PAHALA, Hawaii - A fuel alcohol plantation and refinery, a possible major replacement for lost sugar jobs in the Big Island's Kau District, is still pending, say officials associated with the proposal.The proposal is the only one that could generate employment to replace the 240 sugar jobs lost Wednesday when C. Brewer & Co.'s Kau Agribusiness ended its sugar operations.
California-based Arkenol Inc. wants to grow energy-rich grass on 10,000 acres in Kau, using much of the 12,500 acres that Kau Agribusiness used to grow sugar.
Arkenol would build a $160 million refinery to convert the grass to fuel alcohol. About 90 jobs would be created.
C. Brewer had a tentative agreement to make the land available, said company President Jim Andrasick.
But a key element of Arkenol's plan is burning of waste material to create 25 megawatts of electricity. The company has not reached a contract with Hawaii Electric Light Co. to buy the electricity.
Helco President Warren Lee said negotiations are continuing but are complicated by parallel negotiations with Enserch Inc. and Waimana Enterprises, which propose independent power plants in the northern part of the island.
"We're hopeful that we can come to an agreement (with Arkenol)," Lee said.
Meanwhile, Andrasick downplayed hopes for other employment generators. Forestry is a possibility, but it seems likely that forestry companies will concentrate in areas north of Hilo where Prudential Timber has announced a 24,000-acre eucalyptus plantation, he said.
Experimental mango plantings have been successful. "We're very high on marketing prospects," Andrasick said.
But a commercial mango operation might employ no more than 20 people, he said.
Oranges and other citrus have also been a success in Kau, but C. Brewer sees them as more appropriate for planting by ex-sugar workers on five-acre plots the company is making available.
Brewer sold its partially developed Seamountain Resort in Kau in 1989. A spokesman for present owner, the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation, was not available.
Two other major projects for the district, a spaceport and the Hawaiian Riviera Resort, generated a lot of controversy and were never developed.