Richard In, a director of Aloha Airlines parent Aloha Airgroup Inc., and local industrial relations attorney Robert Katz -- a spokesman for the buyers said.
The purchase agreement does not include Brewer Environmental Industries subsidiaries HT&T Co., a Big Island transportation business; Hilo Coast Power Co., an energy company originally based in C. Brewer's sugar business; Food Quality Labs; and a construction division.
They will continue to be owned and operated by Brewer Environmental Industries LLC.
There are more than 100 employees in the businesses being acquired -- the companies declined to be specific -- and most will be offered jobs under the new structure, Hill said.
"Hawaii's economy is obviously going through some difficult times, but we believe that a streamlined company will do well," he said in a statement.
http://starbulletin.com/2001/10/16/business/story2.html
Alabama timber
firm is trying to
buy C. Brewer
The firm owns 300,000 acres
of forest in the U.S. southeast and
Chile, and has bought
Big Island land
Star-Bulletin staff
HILO -- An Alabama timber company is negotiating to buy the stock of Buyco Inc., the parent company of C. Brewer and Co., Brewer announced.
Buyco is in preliminary negotiations with Strother Timberlands Ltd., an international land company headquartered in Troy, Alabama, the announcement said.
The negotiations followed an unsolicited offer from Strother to buy the company's stock. Sale of the company would require shareholder approval.
Strother's business interests include ownership and management of more than 300,000 acres of forest in the southeastern United States and in Chile, the announcement said.
Strother recently purchased property on the Big Island in the name of its subsidiary, Puna Forestry, the announcement said. The size, location, and other details of that purchase were not announced.
In 1998, Strother bought 1,068 acres of Big Island pasture land to grow timber and to subdivide into residential parcels. It also bought 2,180 acres from Hawaiian Anthuriums that year, about 1.5 miles from the 1,068-acre parcel.
"Their sole line of work is timber," said Hank Correa, a real estate agent with Prudential Orchid Isle Properties. "They are here acquiring properties for that purpose."
In addition to Brewer's extensive landholdings, the company is the world's leading producer of macadamia nuts and guava-based juices, and it processes other products such as Kona coffee and jams and jellies.
C. Brewer was one of the original Big Five firms, which at one time essentially controlled Hawaii. It was founded by James Hunnewell, an officer on the Thaddeus, which had brought the original missionaries here in 1820. He returned in 1826 to set up a trading company, which was itself later traded to Capt. Charles Brewer, who gave the company its lasting name.
After the sugar industry died out, C. Brewer branched into diversified agriculture and specialty products, such as Kona coffee and Mauna Loa macadamia nuts.
C. Brewer announced last year its shareholders wanted out of the macadamia nut business, and it agreed to sell the nut processing and distribution company to raise capital for stockholders.
C. Brewer also wanted to raise money to venture into the herbal medicine market.
Brewer has interests in real estate, environmental and industrial services, power generation and now nutraceuticals.
It manages BEI, formerly Brewer Environmental Industries, which was spun off from Brewer more than a year ago.
Strother joins other firms that are slowly building up the Big Island's forestry industry.
An Arizona-based investment group leases 5,000 acres owned by C. Brewer to plant paulownia, a fast-growing tree whose wood can be used for furniture.
http://archives.starbulletin.com/2000/06/10/news/story1.html
January 27, 2000
Chemical spill hearing told new agency would be costly
Putting tanks regulation in Health Department
hands requires new law
By Lori Tighe, Star-Bulletin
State agencies acknowledged passing the buck -- primarily because of the cost -- on who should inspect chemical tanks to prevent spills such as the one on Thanksgiving Day at Campbell Industrial Park.
But legislators want the "buck' to stop with the Brewer Environmental Industries' spill that dumped 35 tons of sulfuric acid.
Senators Colleen Hanabusa and Brian Kanno led a special session last night at Kapolei Middle School to reexamine the Brewer spill and to investigate what needs to be done to protect neighboring communities from a chemical disaster.
"Everybody wants to pass the buck, and we have to show up to make sure it doesn't get blamed on us," said Gideon Awa, the Honolulu Fire Department's captain of fire prevention and acting administrator for the state Fire Council. "Yes, they like us, but they can hate us at the same time."
The Fire Department and the Health Department, both under public scrutiny, told legislators it would require a change of law and several million dollars to regulate chemical tank inspections.
The permitting of chemical tanks used to be in the state fire code, but the counties chose not to adopt it because of cost, Awa said. The city is reconsidering regulating future chemical tanks, he said.
"It takes an incident like this for everyone to sit up and take notice," Awa said. "Lay people have to understand it costs money."
Residents say public agencies haven't done enough to protect them from chemical accidents.
"One spill could kill me," said Maeda Timson, a Makakilo resident and chairwoman of the Makakilo/Kapolei/Hanokai Hale Neighborhood Board.
"We have a community trying to take care of itself, when these agencies should be accountable to the people they're serving,"Timson said.
"I don't want to glow in the dark."
The cleanup at Brewer still continues in emergency response phase and will cost the company several hundreds of thousands of dollars, said Gary Gill, state deputy director for environmental health.
"We have a long way to go with Brewer. The cleanup is not complete," he said.
No state program exists to inspect chemical tanks, he said. The Health Department only has authority to respond to a spill.
"If the Legislature wanted us to inspect and regulate tanks, a new law would be required," Gill said. It would cost several million dollars to establish a new branch to conduct the inspections, he said....
http://starbulletin.com/2000/01/27/news/story4.html
# # #
MORE DIRTY BREW TO COME
Meanwhile, check out
these dirty brewers...
DIRTY MONEY, DIRTY POLITICS & BISHOP ESTATE
Part I - Part II - Part III - Part IV - Part V - Part VI - Part VII
~ ~ ~
THE MATING OF AOL & TIME-WARNER
A CONNECTICUT YANKEE IN KING KAMEHAMEHA’S COURT
CONFESSIONS OF A WHISTLEBLOWER
FLYING HIGH IN HAWAII: THE RON REWALD STORY
THE HAWAIIAN INSURANCE COMPANIES
THE DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY
KAJIMA: BLOOD, BRIBES & BRUTALITY
THE KAMEHAMEHA SCHOOLS’ RETIREMENT FUND
VULTURES IN THE HAWAIIAN NATURE CONSERVANCY
OFFICE OF THE U.S. TRUSTEE VS. HARMON
THE CONSUELO ZOBEL ALGER FOUNDATION
MARSH & McLENNAN: THE MARSH BIRDS
PRUDENTIAL: A NEST ON SHAKY GROUND
P-S-S-T, WANNA BUY A GOOD AUDIT?
SUKAMTO SIA: THE INDONESIAN CONNECTION
THE RISE & FALL OF SUMMIT COMMUNICATIONS
VULTURES IN THE PINEAPPLE FIELDS
VULTURES OF THE SANDWICH ISLES
ZEROING IN ON ZURICH FINANCIAL SERVICES
MORE OF THE CATBIRD’S FAVORITE LINKS
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