Canvassing the Valley Isle

Chad Blair/Civil Beat

Though cane hasn't been king in Hawaii for decades, smoke still belches from the Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Co. mill in Puunene in Central Maui.

HC&S, owned by Alexander & Baldwin, is the last sugar company in Hawaii. Growing and milling sugarcane, it produces molasses and specialty sugars and generates and sells electricity through the burning of bagasse, the fibrous leftovers after the juice has been squeezed out of the cane.

Maui is at a crossroads: Struggling to diversify its former agricultural base, dependent on tourism for tax revenue and jobs and seeking to develop clean, renewable energy sources and high-tech jobs.

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