ASSOCIATION OF HAWAIIAN CIVIC CLUBS
A RESOLUTION
No. 2017 – 31
URGING THE MAUI COUNTY COUNCIL TO PROHIBIT RESOURCE EXTRACTION OF SAND FROM THE PUʻU ONE SAND DUNES
WHEREAS, sand mining or beach sand mining is a practice that is used to extract sand, mainly through an open pit, however, sand is also mined from beaches, inland dunes and dredged from ocean beds and river beds.
WHEREAS, sand is often used in manufacturing as an abrasive, for example, and it is used to make concrete; and
WHEREAS, millions of tons of sand from Central Maui dunes have been mined and shipped off the island since the mid-1980’s; and
WHEREAS, the Central Maui Sand Dunes stretching from Kahului Harbor to Waikapū is also known as the Puʻu One Sand Dunes; and
WHEREAS, Maui chief Kahekili met the invading warriors of chief Kalaniʻōpuʻu of Hawaiʻi at the sandhills of Kamaʻomaʻo…between Wailuku and Waikapū and this 1776 Battle of Kakanilua (Ahulau Ka Piʻipiʻi i Kakanilua) occurred near the sand dunes of Waikapū killing 800 warriors; and
WHEREAS, the Wailuku-Kahului Community Plan has determined the Puʻu One Sand Dune Formation as a cultural resource and wahi pana; and
WHEREAS, a 2006 study of the Puʻu One Dunes, informed Maui County that current mining/shipping rates stated the resource would be depleted by 2011; and
WHEREAS, shared ownership interests connected to Maui Lani developer Bill Mills, excavation company Honolulu Construction & Draying Co. (HC&D), the sand barge Quinault, Pohaku Paa and Ameron (dba HC&D) sold $30 million worth of cement in just one year alone to the Honolulu rail project; and
WHEREAS, according to the Maui County Planning Director, Maui Lani and HC&D have properly been issued grading permits, but because the excavation and exportation of high quality sand for making concrete and other purposes meets the definition of “resource extraction”; and
WHEREAS, resource extraction may require either a special use permit or a conditional use permit, neither of which are currently held by Maui Lani or its partners; and
WHEREAS, the county had issued notice to Maui Lani to pause and apply for more permits; and
WHEREAS, a lawsuit brought by Mālama Kakanilua was filed in Environmental Court on August 2, 2017, to halt activity at the Maui Lani site saying the mining disrupts Hawaiian burials, violates county grading permits, and county zoning laws (Civil no. 17-1-03113); and
WHEREAS, the Maui Lani Partners Archaeological Monitoring Plan that has been approved by the State Historic Preservation Division (SHPD) provides “all grading activities will be monitored full time…[n]o sand will be excavated directly out of the ground and loaded into trucks” and the protocol requires “[o]ne archaeological monitor per piece of ground disturbing equipment”; and
WHEREAS, in 2016, Maui Lani reported at least three inadvertent discoveries of burials to the SHPD; and
WHEREAS, six temporary burial sites reported to SHPD by Maui Lani were considered “extremely culturally sensitive”; and
WHEREAS, Office of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA) is calling for all grading to stop immediately to give county and state regulators time to sort out zoning, permits and iwi preservation practices; and
WHEREAS, in April 2017, Maui Mayor Alan Arakawa called for a sand export moratorium.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, by the Association of Hawaiian Civic Clubs at its 58th Annual Convention in Seattle, Washington, in the malama of ʻIkuwā and the rising of Māhealani, this 4th day of November 2017, urging the Maui County Council to prohibit the resource extraction of sand from the Puʻu One Sand Dunes; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Honolulu City Council prohibit the importation of sand from the Central Maui Sand Dunes for the Honolulu Rail Project; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that a certified copy of this resolution be transmitted to Maui-Lāna‘i Burial Council, Mālama Kakanilua, Maui County Council Chair, City and County of Honolulu Council Chair, Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation Executive Director, as well as the Governor of the State of Hawai‘i, President of the State Senate, Speaker of the State House of Representatives, Chair of the State Senate Committee on Hawaiian Affairs, Chair of the State House Committee on Ocean, Marine Resources & Hawaiian Affairs, Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, and all County Mayors.
The undersigned hereby certifies that the foregoing Resolution was duly adopted in the malama of ʻIkuwā and the rising of Māhealani on the 4th day of November 2017, at the 58th Annual Convention of the Association of Hawaiian Civic Clubs in Seattle, Washington.
Annelle C. Amaral, President
