A Big Island tour company is facing more than $9,000 in fines for conducting unpermitted tours of the lava flow near Pu‘u ‘O‘o vent.
Ahiu Hawaii LLC was first served with a cease-and-desist order in September 2013 after the state Department of Land and Natural Resources found the Hilo-based company was advertising and conducting commercial activities within the closed Kahaualea Natural Area Reserve, according to documents.
The reserve is home to an active lava flow and has been closed to public access since July 2007.
The DLNR’s Division of Forestry and Wildlife is requesting Ahiu Hawaii pay $9,100.75 in administrative and civil penalties. The state land board will take action on the matter during its meeting Friday.
In an email response Monday, Orion Enocencio, manager of Ahiu Hawaii, said he had “no knowledge of DLNR trying to rape us for administrative fees and costs.”
“This is all very new to me,” he wrote. “Myself and other lava tour companies have received cease and desist letters a few years ago to stop commercial activities within Kahaualea Natural Area Reserve. We have complied to that, but I don’t know if other companies did.”
Since being notified, Enocencio said, the company launched its lava flow tours from a property it owns adjacent to Wao Kele O Puna, where an old hunting trail leads to the lava field.
“We have continued to ask DLNR to show us the boundaries of (Kahaualea) so that we may be in the parameters of the law, but they never tried,” Enocencio wrote. “I guess trying to prosecute us failed three times for them. Now, seeking money is what they’ll do next to harass us.”
In May, after several cease-and-desist notices, the state denied Enocencio’s application to lead commercial hiking trips in the reserve because of the volcanic hazards there. Less than two months later, the Hawaii Fire Department responded to a distress call from within the reserve.
According to the fire department report provided to the Division of Conservation and Resources Enforcement, a female on a hiking tour sprained her ankle, and the female and others in her hiking group, as well as two male tour guides, were airlifted by a county helicopter out of the reserve.
In addition to matching $2,500 fines for entering a closed area and engaging in commercial activities in a reserve without a special use permit, the department recommended $4,100.75 for administrative costs associated with the investigation.
The land board’s meeting Friday begins at 9 a.m. at the Kalanimoku Building in Honolulu.
Email Chris D’Angelo at cdangelo@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
