(POSTED 3/22/07) In 2006, the Department of Land and Natural Resources got a big bump in its budget and in its workforce. From an operating funds level of roughly $77 million in the 2005-2006 fiscal year, the department’s operating budget … Continued
(POSTED 3/22/07) Actually, if you have an extra $5 million lying around, it’s easy to be almost anything you want – including a purchaser of a unit (well, the smallest unit) at Everett Dowling’s Maluaka condominium project at Makena, in … Continued
(POSTED 9/14/06) The Environmental Protection Agency has announced a settlement with Kamehameha Schools stemming from an incident in which it gave pigs an accidental overdose of rat poison in an experiment intended to show the effectiveness of using helicopters to … Continued
(POSTED 5/3/06) Score one for Concerned Citizens of Honolulu. This is the group that last fall challenged the Nuclear Regulatory Commission over its decision not to require preparation of an environmental assessment or environmental impact statement for a Cobalt-60-fueled irradiation … Continued
(POSTED 4/6/06) In recent months, Hawai`i has lost two important voices on behalf of rational environmental planning and liberal social causes: Martha Black and Astrid Monson. Both women were in their 90s. In recent years, declining health had removed them … Continued
(POSTED 3/3/06) Just how much oil does the fishing industry consume? According to a recent study, the world’s commercial fishing fleets collective burn as much fuel in a year as the entire country of the Netherlands – some 50 billion … Continued
(POSTED 1/26/06) The Atomic Safety and Licensing Board has granted the petition of Concerned Citizens of Honolulu for a hearing on an application submitted by Pa`ina Hawai`i to build a Cobalt-60 irradiator at the Honolulu International Airport. And that has … Continued
(POSTED 10/31/05) One of the first actions of Governor Linda Lingle was a hiring freeze. It wasn’t absolute. Executive departments could push paperwork through the Department of Budget and Finance, the fiscal overseers, and on to the governor’s office if … Continued
The Hawai`i Supreme Court has issued its long-awaited decision in the `Aina Le`a case. For those needing a reminder, that case involves the development of about 1,000 acres of land near Waikoloa, in the Big Island district of South Kohala. … Continued
On November 27, 1987, the Signal Puako Corporation filed a petition with the state Land Use Commission, seeking to place into the Urban land use district just over 1,000 acres in South Kohala between the newly minted village of Waikoloa … Continued