Kaua`i Springs Order: The Public Utilities Commission has rejected the request from a Kaua`i water bottler that it determine the bottler’s source of water is exempt from requirements that apply to water utilities. The May 22 order notes that the … Continued
Hawai`i County, once one of the biggest cheerleaders for the development known as the Villages of `Aina Le`a, is over it. In a nine-page letter dated May 16, county planning director Michael Yee informed attorney Alan Okamoto that in light … Continued
The long-awaited settlement of a multi-million dollar lawsuit against the state Land Use Commission was signed in February. Lawyers from both the Attorney General’s office and the company that, for a while, proposed to develop the Villages of `Aina Le`a … Continued
June 2017
`Aina Le`a Update: DW `Aina Le`a, LLC, which owns 1,072 acres of land near Waikoloa, on the Kohala coast of the Big Island, is suing the state of Hawai`i for $200 million as a result of actions by the Land … Continued
With a piddling fraction of a $146 million Green Energy Market Securitization (GEMS) fund being loaned out over two years, it is easy to understand legislators’ frustration with the program. But will a new measure that the Legislature is poised … Continued
The Hawai‘i Green Infrastructure Au- thority (HGIA) is required to deliver quarterly reports on its progress in distributing Green Energy Market Securitization loans and advancing the state’s goals of energy independence to the Public Utilities Commission (PUC). If House Bill … Continued
House Bill 957 has been enthusiastically supported by the Department of Education (DOE), the teachers’ union, parents, contractors, and others too numerous to list here. It calls for allowing up to $46.4 million in Green Energy Market Securitization funds to … Continued
When the state’s Green Energy Market Securitization (GEMS) loan program was established in 2013, all parties involved believed that customers who took out loans for installation of photovoltaic and other energy saving technologies would have the option of paying off … Continued
Are minor actions permitted by the Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR)— or any other state agency, for that matter — exempt from environmental review under the Hawai‘i Environmental Policy Act (HEPA)? A beach cleanup, a night of camping … Continued