Last year, environmentalists and the development community jockeyed over bills aimed at revamping the City & County of Honolulu’s energy code and parking regulations to help mitigate or minimize climate change effects. In testimony to the City Council, organizations such … Continued
Board Continues Revocable Permits For Kaua‘i Utility’s Water Diversions On December 11, the Kaua‘i Island Utility Cooperative (KIUC) barely mustered enough votes from the Board of Land and Natural Resources to secure a revocable permit to divert water from Wai‘ale‘ale … Continued
In April 2017, the state Commission on Water Resource Management voted to adopt the terms of a mediated agreement intended to end the years-long conflicts over the diversion and waste of stream water via the Kokeʻe and Kekaha ditch systems … Continued
Land Board Fines Trash Hauler $62,000 for Leaving Full Roll-Offs On State Land Being contrite might have helped, but John Guinan, Jr., owner of The Trash Man, LLC hauling company, chose to fight. He ended up with a fine nearly … Continued
Koʻolauloa Plan Advances: On November 19, the Zoning and Planning Committee of the Honolulu City Council voted to adopt a revised Sustainable Communities Plan for the windward Koʻolauloa area that limits Hawaiʻi Reserves, Inc., which manages the land in Laʻie … Continued
For the last five years, the state Division of Conservation and Resources Enforcement (DOCARE) has basically had to ignore its normal duties of protecting and helping manage Hawai‘i’s natural resources. “Homelessness has taken away from all that,” DOCARE officer Gerard Villalobos … Continued
More than three years ago, the Hawai‘i Supreme Court issued its ruling in a case that many observers thought would halt commercial aquarium fish collection, at least for a time. The high court determined in Umberger v. Dep’t of Land and Natural Res. that … Continued
On September 24, Environmental Court Judge Jeffrey Crabtree heard final arguments in a case brought by the Sierra Club of Hawai‘i over permits that allow East Maui stream water to be diverted out of the watershed. The group argues that the state Board of … Continued
Land Board Grants Permits, Easements For ‘Auwai Repair Projects in East Maui In the midst of a years-long legal battle with the state Board of Land and Natural Resources over its decisions to allow Alexander & Baldwin, Inc., to divert water from … Continued
A Loss for American Samoa: The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has overturned a lower court decision, effectively giving longline fishing vessels the right to fish as close as 12 miles from the territory’s coast. The decision is a blow to … Continued