FEMA approves $4M for permanent repairs to Pohoiki boat ramp, but more funding needed

The Federal Emergency Management Agency approved $4 million to the State Department of Land and Natural Resources for permanent repairs to the Pohoiki boat ramp as a result of the 2108 Kīlauea eruption and earthquakes, FEMA announced.

The boat ramp, which provides important ocean access to fishermen and boaters, has been unusable since the eruption nearly eight years ago. Commercial and recreational fishermen have been forced to travel to Hilo or Kaʻū to launch their boats.

“Thatʻs nice, but we need 10 times that to fully restore the boat ramp,” Hawai‘i County Councilwoman Ashley Kierkiewicz, who represents the area, said Friday. “I hope the state can leverage these FEMA funds to do just that.”

These funds, according to state Rep. Greggor Ilagan, are to reimburse the state for its dredging project last summer. That $5.4 million project was going well, but ended three months prematurely when strong ocean swells from Oct. 16 to 19 refilled the channel with black sand, cobbles and larger lava rocks.

Ilagan said he was grateful to FEMA for releasing the funds that they agreed to reimburse when the state chose to perform wide dredging work at the bay, that if successful, would have given community members immediate access to the ocean.

That FEMA funding will go into the general fund, Ilagan said.

This legislative session, Ilagan said he has submitted a budget request for $1 million for plans and design of two jetties. The lawmaker estimates planning and design could take up to 1 to 2 years.

It’s been a long, roller coaster ordeal for people who count on the boat ramp. Puna residents and officials were cautiously hopeful in June, when the dredging project was launched to restore the lava-barricaded boat ramp and help with the area’s recovery.

But the final environmental assessment completed in July 2023 had said there was a strong possibility of just dredging not working.

At a town hall in late October, state Rep. Greggor Illagan of Puna Ilagan said 46,000 cubic yards of sand were dredged from the area before it was backfilled. A full dredge would be at least 175,000 cubic yards to clear the ramp area.

In the final environmental assessment, four project options for reopening the boat ramp at Pohoiki were considered.

Two of the options with the greatest potential for long-term solutions were also the most expensive. The first involved the construction of a two large breakwater structures to protect the channel entrance at $46 million, and the second involved removing a majority of the volcanic debris from Pohoiki Bay that had a pricetag of $40 million.

The other two options, which involved dredging a channel, were less preferred because of the potential for ocean swells to fill the space, the state said in a news release. And that proved to be the case in October.

During the 2023 Legislative Session, $35 million was set aside for the project, but lower revenue forecasts that year led to $1.1 billion in state budget cuts. The Legislature was able to provide $6.65 million for the project, which was only sufficient to fund the channel dredging and was consistent with the scope of work approved by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

The $4 million in FEMA funding is part of a $33.4 million package to support recovery for past disasters in Hawaiʻi for Public Assistance projects, including debris removal, emergency protective measures and the repair or replacement of public infrastructure damaged by recent disasters.

This regional funding is part of a broader effort announced by the Department of Homeland Security.

Some FEMA grants recently approved across Hawaiʻi include:

• $7.8 million to Maui County Emergency Management Agency for emergency protective measures in response to the Maui wildfires.
• $1.8 million to Maui County Department of Police for emergency support in response to the Maui wildfires.
• $2.4 million to Maui County Emergency Management Agency for security support in response to the Maui wildfires.
• $6.4 million to Maui County Department of Housing and Human Concerns for permanent repairs to the West Maui Senior Center as a result of the Maui wildfires.
• $6.9 million to Maui County Department of Housing and Human Concerns for permanent repairs to the Lahaina Crossroads Apartments as a result of the Maui wildfires.
• $4.1 million to the Maui County Department of Housing and Human Concerns for permanent repairs to the Komohana Hale Apartments as a result of the Maui wildfires.

FEMA will continue to review additional projects and obligate funds on a rolling basis as eligibility is confirmed and scopes of work are finalized, the agency said in the press release.

Editor’s Note: This story was updated with comments from state Rep. Greggor Ilagan.