As much as cattle have helped to destroy much of the native vegetation at Pu`uwa`awa`a, they now play an important – if limited — role in its restoration. Everyone familiar with the issues at Pu`uwa`awa`a agrees that some degree of … Continued
Robert Cabin leaned with one hand against a tall but scraggly lama tree in a tiny, sloping patch of forest on the Ka`upulehu lava flow on the western slope of the island of Hawai`i. The lama tree, known scientifically as … Continued
Section 171-33 of Hawai`i Revised Statutes is a good law. It calls for the state Board of Land and Natural Resources to plan for the use of state lands and, in paragraph 9, mandates the board to “determine, two years … Continued
Katsuya “Kats” Yamada, a hunter fighting the realignment of Saddle Road on the Big Island of Hawai`i, is concerned that planners did not pick “the most environmentally sensitive option” for constructing a key part of the road. Another hunter, John … Continued
“This has really been a saga.” Andy Hirose, administrator of the Solid Waste Division of Maui County’s Public Works Department, sighs as he sums up the county’s efforts to develop Phase IV of the Central Maui landfill. From his window … Continued
What is H-POWER to do with its ash? Every day that it operates, H-POWER, Honolulu’s trash-to-energy plant, generates about 400 tons of ash in the process of burning about 2,000 tons of municipal solid waste. Almost all of the ash … Continued
Could the lead, cadmium, arsenic, and other heavy metals in H-POWER ash ever reach such high levels that the ash is regulated as hazardous waste? Absolutely, positively not. That’s not to say the levels could not be high enough to … Continued
Chapter 11-261 of the state Department of Health’s administrative rules contains the language exempting H-POWER from regulation as a generator of hazardous waste, no matter what the characteristics of its ash may be. Section 11-261-4(b) describes “solid wastes which are … Continued