The state project to reopen the Pohoiki Boat Ramp regained, then promptly lost, $35 million in funding this month after gubernatorial budget cuts.
The Department of Land and Natural Resources’ Division of Boating and Ocean Resources has for more than a year been pursuing various options to reopen the boat ramp, which has been closed for five years after the 2018 Kilauea eruption deposited a sandbar across its mouth.
Last year, DOBOR concluded that its preferred option would be to dredge the entire sandbar, which would cost roughly $40 million.
Earlier this year, however, most of that funding was dropped. The project is potentially eligible for reimbursement by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, but because that agency had failed to confirm whether it would reimburse the state before the end of the legislative session, lawmakers chose to leave the $40 million out of this year’s state budget, and instead pursue a $5.4 million project to dredge a single channel through the sandbar.
But at the eleventh hour, that funding resurfaced — only to be killed again by $1.1 billion in budget cuts imposed by Gov. Josh Green’s line-item veto that he announced June 14.
On June 1, DOBOR engineer Finn McCall emailed lawmakers and public officials that the State Budget and Finance Office had confirmed that DOBOR would be able to use $35 million of the budgeted $60 million in state operating funds allocated to the division to fund a full dredge of the boat ramp.
Although McCall added that it was still undetermined whether FEMA would approve reimbursing a total dredge of the beach, he wrote that the $35 million would be available pending approval by Green, “which we anticipate he will.”
Two weeks later, Green announced that because of lower revenue forecasts, he would slash over $500 million from the budget for each of the next two fiscal years, including the $60 million to DOBOR.
Puna Sen. Joy San Buenaventura said last week it was “all hands on deck” to try to convince Green to rethink the DOBOR cut, urging Puna residents to contact the governor’s office to convey the importance of the ramp, the only boat-launching point in Puna.
She said that the loss of the $35 million means the project will once again be limited only to the $5.4 million channel this year, which she said could potentially refill with sediment.
Puna resident Ku‘ulei Kealoha Cooper said she was “disheartened” by Green’s decision, particularly considering the governor had specifically requested $40 million for the boat ramp in his March budget request.
“It’s been five years since the eruption, and we in Puna don’t even have ocean access,” Cooper said. “Our only recourse is for the community to barrage (Green’s) office with calls. We all vote down here.”
San Buenaventura said she believes the governor can be swayed with enough community pressure.
“I’ve seen (previous governor David) Ige’s mind changed about a veto before,” San Buenaventura said. “I thought the governor was listening to Puna folks, so it’s a shame to see him reversing his initial policy.”
Green has until July 11 to officially submit his vetoes.
Regardless of whether the full funding is secured, construction on either incarnation of the project is expected to begin by the end of the year.
Email Michael Brestovansky at mbrestovansky@hawaiitribune-herald.com.