Cinder mining costs Big Island businessman $6,000

By Kevin Dayton
Advertiser Big Island Bureau

HILO, Hawai'i — The state has fined a Big Island businessman for mining cinders from privately owned conservation lands near Pahoa without a state permit.

The state Board of Land and Natural Resources last week fined Bryson Kuwahara $6,000 for mining an estimated 155,000 cubic yards of cinders at an area of Pu'u Kali'u that was never approved for excavation.

State staff had recommended a fine of $11,000, but the Board of Land and Natural Resources reduced the penalty because Kuwahara was a first-time offender who cooperated with state officials looking into the violation, said Sam Lemmo, administrator of the state Office of Conservation and Coastal Lands.

Kuwahara had state permission to excavate a 30-acre area at the cinder cone, but left the approved site and grubbed and mined nine acres of adjoining land, according to state records.

Both the approved site and the illegal excavation site are part of a 695-acre parcel owned by Kamehameha Schools just south of the Leilani Estates subdivision. The property is makai of Highway 130, which connects Pahoa to Kalapana.

Kuwahara leased the land from Kamehameha, and sold cinders through his company Bryson's Cinders Inc.

Lemmo said Kuwahara told members of the land board that taking cinders outside the approved area was a mistake. Kuwahara was unavailable for comment.

The land board also required Kuwahara to submit a plan for restoring vegetation on the property that was mined without a state permit.

Reach Kevin Dayton at kdayton@honoluluadvertiser.com or (808) 935-3916.