The roll-out of the Green Energy Market Securitization program (GEMS) has had results that can charitably be described as disappointing. Of the $145 million available for loans intended to help Hawai`i homeowners and renters avail themselves of advances in energy-saving … Continued
Kathryn Matayoshi, state superintendent of education, had little to say about the proposal to loan the Department of Education $100 million from the Green Energy Market Securitization (GEMS) fund when the House Committee on Energy and Environmental Protection heard the … Continued
Rep. Cynthia Thielen of Kailua was frank: “I think that GEMS has not been run well. A million dollars to place out three loans is pretty pathetic. I mean, that may rank at the top of the pathetic list of … Continued
Sparks Fly Over Fireworks Permit, $2,500 Deposit to Clean Up Debris For years, right-of-entry permits brought by the Department of Land and Natural Resources’ Land Division for fireworks displays at state beaches have garnered little, if any, opposition. Last year, a … Continued
According to court documents, the appeal of Judge Nishimura’s January 8 ruling is expected to cover the following issues, among others: Whether she correctly ruled that the permits were invalid under Hawai`i Revised Statues Chapter 171 (the state’s law governing … Continued
On February 4, First Circuit Judge Rhonda Nishimura granted an interlocutory appeal of her January 8 ruling that four holdover revocable permits held by Alexander and Baldwin and the East Maui Irrigation Co., and renewed by the state Board of … Continued
In the coming months, the state Commission on Water Resource Management is expected to hear oral arguments on contested case hearing officer Lawrence Miike’s January 16 proposed Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law, and Decision and Order regarding Na Moku … Continued
March 2016
Two years ago, research by the University of Hawai`i’s School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST) revealed that flooding from the combination of a one-meter rise in sea level and a hurricane or a tsunami could affect 80 … Continued
On Friday, February 5, the state Senate Committee on Economic Development, Environment, and Technology deferred a bill that would have repealed the state’s beverage container recycling programs. Introduced by committee vice chair Sen. Sam Slom and Sen. Lorraine Inouye, Senate … Continued