I visited there in 1999. I was surprised back then it had not burned down or destroyed by a hurricane.
This conspiracy stuff is a bunch of crap. The cause was INCOMPETENCE, nepotism and the international agriculture market.
People in charge of government positions because they were connected politically or were native islanders.
No more sugar cane and pineapple fields being irrigated throughout the dry season. The environmentalists are partially to blame for this.
So, all the former ag fields are not planted.
Just a lot of brush encroaching the developments.
Another not PC statement I am going to say. The Hawaiians blamed the white plantation owners of destroying the land by rerouting irrigation, killing the native plants and ponds for agriculture. When agriculture was gone, the fields became a fire hazard.But who allowed the pineapple and sugar cane fields to develop? It was the Hawaiian monarchs who leased the land to the plantation owners. The monarchs got money from the leases, enabling them to build palaces and travel the world. But, we cannot say anything about that in Hawaii.