Opinion ID: 2629221
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: MR and Wai'ola

Text: MR owns approximately one third of the land on Moloka'i (approximately fifty thousand acres). Wai'ola, a domestic water purveyor, is a wholly-owned subsidiary of MR and operates as a public utility under a certificate of public convenience and necessity issued by the Hawai`i Public Utilities Commission. As of 1998, Wai'ola supplied potable water to approximately one sixth of the population of Moloka'i, primarily consisting of residences and commercial businesses in K&imacr;p&umacr;, Kualapu'u, and Maunaloa, all located in west Moloka'i. Although Wai'ola owns and operates transmission and distribution systems across the island, neither it nor MR controls any source of potable groundwater on Moloka'i. Instead, Wai'ola purchases potable water from the County of Maui (County), DHHL, and Kukui (Moloka'i), Inc. (KMI) in order to service its existing customer base; DHHL, the County, and KMI operate wells located in the Kualapu'u aquifer system. [8] MR created a thirty-year development plan to revitalize the Moloka'i economy. [9] The plan is premised on (1) maintaining and capitalizing on Moloka'i's rural character and vast open space, (2) increasing and diversifying economic opportunities for Moloka'i residents in the areas of agriculture, tourism, and light industry, and (3) protecting and promoting the physical and cultural environment unique to the island of Moloka'i. Although the majority of MR's land would continue to be used for agriculture, the plan seeks to fuse MR's ranching operations with low-impact tourism in order to afford opportunities for economic success while preserving and maintaining the working ranch and paniolo ( i.e., cowboy) culture. MR further anticipated that the implementation of its plan would expand the industrial park at Pala'au, consisting of approximately ninety-one acres, for small industrial uses; MR projected that approximately twenty-five percent of the development of the industrial park would be completed within four years. In essence, MR contemplated that, by incorporating its ranching and agricultural activities with light industry, tourism, and rural towns, the long-term development plan would dramatically improve Moloka'i's economy.