The state Department of Land and Natural Resources has approved more than $9,000 in fines for a Big Island tour company that operated unpermitted tours of the lava flow near Puu Oo vent.
The state Department of Land and Natural Resources has approved more than $9,000 in fines for a Big Island tour company that operated unpermitted tours of the lava flow near Puu Oo vent.
Ahiu Hawaii LLC was fined $9,100.75 in administrative and civil penalties for advertising and conducting commercial activities in Kahaualea Natural Area Reserve, which is home to an active lava flow and has been closed to public access since July 2007.
The state Board of Land and Natural Resources voted during its meeting Friday to approve the penalties as submitted by the DLNR’S Division of Forestry and Wildlife.
Orion Enocencio, manager of Ahiu Hawaii, was on a hunting tour and could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
DLNR spokeswoman Deborah Ward, however, wrote in an email that Enocencio “indicated verbally that he plans to request a contested case hearing.” He has 10 business days to submit a written request, she said.
In a previous email, Enocencio said his company complied with the state’s cease-and-desist letters and began launching 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.
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 that involved a female who had sprained her ankle while on a hiking tour with Ahiu Hawaii.
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 board approved $4,100.75 in administrative costs associated with the state’s investigation.
Email Chris D’Angelo at cdangelo@hawaiitribune-herald.com.