Comments on Board of Land and Natural Resources May 10th agenda item C 1 “Request to transfer Timber Land License No. 2007-H-1 from Hawaii Island Hardwoods, LLC to Tradewinds Hawaiian Woods LLC” by Cory Harden

Notably missing from staff notes is any mention that most of Tradewinds Hawaiian Woods’ management comes from troubled Tradewinds Forest Products, and that Hawai’i Island Hardwoods has also had problems.

Four Tradewinds Hawaiian Woods management staff are from Tradewinds Forest Products. That history is missing from their profiles on the Tradewinds Hawaiian Woods website.

“Don Bryan, President and CEO…
Gary Edwards, Vice President–Production…
Sophia Cabral-Maikui, Personnel Manager & Community Liaison…
Jana Bryan, Public Relations and Community Affairs”
[http://tradewindshawaiian.com/Management.html]

“In July [2010], [Don] Bryan announced that he and several former employees formed a new entity, Tradewinds Hawaiian Woods, to continue the development of the veneer mill while Tradewinds Forest Products waits for the economy to improve.” [Ookala mill gets another chance, Hawai’i Tribune-Herald, 1-14-11]

Tradewinds Forest Products failed on a previous license.

“The State Department of Land and Natural Resources is preparing to issue a timber license for the Waiakea Timber Management Area, after a decade-long effort with Tradewinds Forest Products failed to bear fruit…

Tradewinds had promised to harvest eucaplytus from the WTMA and process it into veneer wood in an overhauled Ookala sugar mill…

Tradewinds insisted that a deal to finance the mill was just around the corner and had been sunk by the collapse of the housing bubble and subsequent recession; others said it couldn’t attract capital because of a bad business model…”
[State looks for new vendor for Waiakea Timber Management Area, West Hawai’i Today, 5-5-12]

“Tradewinds Forest Products, LLC, is finally walking away from its timber land license for 9,000 acres within the state’s Waiakea Timber Management Area on the island of Hawai`i.
And the state is abandoning the $210,000 the company would have owed under license conditions imposed earlier this year.” [Tradewinds Timber License Ends, Environment Hawai’i, September 2011]

Tradewinds Forest Products was fined $1,500 for a special management area violation.

“Hawaii County planning officials are investigating the storage of logs across from Kawaihae Harbor…[staff said] the land falls within a Special Management Area, and changing the use requires an application. Neither the foundation [Queen Emma], the lumber company [Tradewinds Forest Products] or Edwin De Luz Trucking…has applied to do that work in the special management area…”
[Stumped: County says timber company lacks permits, West Hawai’i Today, 6-26-12]

“A Notice of Violation and Order…was issued on July 3, 2012 for after-the-fact and new grading and grubbing and unpermitted structures on the subject parcel…The civil fine of $1,500 was received.” [letter from Bobby Jean Leithead-Todd, County of Hawai’i Planning Director, to Mr. Tim Lui-Kwan, 10-11-12]

“…a 10 acre portion…will be graded and grubbed…” [letter from Theresa Donham, State Historic Preservation, to Esther Imamura, County of Hawai’i Planning Department, 8-3-12]

Mr. Yanagi, County inspector, “saw a road crossing a riverbed…that blocks the dry river bed…no mitigative measures to prevent tree debris from entering into the riverbed/ gulch. Rubble rocks are also mixed in with the trees…Gravel fill has been placed along the dry riverbed/ gulch with no mitigative measures to prevent it from entering into the riverbed/ gulch…There is no mitigative measure for dust control other than a water truck…some areas within the project site have been filled…there is evidence that water runoff has occurred…there are no mitigative measures for the refueling area within the project site…” [letter from Bobby Jean Leithead-Todd, County of Hawai’i Planning Director, to John Nitao of Queen Emma Foundation, 7-3-12]

“Mr. Yanagi [County inspector] was concerned with debris being carried by the water off the property…the silt fence…was in need of maintenance…logs and debris…in the dry river bed…needed to be removed…trucks were tracking mud onto the road…” [letter from Edmund Haitsuka of Carlsmith Ball to Bobby Jean Leithead-Todd, County of Hawai’i Planning Director,
9-6-12]

“…there have been no archaeological surveys…The immediate proximity of Pu’u Kohola Heirau…and the results of archaeological surveys conducted in the area…indicate that this project area has a high likelihood for containing significant cultural resources.” [letter from Theresa Donham, State Historic Preservation, to Esther Imamura, County of Hawai’i Planning Department, 8-3-12]

“..no archaeological sites were identified…no further analysis is required.” [letter from Puaalaokalani Dr. Aiu, State Historical Preservation, to Dr. Alan Haun, 9-26-12]

Tradewinds Forest Products may have caused noise and traffic impacts.

“The 6-week operational cycle involves…the daily unloading of approximately 18 truckloads of Eucalyptus timber logs between the hours of 6:00 am to 4:30 pm, Monday through Saturday…Logged and trucked from the LHF Lopiwa timber plantation in Hamakua.”
[SMA Assessment Application, Tradewinds Forest Products, June 2012, p. 2]

“Edwin De Luz Trucking has the contract with Tradewinds [Forest Products] to move…timber from Hamakua to Kawaihae…Managing member Kevin Balog said…his company is trying to avoid Waimea’s heavy traffic…by driving the truckloads of timber through the town between 4:30 a.m. and 5 a.m. ..he estimated they were taking at least a dozen [trucks], and up to 30, a week. Several West Hawaii residents contacted West Hawaii Today recently after noticing the trucks hauling the logs through town.”
[Eucalyptus trees on the move, West Hawai’i Today, 5-30-12]

Tradewinds Forest Products was fined $1,600 for an air permit violation.

“Several Hawaii Island businesses have been fined by the Department of Health’s Clean Air Branch for violating air permit and pollution rules…
Tradewinds Forest Products LLC, for late submittal of various reports required by its air permit. The company has a boiler and veneer dryer in Ookala and paid a $1,600 penalty.”
[Businesses fined over pollution violations, Hawai’i Tribune-Herald, 1-25-13]

Tradewinds Forest Products sparked community opposition.

“Tradewinds had promised to harvest eucaplytus from the WTMA and process it into veneer wood in an overhauled Ookala sugar mill. The project would have brought jobs but also an outcry from organized neighbors who had moved in, not expecting the plant to be fired up again…”
[State looks for new vendor for Waiakea Timber Management Area, West Hawai’i Today, 5-5-12]

“The Ookala project [Tradewinds Forest Products’ proposed biomass power plant] has also faced a similar degree of pushback from area residents that the planned Pepeekeo project [Hu Honua] now faces.” [Don Bryan…testifies for Pepeekeo biomass, Big Island Video News, 5-17-10]

Tradewinds Forest Products plans on sales to a company facing serious legal challenges.

“Tradewinds Forest Products will also supply wood to Hu Honua Bioenergy…”
[Stumped: County says timber company lacks permits, West Hawai’i Today, 6-26-12]

Community members are pursuing legal action against Hu Honua related to the Environmental Protection Agency and the Special Management Area. [personal communication with community members, April 2013]

Hawai’i Island Hardwoods has also had problems.

“ ‘Overall, the progress of the [Hawaii Island Hardwoods] license has been mixed,’ [Division of Forestry and Wildlife Administrator Paul] Conroy wrote…’The mill development and schedule proposed by HIH, however, is too ambitious in light of the slow economic recovery,’ Conroy wrote.” [State looks for new vendor for Waiakea Timber Management Area, West Hawai’i Today, 5-5-12]

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Please consider this history as you make your decision. Mahalo.