The ongoing eruption of Kilauea volcano is sending lava down the pali several miles away from the viewing area, and at the moment molten rock may only be viewed from a distance.
BY PETER SUR
STEPHENS MEDIA
psur@hawaiitribune-herald.com
HILO — Mayor Billy Kenoi is proposing to eliminate the county-operated lava viewing program at Kalapana to save $300,000 in the next fiscal year.
The program has been popular with visitors and locals alike, and when lava is visible on the upper slopes of Pulama Pali, as it is now, around 450 to 550 visit it every night, according to figures from last December.
Enacted in 2008 under the previous administration, the viewing area at the end of Highway 130 is open to the public from 2 p.m. to 10 p.m. daily, with the last visitors allowed in at 8 p.m.
Asked Thursday of what impacts, including trespassing, the end of the program would have on residents, Kenoi, who was raised in Kalapana, gave a roundabout answer: “We believe that because of the many years of people being respectful and parking in the area, having vendors down there, having the community be very engaged and involved in what’s occurring around Kalapana, we believe that that reduction in the lava viewing program will not have an adverse impact on the community,” he said.
“And it’s a savings that we will realize, and we believe there will not be an adverse impact by the reduction in that program. It’s a nice to have; it’s not a need to have.”
Asked again about trespassing concerns, which was one of the original reasons cited for the establishment of the lava viewing program, and whether the absence of the program would increase liability issues for the county, Kenoi said it would not.
“I think the more we create programs, the more we set up, we increase liability. The larger programs we run. But we don’t believe that discontinuing the lava viewing program in any way increases the county of Hawaii’s exposure to liability,” the mayor said.
The actual details of how the program would be phased out would be left to the Department of Parks and Recreation.
“There’s $80,000 in next year’s budget to slowly phase out the program,” said Deputy Finance Director Deanna Sako. “So I don’t know that P&R has worked out all the details yet.”
“Parks and Recreation might have some funds that might carry over” from the current fiscal year, which ends June 30, Kenoi said.
The ongoing eruption of Kilauea volcano is sending lava down the pali several miles away from the viewing area, and at the moment molten rock may only be viewed from a distance.