The Belgian company Global Sea Mineral Resources (GSR) had planned to start small-scale testing last month of a bus-sized tracked robot – 40 feet long, 13 feet wide, and 15 feet high – designed to vacuum up poly-metallic nodules from … Continued
Another Whale Death: For the second time this year, a Hawai‘i deep-set longline vessel killed a false killer whale while fishing for bigeye tuna. The first incident occurred in January within the 200-mile exclusive economic zone around the state and … Continued
In Memoriam: Last month the Hawaii environmental community lost two pillars of conservation: Don Reeser and William Merwin. Don, 80 years old, died March 16 at his home in Makawao, Maui. He probably did more to protect the natural resources … Continued
A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has punted on the question of whether DW Aina Lea Development, LLC, should be able to bring a lawsuit against the state of Hawaii six years after the Land … Continued
“There comes a time when even the most optimistic real estate developer must concede that what lies at the end of the rainbow is a pile of debt, not a pot of gold.” With that statement, attorneys for Bridge ‘Aina … Continued
Efforts to develop about 3,000 acres of land in South Kohala go back decades. The most recent chapter in the land’s history starts in 1987, when Signal Puako, a subsidiary of Signal Landmark Properties – itself a subsidiary of The … Continued
In late 2010, DW ‘Aina Le‘a Development, LLC, published a final environmental impact statement for its planned series of villages on about 1,100 acres of land in the Hawai‘i island district of South Kohala, just mauka of the Mauna Lani … Continued
More than ten years ago, the state Land Use Commission ordered Bridge ‘Aina Le‘a to explain why it had not begun work to develop more than 1,000 acres of land in South Kohala that had been put into the Urban … Continued
Two years ago, DW ‘Aina Le‘a Development, LLC (DWAL), brought a federal lawsuit against the state Land Use Commission, claiming $200 million in damages as a result of the agency’s 2011 vote to revert to the Agricultural district land in … Continued
If a Maui-based company called Work Force Developers, LLC, has its way, an entirely new town will be built on the Big Island over the next two decades, miles from any existing urban infrastructure. As described in a 500-plus-page draft … Continued