November 15 PDF
November 2015
New & Noteworthy: Airport Gardens, FIT Program
Gardens Gone? The iconic gardens at Honolulu International Airport international terminal may soon be no more than a memory. The three gardens and their ponds – landscaped in the styles of China, Japan, and Hawai`i – have long been … Continued
Hawai`i Supreme Court Clears Way For Lawsuit Over DBCP Injury Claims
More than a year after the Hawai`i Supreme Court heard oral arguments, it has issued its decision in Patrickson v. Dole, a case that revolves around harm to Central American workers exposed to DBCP, or dibromochloropropane. That chemical was widely … Continued
Board Talk: Coral Study, Kahalu`u Bay Rules, Dillingham Ranch, and More
Board Approves Concrete Fish Houses In Hanauma Bay, Waikiki Sand Channel On September 25, the state Board of Land and Natural Resources approved a one-year special use permit to Mark Hixon, a professor of marine biology at the University of Hawai`i, … Continued
Future of Kalo`i Gulch Case Hinges On Limu Group Replacing ‘Uncle Henry’
In the coming weeks, the state Board of Land and Natural Resources is expected to decide whether or not to allow the non-profit Kua`aina Ulu `Auamo (KUA) to replace native Hawaiian educator and cultural practitioner Henry Chang Wo, Jr., as … Continued
The Bittersweet Legacy of Sugar
Carol A. MacLennan. Sovereign Sugar: Industry and Environment in Hawai`i. University of Hawai`i Press, 2014. 392 pages. $39.00 (cloth). In 1939, Harper & Brothers Publishers released John W. Vandercook’s history of sugar in Hawai`i. King Cane, it was called, and … Continued
Will PUC Decision to End Net Metering Drive HECO Customers From the Grid?
A year and two months after the Hawai`i Public Utilities Commission opened a docket to determine the future of net energy metering, or NEM, it has concluded the first phase in a two-step process. On its face, … Continued
Net-Energy Metering: Too Successful for its Own Good?
Defending the decision to phase out new net-energy metering customers, the Public Utilities Commission noted that the NEM program “was simply not designed for … deployment at the scale experienced today.” When the current NEM program was authorized in 2001, … Continued