Yesteryear 2008

Stymied in its efforts to develop a 600-acre area at Laau Point as a high-end rural residential project district, Molokai Properties Ltd. opted to shutter its operations.

An environmental impact statement on a proposed Molokai Ranch Community-Based Master Land Use Plan was withdrawn in late 2007, when it became clear to MPL that the state Land Use Commission would reject it. But after initially saying the company would revise the EIS to address community and Land Use Commission concerns, MPL Chief Executive Officer Peter Nicholas announced he would shut down all of its Molokai Ranch operations.

The ranch had been through a lengthy and expensive consultation process with the Molokai Enterprise Community to develop the proposed master plan - a trade-off with the community group to set aside more than 50,000 acres as a trust or in agricultural preserve, while allowing reclassification of the Laau lands for development.

The shutdown closed the Kaluakoi Golf Course, the Maunaloa Lodge, the Kaupoa campgrounds and MPL ranching operations, with more than 150 workers laid off in April.

At the same time, Nicholas advised Gov. Linda Lingle that MPL would cease its utility operations - water and wastewater services for its properties in Kualapuu, Maunaloa and Kaluakoi - at the end of August. The company claimed it could no longer maintain its three utilities, with Nicholas saying the company provided $1.2 million to subsidize the utilities. He was supported by Lingle, who demanded that Maui County take over the private utility services.

Mayor Charmaine Tavares rejected the demand, with the county eventually filing a civil suit against MPL noting that the company and its predecessors committed to provide utility services in applications for county approvals for zoning and building permits.

When the company notified the Public Utilities Commission of its intentions, the PUC responded first with an order barring shutdown of operations. The commission then conducted an emergency hearing and issued an order for an interim rate increase for the two water utilities, based on MPL's data on its cost of operations.

By February, all three utilities - Wai'ola O Molokai, Molokai Public Utilities and Mosco - must apply for permanent rates if MPL does not turn them over to another operator.

Molokai residents protested the interim rates. Maui County stepped up with a grant to Maui Economic Opportunity to provide utility subsidies for low-income residents.

The ranch's water services are complicated by legal decisions requiring the ranch to reapply for permits to pump water from its well in Kualapuu and requiring the state Department of Agriculture to prepare an environmental impact statement on the ranch's use of the Molokai Irrigation System transmission line.