Since the Legislature passed a measure giving landowners incentives to protect important agricultural lands in 2008, the state Land Use Commission has been presented with a total of five IAL petitions. In the first two years after passage of Act … Continued
Last September, the ADC’s Kekaha Committee gave preliminary approval to PLP’s proposals, in large part, because they included upgrades to the area’s electricity and irrigation infrastructure. The hydropower projects alone would generate 11 megawatts of power, which would be sold … Continued
The National Park Service is worried about water. More specifically, it fears that the underground flows that feed the fishponds and anchialine pools at Kaloko-Honokohau National Historical Park will be interrupted or polluted if areas mauka of the park are … Continued
The cost to operate a stream gage is roughly $22,500 a year. The potential cost, in lives and property, of not operating it is incalculable. So, when the U.S. Geological Survey announced recently that it would be ceasing operations of … Continued
Na Moku `Aupuni o Ko`olau Hui’s decade-long fight to get more water released into East Maui streams has hit a snag. On September 15, the Hawai`i Intermediate Court of Appeals affirmed its August 31 decision to dismiss Na Moku’s appeal … Continued
The losing streak continues for the state Commission on Water Resource Management. And the environmentalists, farmers, and native Hawaiian cultural practitioners seeking to restore stream flow in West Maui couldn’t be happier. On August 15, the Hawai`i Supreme Court vacated … Continued
Water War: On June 6, the Hawai`i Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in the appeals of the Commission on Water Resource Management’s June 2010 amendments to the interim instream flow standards (IIFS) for four west Maui streams collectively known … Continued
The staff of the Commission on Water Resource Management is too nice. That was the general consensus of commissioners at a May 16 meeting where, in one violation case after another, fine recommendations were minimal, to say the least. In … Continued
Appellants in the Na Wai `Eha case have a laundry list of gripes about the Commission on Water Resource Management’s June 2010 vote setting interim instream flow standards (IIFS) for four West Maui streams. To start, the commission erroneously used … Continued
On June 6, every seat in the ornate second-floor courtroom of Ali`iolani Hale was taken well before the 9 a.m. start of oral arguments before the justices of the Hawai`i Supreme Court. Stragglers were forced to stand. That day, parties … Continued