Eight years ago, on February 2, 2005, a 555-foot-long freighter ran aground on the reef outside Barber’s Point harbor. Over the next nine days, a team of workers hastily put together by the Coast Guard, the ship’s owners, and the … Continued
Hawai`i County wants a do-over. That, at least, is what it has told Judge Elizabeth Strance of the 3rd Circuit Court, who is hearing a challenge to the county’s acceptance of a final environmental impact statement prepared for the Villages … Continued
It’s been several years since the state Board of Land and Natural Resources would stop public testimony at once and refrain from voting on a matter the instant anyone requested a contested case hearing. “If the board acted like it … Continued
To grow tobacco on public lands or not? That was the question at last month’s Agribusiness Development Corporation board meeting, where a local high-end cigar maker proposed testing his tobacco crops on three acres of the agency’s land in Kekaha, … Continued
Bigeye tuna, false killer whales, green turtles, and an expanded marine sanctuary in American Samoa. Those topics were among the more controversial ones discussed at the meeting of the Western Pacific Fishery Management Council, held last month in American Samoa. … Continued
Peter Vitousek didn’t mince words: “Everything we’ve lost, and everything we will lose, is because of human activity. We’re responsible for that change.” Vitousek, a professor of biological sciences at Stanford University, made the comments as the opening speaker at … Continued
The most heated discussions during the three-day meeting of the Western Pacific Fishery Management Council last month concerned the reach of the National Marine Sanctuary of American Samoa. For years, council executive director Kitty Simonds has made no secret of … Continued
A Tighter FIT: Two years after launching a feed-in-tariff program, which guarantees renewable energy producers grid interconnection and fixed rates and terms for their power, the Hawaiian Electric Companies want to tweak a few things. In its March 4 reexamination … Continued
After a ban on congressional earmarks, many thought the practice of members of Congress setting aside special funds for favored projects may have ended. Not so fast. Nowadays, expenditures for pet projects not included in the proposed budgets of federal … Continued
The state Department of Transportation has had fair warning that its most critical transportation facilities on O`ahu are highly vulnerable to climate change. And while potential climate change impacts don’t have to be evaluated in environmental assessments or impact statements … Continued