In the coming months, the Public Utilities Commission will begin holding hearings on whether to grant the Wailuku Water Company’s new subsidiary, Wailuku Water Distribution Company, a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity (CPCN). Such certificates are required of utilities … Continued
Is the fifth time the charm? That is the question that the board of directors of the Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawai`i Authority should be asking of NELHA administrator Ron Baird when it comes to efforts to repair seawater pipelines … Continued
Backtracking: In 2006, the Board of Land and Natural Resources, bowing to pressure from the Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawai`i Authority, lifted the requirement that subleases for NELHA tenants be approved by the Land Board or its chair. NELHA administrator … Continued
What’s one or two more dead Pacific loggerhead or leatherback sea turtles a year going to mean for the survival of those species? According to the federal Western Pacific Fishery Management Council, probably nothing. Conservationists, on the other hand, believe … Continued
Order Barring Mauna Kea Development Prompts UH to Draft Management Plan In August 2006, Third Circuit Judge Glenn Hara reversed the state Board of Land and Natural Resources’ 2004 decision to grant a Conservation District Use Permit to the University … Continued
At a time when Hawai`i is seeking ways to feed more of its own people, O`ahu’s beef and pork industries are on the verge of disaster. Earlier this year, O`ahu’s only slaughterhouse, which processes both beef and pork, announced that … Continued
By Hook or Crook: George Bush may be a lame duck president, but his administration is still capable of mischief. Case in point: proposed changes in regulations to implement the Endangered Species Act. The regulations would achieve through the rule-making … Continued
In early February 2007, the U.S. Navy announced it had prepared an environmental assessment for a two-year series of 12 undersea warfare exercises in waters around Hawai`i. The notice of the EA was accompanied by a finding that the exercises, … Continued
The Navy has clearly and brazenly broken the law in its push to carry out undersea warfare exercises in Hawai`i. Without question, it violated the National Environmental Policy Act when it released the first environmental assessment for the exercises in … Continued
The Navy’s use of high-intensity sonar has been challenged in several court cases, including three that recently came before the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Oral arguments for one of the cases will be made this month before the … Continued