Sugar era endg on Kai as Gay & Robson pulls out | The Honolulu Advertiser | Hawaii's Newspaper

Contents:

• GAY AND ROBSON HAWAII
• KA`I’S GAY & ROBSON TAK LEAD RACE TO PRODUCE ETHANOL HAWAI`I
• ISLAND HISTORY: FRANCIS GAY, -FOUNR OF GAY & ROBSON, INC.
• ISLAND HISTORY: FRANCIS GAY, -FOUNR OF GAY & ROBSON, INC.
• GAY ROBSON KMAKANI, HAWAII
• GAY & ROBSON TO TRANSN SUGAR OPERATNS TO BFUEL PRODUCTN
• GAY & ROBSON TO QU SUGAR
• GAY & ROBSON PREPAR TO ‘MOVE ON’

GAY AND ROBSON HAWAII

One of the ptas of the whalg ships that regularly vised Pigeon Bay, Thomas Gay, married Jane Sclair 1848 and they built a hoe at the bay. The nnectns of the fay nam got a b tighter when Aubrey Robson (son of Helen Sclair and Charl Robson) married his , Alice Gay (dghter of Jane Sclair and Thomas Gay.

After methodilly buyg up dividual parcels, by 1907, Charl Gay, youngt son of Capta Thomas Gay and Jane Sclair Gay, acquired the island of Lānaʻi (except for about 100-acr. _1875 Knudsen Fay Group, Vienna-(knudsen-tst)-1885 Aubrey_Robson_(Hawaii) Capta_and_Mrs_Sclair-1843 Craigforth-(knudsen_tst) Craigforth-Pigeon_Bay_New_Zealand-(NLA) Eliza_Sclair-late-1860s Halemanu_Hoe-Kokee-(knudsen_tst) Lanai-Peapple_Planted_By_Charl_Gay-1919 Makaweli_Hoe-Sclair Sclair’s_Home_on_Niih Villag__Niih, _William_Ellis-(WC)-.

KA`I’S GAY & ROBSON TAK LEAD RACE TO PRODUCE ETHANOL HAWAI`I

Alone among potential ethanol producers Hawai`i, Kent, print of Gay & Robson, Inc., the Ka`i sugar planter, is pursug a two-pronged ethanol productn strategy.

Beyond that, Gay & Robson has embraced a new approach to manufacturg ethanol that do not e sugar or molass as the basic feed stock at all, but stead tak the fibro byproducts – bagasse (what remas after the sugar is squeezed om the ne stalks) and trash (what remas the field after harvt) and, employg a new technology, turns them to ethanol.

ISLAND HISTORY: FRANCIS GAY, -FOUNR OF GAY & ROBSON, INC.

At the Hawai`i Agriculture Benergy Workshop held October, Kent outled Gay & Robson’s bs plan to an dience of two hundred or so growers, landowners, utily reprentativ, agency officials, and others who were keen to learn what had ed Kent to embrace an approach that, to many the field, seems to rely on a relatively untried technology. ClearFuels is the pany wh which Gay & Robson is partnerg s plan to velop an ethanol productn facily on Ka`i that employs the Pearson technology and will be signed to produce 7. ClearFuels, Kent said, is “gog to guarantee the procs, ” which will be stalled as part of an overhl Gay & Robson’s bs strategy requirg om $90 ln to $100 ln new vtment.

(State tax creds allow Gay & Robson and s partners ethanol productn to duct 30 percent per year of the “nameplate” pacy of ethanol plants, so plants whose bed output is 19. Other ponents of Gay & Robson’s bs strategy plan clu stallatn of new equipment to velop value-add sugar products (mostly refed whe sugar), and modifitn of existg boilers so they n burn al as well as bagasse. Wh a different enomic landspe, Gay & Robson may direct s productn to different cultivars of ne that favor fiber over sugar.

If the plan to produce and market whe sugar is succsful, sugar will ntue to be the high-value crop for Gay & Robson.

ISLAND HISTORY: FRANCIS GAY, -FOUNR OF GAY & ROBSON, INC.

But Gay & Robson’s formula for ethanol productn on Ka`i won’t necsarily be a good mol for other areas the state. HC&S is the largt sugar producer Hawai`i, but tak a back seat to Gay & Robson when to ethanol productn plans. ” (Gay & Robson tends to evaporate s vasse to the pot where is 60 percent solids, and then dispose of as solid waste, acrdg to rmatn provid to the state Department of Health.

GAY ROBSON KMAKANI, HAWAII

Although HC&S might be slower out of the gate than Gay & Robson the race to produce ethanol, Jakeway sisted that his pany was mted to bfuels. HC&S may not be buildg s own ethanol plant right away, but, if all go acrdg to the plans of Gay & Robson, much of the molass om Mi ne fields will be nverted to ethanol at the Ka`i distillery. To produce 12 ln gallons a year of ethanol, the distillery will nsume every one of the 15, 000 tons of molass that Gay & Robson generat annually, but that acunts for jt 12 percent of the total amount of molass required, acrdg to the applitn of Ka`i Ethanol for a perm to operate om the Department of Health.

GAY & ROBSON TO TRANSN SUGAR OPERATNS TO BFUEL PRODUCTN

If HC&S produc only 70, 000 tons of molass, as Jakeway says, Gay & Robson still up 40, 000 tons a year short. In some s, the ADC would want to see a bs plan of the sub-licensee before approvg the sub-license agreement, but the se of Gay & Robson, which remas an ADC tenant on about 500 acr of Kekaha land, that would probably not be necsary if their tentn is to keep growg ne. Kent said the seed-rn pani, Syngenta and BASF, have no objectns to Gay & Robson’s plans to e part of their acreage.

Gay & Robson iativ acunt for two of the five (the ethanol distillery and the Pearson technology plant) and add up to roughly half of the 40 ln-gallons-a-year pacy that are available for tax centiv.

GAY & ROBSON TO QU SUGAR

Francis Gay (1852-1928), Ka‘i sugar planter, stock raiser and -founr of Gay &Robson, was born New Zealand, the son of Thomas Gay and Jane Sclair was also the grandson of Eliza Sclair, who purchased Ni‘ih 1864 om Kamehameha V and the 65, 000-acre Makaweli ahupua‘a om Prcs Victoria Kamamalu was ted privately at Makaweli Hoe the highlands above Pakala, which still stands to this day, and at the Boston Instute of Technology, prr to returng home to Ka‘i to manage the affairs of his fay’s 1880, he formed a partnership wh his , Aubrey Robson, lled Gay &Robson, for the purpose of growg sugarne and raisg subsequently leased some 5, 700 acr of Makaweli lands to Hawaiian Sugar Co., monly known as Makaweli Sugar Plantatn, (later renamed Olokele Sugar Plantatn) partners also began plantg sugarne as Gay &Robson Sugar Plantatn on roughly 2, 000 acr at Makaweli and lg at the Makaweli Sugar Plantatn portns of Gay &Robson land was for ed for grazg. Francis Gay is believed to have been the last person rated wh a royal orr of Hawai‘i, when Queen Liliu‘okalani created him Knight Commanr of the Royal Orr of the Hawaiian Crown June 1892, an orr that was stuted by Kg Kalaka Feb. Was also a regnized thory on the Hawaiian language and island folklore, and wrote extensively on those and his wife, Alice Hart Gay, had one son, Francis Ernt Robson eventually beme sole owner of Gay &Robson and Ni‘ih, and at the time of his ath 1936, his four sons — Sclair, Selwyn, Aylmer and Lter — managed the fay’s properti on Ka‘i and Ni‘ih.

GAY & ROBSON PREPAR TO ‘MOVE ON’

Sclair was charge of Gay &Robson Plantatn; Selwyn head Gay &Robson ttle ranch; the management of Ni‘ih was left to Aylmer Robson, while Lter managed fay properti on Ka‘ Robson’s sons, Keh and Bce Robson, prently own Ni‘ih and manage their Makaweli lands.

1944: Durg electns for unn reprentatn, employee votg go overwhelmgly for the ILWU at all but one plantatn, Gay & Robson.

June 1996: Gay & Robson enters to talks to tablish a factory that would produce electricy for sale to the island's power pany, Kai Electric.