#aandb

The 70-unit Keala o Wailea development is located next to the Wailea Gateway Center and overlooks the Wailea Blue Golf Course.

Today the Hawaiʻi Senate passed House Bill 2501, a bill that allows Alexander & Baldwin to continue previously authorized water diversions for three years or until its pending application for water rights is resolved, whichever comes first.

The rally events are in response to legislative measure HB2501, the latest version of which would allow A&B to continue a previously authorized disposition of water rights for three years or until its pending application for water rights is resolved, whichever occurs sooner.

Latest draft would sunset House Bill 2501 in three years. The amended measure now goes to both houses of the Legislature for a final vote.

The word comes after years of legal wrangling over water rights and demands from area kalo farmers and residents seeking a return of mauka to makai flows.

The review is in support of A&B’s application for a lease of water from the license areas of Honomanū, Keʻanae, Huelo and Nāhiku.

Advocates for the restoration of East Maui’s streams plan to hold a demonstration at A&B’s shareholder meeting on Tuesday, April 26, 2016 at 7 a.m. at A&B’s headquarters on Bishop Street in Honolulu.

They are walking the halls of the Senate in opposition to House Bill 2501, and are seeking the restoration of long-diverted stream flows in the area.

During a Congressional visit to Maui on Monday, Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (HI-02) visited with HC&S employees and met with leaders from ILWU Local 142 (Maui/Lānaʻi/Molokaʻi Division) to discuss the transition and support for Maui’s displaced sugar workers and others affected by the closure of HC&S.

Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard meets with residents losing their jobs this year as a result of A&B’s decision to cease sugar operations at HC&S.

Today, the U.S. Department of Labor approved a petition for federal aid that will provide millions of dollars in federal funding for displaced workers at the Hawaiian Commercial and Sugar Company on Maui.

State Senators from Maui were in unison calling Monday’s announcement confirming federal assistance for displaced Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Company workers welcomed news.

The International Trade Commission issued a determination that the dumping of sugar from Mexico caused serious injury to the domestic sugar industry, and specifically named HC&S as one of the domestic firms impacted.

More than 80 organizations signed a coalition statement in support of restoring water to East Maui streams as a group of taro farmers from the region voice opposition to a measure that they say would allow continued water diversions.

Monday, March 7, 2016, marked the last day for dozens of workers at Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Company who were laid off as part of the company’s transition away from sugar cane production.

The Queen Ka’ahumanu Center is organizing a Plantation Festival to celebrate the sugar industry and its workers. The event comes following Alexander & Baldwin’s announcement earlier this year that it plans to close Maui sugar operations and transition to a diversified agribusiness model instead.

The Sierra Club of Hawaiʻi is speaking out against a bill that would allow “hold-over” permits for applicants seeking to renew their water rights lease.

The new Kamalani neighborhood in North Kīhei broke ground in mid-January. Upon completion, the community is currently envisioned to encompass approximately 600 homes…

Alexander and Baldwin’s recent announcement that it will end sugar production at Maui’s Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Co. will free about 36,000 acres of agriculturally zoned land at the end of 2016, prompting question over what crop would replace sugar.