Cane-burning foes
to meet with EPA

The Maui organization will hold
an informal meeting in Kihei
with officials to clear the air

By Gary Kubota
Star-Bulletin

WAILUKU -- Susan Douglas said she moved from Northern California to south Maui 14 years ago for cleaner air.

In September 1996, she suffered a high fever then a cough, a few hours after sugarcane fires were lit for a harvest.

She said her physician said the cane burning contributed to her contracting mononucleosis because of a weakened condition in her liver.

"It took me six weeks to get rid of the cough, a week to get rid of the fever," said Douglas, who founded the Maui Clean Air Coalition in June.

Opposition to cane burning is rising as suburbs encroach on rural areas, especially in south Maui, where the smoke often passes on its way through the central valley.

Every two years, fires are lit in mature sugarcane fields to burn everything but the stalk for harvesting.

The group is holding an informal meeting about cane burning with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency tomorrow. It starts at 7 p.m. in the Kihei Elementary School cafetorium.

While agricultural burning is not regulated by the agency, the federal clean air law is being reviewed and could be changed, environmentalists say.

The sugar industry is no longer the political force it was a decade ago.

Facing stiff foreign competition, the number of sugar companies have dwindled to a handful in Hawaii, with Maui and Kauai the only islands that have sugar production.

Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Co., the single largest plantation in the state, was once resistant to changing its cane burning operations, saying harvesting green cane was unfeasible here.

But during the past few years, it has been seriously looking at alternatives.

Bruce Anderson, state deputy director of environmental health, said:

"Cane smoke is a nuisance and possible health threat to people with existing respiratory problems. We're comfortable that they (company officials) have been pursuing these options aggressively, and hopefully, they'll find an alternative."

The shift to harvesting green sugar cane may require Hawaiian Commercial to harvest sugar cane after a year, instead of two years, and find a variety of cane with a higher sugar yield after 12 months of growth.

For at least the past couple of years, the company has sent employees to examine how companies in Australia harvest green sugar cane.

The company also has planted 72 varieties of one-year cane in test plots on Maui.

Hawaiian Commercial recently harvested 50 acres of green sugar cane and found the yields decreased by 17 percent.

General Manager Stephen Holaday said he plans to test other varieties to find better yields.

State health officials have supported the company's practice of burning cane, but imposed conditions, including a no-burn policy when the weather is hazy.

Anderson said studies show no evidence of increased respiratory illness among people who live near sugar-cane burning areas, compared with those who live away from them. "At the same time, it's very clear that cane smoke does adversely affect people with existing chronic respiratory conditions if they're exposed. Smoke is an irritant," Anderson said.

Company officials point out the need to find an economically feasible alternative in light of sugar's economic stake on Maui and the rest of the state.

Hawaiian Commercial employs some 1,000 people and produces about 60 percent of the sugar grown in Hawaii.

ip But critics are increasing in number as people have less of a stake in sugar.