At its February 14 meeting in Kona, after hours of testimony and discussion, the Commission on Water Resource Management denied a petition filed by the National Park Service (NPS) in September 2013 to designate the Keauhou aquifer system as a … Continued
As the contested case hearing over a permit to build the Thirty Meter Telescope on Mauna Kea drew to a close, one of the last witnesses to testify was Mililani Trask, a practicing attorney well known for her involvement in … Continued
Testimony in the protracted second contested case hearing on the Conservation District Use Application (CDUA) for the Thirty Meter Telescope concluded on March 2, after 44 days of hearings over nearly six months and 71 witnesses. The next stages in … Continued
As the evidentiary portion of the contested case hearing for the Thirty Meter Telescope wound down last month, a witness whose testimony seemed to threaten the very foundation of the Conservation District Use Permit for the observatory near the Mauna … Continued
April 2017
A new technical report by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) suggests that climate change-induced sea level rise over the course of this century, especially in Hawai`i, may be far worse than predicted in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate … Continued
Last August, the Board of Land and Natural Resources approved the continuation of all the revocable permits issued by the Department of Land and Natural Resources’ Division of Boating and Ocean Recreation, except those for the Honokohau small boat harbor … Continued
For the fifth year in a row, bills intended to make it easier and cheaper for landowners to retain legally built shoreline structures that, through shoreline erosion, are now on public land have either been stalled or deferred. Senate Bill … Continued
The Thirty Meter Telescope contested case hearing continued its no wake-dead slow progress into uncharted waters last month. While retired judge Riki May Amano was nominally at the helm, it was the band of protesters who seemed to have control … Continued
About a year ago, architect Robert Iopa rebuilt a crumbling seawall in front of property he owns in the Keaukaha area of Hilo. He did not ask for, nor did he receive, permission from either the state Department of Land … Continued