6A
At issue are two licens-
es granted in 1980 and
renewed in 2012. The
licenses are now held
by
OMCO
Seabed
Exploration, a subsidiary
of the defense contractor
Lockheed. But NOAA
erred in renewing the per-
mits in 2012 because it
failed to properly assess
and document potential
environmental impacts,
Jeffers argues.
NOAA officials declined
to comment because the
matter is in litigation.
Most of the explor-
atory permits have been
issued to various foreign
mining interests by the
International
Seabed
Authority and do not fall
under U.S. jurisdiction.
Long a bone of contention
for environmental groups,
the search for undersea
wealth is raising red flags
again as the ISA, based in
Kingston, Jamaica, push-
es ahead this summer
with creating rules for
exploiting areas like the
Clarion-Clipperton Zone.
“The rush to strip-mine
the deep-ocean floor
threatens to damage mys-
terious underwater eco-
systems,” Jeffers said. “If
we aren’t careful, this new
gold rush could do irrep-
arable harm to the basic
building blocks of life.”
The zone — defined by
two mountainous frac-
tures in the Earth’s crust
running roughly east
and west — is believed
to hold potentially hun-
dreds of billions of dollars
worth of copper, nickel,
manganese, cobalt and
rare earth elements in
the form of baseball-sized
nodules. Scientists have
been aware of the depos-
its for decades, but tech-
nologies and demand
weren’t strong enough
to make deep sea mining
add up from an economic
perspective.
The push is fueled now
by a spike in worldwide
demand for the minerals
and a dwindling of land-
based sources. Deep sea
robotic mining equipment
is under development and
has been advanced recent-
ly by gains in deep ocean
oil drilling technology.
The effects of dredging
up the ore are unknown
and potentially damaging
to sea life in the region
and beyond, watchdogs
contend. Also of concern
to environmentalists is
an area off Papua New
Guinea, dubbed Solwara
1, where they say mining
efforts are moving ahead
before their effects can be
fully studied.
But Craig Smith, a
University of Hawaii
oceanographer and sea
floor expert, said its
unlikely NOAA will jump
very far into permitting
sea floor mining in inter-
national waters. The ISA,
however, will likely have
regulations and environ-
mental plans for interna-
tional seafloor exploita-
tion in place within the
next several years, he said.
“The mining in inter-
national waters is proba-
bly five to 10 years away,
but it could be less,” he
said in an email. “We are
hoping to have a pol-
icy piece published in
Science Magazine in the
next few weeks pushing
for the ISA to set up stra-
tegic environmental man-
agement plans, including
networks of protected
areas, before any more
exploration claims are
granted. In some parts
of the deep sea, explo-
ration claims are exten-
sive enough to be already
interfering with the set
up effective marine pro-
tected area networks.”
MINING:
Most of the
exploratory permits
have been issued
to various foreign
mining interests
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1A
balking at the 30-mile drive
on busy Queen Kaahumanu
Highway to the Puuanahulu
landfill. The policy, once it
takes effect, will apply county-
wide, requiring the haulers to
purchase a $25 disposal per-
mit and pay $21.25 per ton
to dump the green waste at
either Puuanahulu or the Hilo
landfill.
The new fee will not affect
individual residents or home-
owners who will continue to
be allowed to drop off res-
idential green waste free at
seven transfer stations around
the island: Hilo, Puuanahulu,
Kealakehe, Keei, Puako, Pahoa
and Keaau.
Free mulch and free assisted
mechanical loading will remain
available to both residents
and businesses at the West
Hawaii Organics Facility and
at the East Hawaii Organics
Facility. Free mulch and free
assisted mechanical loading
of small loads is available at
the Kealakehe Recycling and
Transfer Station, with a small
fee for assistance with larger
loads.
Yeaton calls the fee “non-sus-
tainable,” and worries the small
landscape companies won’t be
able to afford it.
But
Environmental
Management Director Bobby
Jean Leithead Todd said the fee
and transfer station restrictions
have been part of the county’s
long-term solid waste plan for
more than a decade.
“I have a lot of empathy to the
guys that are trying to adjust to
that,” Leithead Todd said. “I
don’t know that it’s ever easy
for anyone to change their busi-
ness plan. … This has basically
been on hold since 2001, and
again delayed in 2012. We’ve
tried to accommodate. It’s been
over two years for them to fig-
ure out their business plans.”
The county currently pays
more than $1.8 million a year
to recycle green waste into
mulch that is then distribut-
ed free to the community. The
new tipping fee is expected to
raise more than $500,000 a
year to help finance an expan-
sion of organics recycling ser-
vices islandwide, including
establishing new green-waste
drop-off locations at additional
transfer stations.
Businesses will be required
to obtain a Solid Waste
Facility Disposal Permit prior
to recycling green waste at
the county organics facilities.
Applications are available
online at hawaiizerowaste.
org, at the county scale houses
or by calling the Solid Waste
Office at 961-8270.
WASTE:
The new fee will not affect individual residents or homeowners
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1A
The Boyd Ohana from left: Dusty, Everest 11, Susan, Denali 12, and Mona
Navas behind the counter at Fujihara Store in Hookena on Thursday.
Fujihara Store in Hookena has been in business for 100 years with only three owners.
PHOTOS BY LAURA SHIMABUKU/
WEST HAWAII TODAY
It’s been an unbroken
flow of the connection
fostered decades ago
by Madeline Fujihara
Leslie, already an elder-
ly woman when Boyd
introduced himself that
first day.
“I said, wow this store
is busy,” Boyd recount-
ed Thursday. “She said,
‘Yes it is, but I’m kinda
tired.’”
On a handshake, the
two struck up a deal
where Boyd would buy
the business and Leslie
would be allowed to
stay for life in the house
behind the store, where
she cared for her dying
husband.
When he first took
over, the store was
heavy on fishing gear
and Japanese products,
and light on presenta-
tion. Early on, Leslie
was whispering to Boyd
a fewer pointers for suc-
cess.They didn’t include
beer.
The big secret was ice.
Areas south of the
store are off the grid,
and to this day, many
folks stop in for 20 to
30 pounds of ice. That’s
their refrigerator, Boyd
said. Fishermen fill
coolers the size of a
large trunk with ice.
Leslie knew the power
of cold, and she worked
it.
“She would make
block ice. I quit doing
that; it’s really tricky.
She said, ‘I bought this
back hill with ice. I own
it all from making ice.’”
Back in 1915, the
original store had been
established just across
the street by Kohei
Fujihara,
according
to the Kona Historical
Society. Fujihara’s wife,
Lily Haae, died at age
32, plunging Leslie into
the world of grown-up
responsibilities. As the
eldest daughter, the
girl left seventh grade
to help with her father’s
store and seven siblings.
Even prior to that, how-
ever, she was practically
running the store by the
time she was 8 years old,
Boyd said.
The original store
was moved from leased
ground to a spot just
across the road in 1966
— land which Leslie
purchased while also
running a fish market in
Kealakekua.
Following in her
steps, Boyd gave up the
luxury of 3,000-square-
foot homes and a posh
Southern
California
existence in which he
had “denied himself
nothing.” He moved into
a structure at the back
of the store that used to
house the ice machines,
and he started a fami-
ly. Boyd has not looked
back to the old life.
Instead, he stood
in the store Thursday
morning, with his wife
Susan and his young son
and daughter, Denali
and Everest, behind the
register helping out. As
the parking lot suddenly
filled, Boyd recognized
three generations of one
local family.
One member of that
family, “Braddah Hose,”
had a delivery of fresh
vegetables. Hose has
created a large commu-
nity garden that feeds
five local churches and
gives a gardening plot
to seniors so they can be
active outdoors.
“I plant flowers for
the eyes; this is for the
belly,” Hose explained as
he transferred the boun-
ty to the arms of the
Boyd family and made a
quick trade for a bag of
lychees.
Like the Fujihara kids
before them, the Boyd
children make them-
selves useful in the
store, bagging ice and
using small and quick
hands for easy stocking
of shelves, Susan Boyd
said.
The family is contin-
ually surprised by how
many people come in
the store.
Besides being a clear-
inghouse for gossip and
happenings, the small
yellow and red build-
ing also has a practical
FUJIHARA:
On Sunday, Fujihara Store
commemorates its 100th birthday
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1A
allure: cold six-packs of
soda and beer, hotdogs
for $1.25 — which go out
the door to the tune of
100 a day — wasabi peas,
lychees, and even staples
like pet food and rice.
The same woman has
been making the trays of
sandwiches and musabi
for decades. Boyd can’t
figure out how she doesn’t
miss a day. The big crim-
son jar of pickled mango
for sale in the cooler is
prepared by his neighbor.
In Boyd’s early days
at the store, Leslie was
always busy out back,
pulling up weeds, never
slowing down. Boyd
admired her industry.
An Ironman triathlete
himself, he has climbed
some of the world’s high-
est peaks to benefit youth
groups and has done
extensive philanthropic
work in Nepal. He is also
the founder of a Hookena
children’s summer camp,
now in its second year
and attended by about 40
children.
Life in South Kona
wasn’t always a cakewalk,
though, as Boyd learned
the ropes. It seemed
the harder he threw his
L.A. energy around, the
more disordered things
became.
But more local wis-
dom set him straight,
including a dose from
the pastor of the Pukaana
Congregational Church,
just across the road. Her
words became something
Boyd has not forgotten.
“She comes in and says,
‘Dusty, relax. You don’t
own this store; you’re
just caretaking it. You’re
A photo of the previous owner of Fujihara Store,
Madeline Fujihara Leslie, hangs on the wall at the
century old store.
gonna pass, but the store
will stay. It’ll always be
here.’”
On Sunday, Fujihara
Store commemorates its
100th birthday, with free
coffee mugs so the Boyds
don’t go through so many
disposable cups. And tote
bags will be given away
because customers always
seem to hold everything
in their arms.
They’ll celebrate the
home that Leslie made
— and which the Boyds
are glad to now call their
own.
CORRECTION
The word “La” was inad-
vertently omitted from the
term “La Hoihoi Ea,” or
Restoration Day, in an arti-
cle in Thursday’s newspaper.
A page 2A Friday arti-
cle
incorrectly
stat-
ed the Kings’ Grille is in
Queens’ MarketPlace. The
restaurant is located over-
looking the 18th hole of the
Kings’ Course in Waikoloa.
It is the policy of West
Hawaii Today to correct
promptly any incorrect or
misleading
information
when it is brought to the
attention of the newspaper.
SATURDAY, JUNE 13, 2015 | WEST HAWAII TODAY
