Molokai Properties Limited (dba Molokai Ranch) CEO Peter Nicholas responded today to UPC Wind's announcement that it is pledging $50 million to the Molokai Community Service Council's "Buy the Ranch" campaign.
The campaign aims to raise money to purchase all of the land owned by MPL, the island's biggest private landowner. Supporters of the campaign are critical of MPL's Master Land Use Plan, which includes development of 200 acres at La 'au Point and placement of more than 50,000 acres of land into easements and a land trust.
UPC Wind has said that it wants to lease land purchased through the campaign to construct a wind farm that would send power to Oahu and, to a lesser degree, Molokai.
In a letter addressed to MCSC President Glenn Izawa, Nicholas reiterated what he had said in a July letter published in The Molokai Times stating that the Ranch is not for sale.
"MPL is utterly committed to the Community-Based Master Land Use Plan for Molokai Ranch with its resultant donations to the Molokai Land Trust, easement protections and implementation of all other aspects of the Plan," the letter said.
"Because of our commitment to the Master Plan, MPL is not for sale."
Nicholas also wrote that expressed concern about the campaign's "continued efforts to raise funds from the public for the purchase of MPL, knowing that the company is not for sale."
The letter went on to ask that MCSC desist immediately from publicly promoting the campaign and reiterated, once again, that that the Ranch properties "are not for sale to MCSC for the purposes that members of your organization have stated" publicly.
Daniel Orodenker, attorney for MPL, also stated that the Ranch is still committed to its Master Land Use Plan and that it is not for sale.
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