The state Board of Agriculture and Biosecurity deferred a request to allow gravel to be shipped to Molokaʻi, reinforcing an import ban on the island meant to keep out the invasive coconut rhinoceros beetle.
The U.S. National Park Service requested the gravel shipment to maintain unpaved roads at the Kalaupapa settlement.
In a petition, NPS said about 200 tons of gravel are bought annually for “road repairs and rehabilitation.” NPS said it conducts on-site testing of the gravel for invasive species like little fire ants, and requested the shipment, so long as the gravel has received a fumigation treatment.
“Delayed repairs to unpaved roads can pose significant risks to travelers, as the deterioration of road conditions … can make travel both unsafe and difficult,” NPS said in its petition.
“Furthermore, unmaintained roads can become particularly dangerous in the event of an emergency, as access to critical infrastructure, such as the drinking water system, evacuation routes, or emergency response teams, may be delayed or obstructed.”
But on Tuesday the agriculture board deferred the request, following opposition and concerns from most board members. One repeated concern was that stakeholders haven’t yet been properly consulted.
Board member Jimmy Gomes echoed a suggestion to use gravel already on Molokaʻi, but said a discussion with the public needs to come first.
“Kalaupapa only comes in with a special barge … once a year between July and August,” Gomes said. “So I’m saying if Molokaʻi can get the gravel into Kalaupapa, maybe it's an option, but again, if the stakeholders are not being part of this discussion, I don't think that we should move forward with this request.”
Lori Buchanan, a Molokaʻi resident and advocate, suggested using on-island gravel. She also said the petition came as a surprise, and rushed to submit opposing testimony.
“I believe there is absolutely no existing treatment mitigation that will ensure that gravel being imported from outside Molokaʻi to Kalaupapa Peninsula will be free from coconut rhinoceros beetle or any other pest,” she said.
Rejecting the NPS petition reaffirms an interim rule set by the agriculture board in September that bans the import of green waste, gravel, soil and other potential CRB host material to Molokaʻi — the last of the main Hawaiian Islands free of CRB detections.
A community petition, backed by an outpouring of supportive testimony, led to that sweeping interim rule. The NPS petition would have amended it.
The state Department of Agriculture and Biosecurity’s Plant Quarantine Branch recommended that gravel be allowed in.
In its submittal, the branch said the proposal “is extremely reasonable as it is only a single shipment and would essentially present no further risk of introducing CRB to Molokai than any other large shipment arriving on island. … The PQB already considers gravel to be low risk as it is not otherwise regulated for CRB, except to Molokai.”
HDAB officials have argued that the interim rule prohibits the movement of many important goods to Molokaʻi, while not providing much in the way of protections. They said that while pest species do tend to be found on certain materials like plants and green waste, they can hitchhike on many other types of goods being moved around.
Still, some board members wanted more specifics about how the import of the gravel would be treated and inspected. Others questioned the need to undermine the interim rule for a one-time shipment.
Even the state Department of Land and Natural Resources opposed the request. One DLNR official questioned how important the gravel was to the NPS, which wasn’t present at the hearing.
