State Pays to Clean Bohnett Mess at Pu`uwa`awa`a

posted in: August 2001 | 0

The state of Hawai`i is paying for cleaning up much of the mess left behind by F. Newell Bohnett, former holder of the lease of state lands at Pu`uwa`awa`a.

According to Harry Yada, head of the Department of Land and Natural Resources’ Land Division, the state has contracted with a couple of companies to take scrap metal and other debris from several areas of Pu`uwa`awa`a. One area was occupied by a quarry operation years ago; Bohnett is not thought responsible for debris at this site. The state does intend to have him pay for cleanup of the other areas.

The cleanup “is going on in kind of bits and pieces,” Yada told Environment Hawai`i. “We issued a contract to this environmental company to go into the one warehouse building to categorize the contents, because we weren’t sure what was in it. They’ve done that. They found one thing that was not labeled.” Since testing wasn’t part of that contract, “we’ve got to issue another purchase order to cover testing, et cetera, so we can figure out how to dispose of it.” Everything else, Yada said, “was landfillable – we could just dump it.”

Separately, the state hired another contractor to get rid of all the scrap iron.

Through June, Yada said, the state had spent about $5,000 on the cleanup. For the last several years, concerns had been voiced by members of the Board of Land and Natural Resources as well as community groups that Bohnett would not be held to account for violations of the lease he held until August 2000. According to Yada, Bohnett is still liable for the cleanup costs. “Basically, what we’re going to do is to track all of these costs and then bill him for it,” Yada said. Should Bohnett not willingly pay, “We’ll give it to the AG [attorney general] and see what we can do.”

It was not supposed to happen this way. When the Land Board issued a one-year holdover lease on Pu`uwa`awa`a Ranch a year ago to ranchers Ernest DeLuz, Stephen DeLuz, and Mikio Kato, board members stipulated that Bohnett’s $60,000 performance bond, held by the state, not be released until the board gave specific approval.

But in September 2000, Bohnett withdrew the full amount, with neither the knowledge or approval of the DLNR. Approval wasn’t needed. The passbook savings account, set up in 1973, that served as the performance bond was issued in the names of two parties – Bohnett and the state of Hawai`i – but withdrawals could be made by either one. Nor did the bank require possession of the passbook to make withdrawals. Consequently, when Bohnett liquidated the account, the state did not have to give its approval.

Talks at Standstill

Last winter, the Land Board authorized Big Island member Fred Holschuh to set up talks between two parties that have submitted competing proposals for long-term management of the Pu`uwa`awa`a ahupua`a (land division). According to someone who attended an early July session of the mediated sessions, the professional mediator announced there was no hope of arriving at any compromise and walked out.

— Patricia Tummons

Volume 12, Number 2 August 2001