Judging by arguments made in the contested case hearing over stream-related water sources in West Maui, the fate of the entire island is at stake. Oral arguments in the case begin this month on Maui, and environmental and Hawaiian groups, … Continued
Get out your score cards. Rancorous disputes over long-standing diversions of water from four Central Maui streams are coming to a head, and keeping track of the teams and their plays is becoming complicated. The diversions go back as far … Continued
Could It Happen Here? The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is considering buying out owners of 17,000 houses in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, one of the areas hardest hit by Hurricane Katrina. The Los Angeles Times reported last month that … Continued
Taro farmers in East Maui don’t need any more water right now to grow their crops, according to retired judge E. John McConnell, hearing officer for a contested case on East Maui water licenses. The contested case, which involves the … Continued
The Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawai`i Authority, built in the 1980s at Keahole Point, Kona, to be a center for deep seawater-related energy and aquaculture research, has always struggled to cover its costs. In recent years, the facility, which cost … Continued
“Our clients have been eminently patient… Our patience is wearing thin,” Earthjustice attorney Kapua Sproat told members of the state Commission on Water Resource Management at their January 11 meeting in Honolulu. It’s been 19 months since Sproat’s clients – … Continued
The controversy over surface water in central Maui has finally come to a head. On February 15, the state Commission on Water Resource Management authorized its chair, Peter Young, to appoint a mediator to help resolve an October 2004 waste … Continued
“It’s a baby step that should have been taken a long time ago,” Water Commissioner Lawrence Miike said about his agency’s renewed effort to document and verify all stream diversions in the state. In 2005, the Legislature gave the Commission … Continued
Within the next month or so, Lawrence Miike, Water Commissioner and hearing officer in the Waiahole Ditch contested case, is expected to finalize his recommendations on the handful of issues that the state Supreme Court remanded to the Water Commission … Continued
In 1996, state auditor Marion Higa found that the administrative rules of the Commission on Water Resource Management “do not address native Hawaiian water rights,” whether they are appurtenant and surface water rights (most wetland taro growers have appurtenant water … Continued