Scott Watson, builder of the “Pepe`ekeo Palace,” just won’t take “no” for an answer. Having twice tried, and twice failed, to get the Hawai`i County Windward Planning Commission to amend conditions of subdivision approval for the lot on which Watson … Continued
The Hanalei River boatyard operated by Mike Sheehan has for years been a thorn in the side of the Kaua`i County Planning Department, its Public Works Department, its Planning Commission, and environmental groups too numerous to count. But last month, … Continued
Posted 06/02/2014 Maui County’s operation of its Lahaina sewage treatment plant has been found to violate the federal Clean Water Act. U.S. District Judge Susan Oki Mollway issued a ruling on May 30 finding that the four injection wells used … Continued
Posted 04/24/2014 The long and acrimonious dispute over ownership of the Haleakala Trail has been decided. On April 23, a jury determined that the state of Hawai`i does indeed own the six-foot-wide trail extending from Makawao up to Haleakala crater. … Continued
Posted 12/30/2013 The National Marine Fisheries Service is proposing a change in fishing regulations that would make permanent what has been a year-to-year rule allowing Hawai`i-based longliners to exceed the annual catch limits on bigeye tuna imposed by the Western … Continued
(Posted December 23, 2013) The Land Use Commission’s approval of a controversial O`ahu housing development known as Koa Ridge has been tossed out by the state Supreme Court. In an opinion written by Associate Justice Paula A. Nakayama and signed … Continued
Posted 07/29/2013 To the surprise of probably no one, scientists at the University of Hawai`i have determined, once and for all, that indeed, there is a link between the treated wastewater from the Lahaina sewage treatment plant and nearshore water … Continued
Posted 07/11/2013 U.S. District Judge Leslie E. Kobayashi has determined that Kaua`i County’s limit on new transient accommodation units – or TAUs – is the result of “an improper zoning initiative and … is invalid.” Kobayashi made the ruling in … Continued
Posted 07/03/2013 Readers of this space may recall that at a June 13 board “briefing” on proposed fishing rules for Maui, Lana`i and Hawai`i island, Board of Land and Natural Resources chair William Aila announced he had removed from the proposed … Continued
Posted June 18, 2013 Construction work on the Hu Honua power plant just north of Hilo has pretty well come to a halt — the result, apparently, of a dispute between unions representing boilermakers, on the one hand, and plumbers … Continued