Aerial Hunting Lawsuit: In 2012, the Hawai`i County Council, bowing to hunter pressure, passed a law that prohibits the killing of animals from the air. The following year, a federal judge ruled that the state of Hawai`i, which is under … Continued
As a way to boost Kaua`i’s capacity to incorporate more solar power onto the electrical grid, the Kaua`i Island Utility Cooperative’s proposed pumped storage hydropower project using old sugar plantation infrastructure seems like a no-brainer. But with an independent power … Continued
Over the last year, Hu Honua Bioenergy, LLC, builder of the proposed biomass-fueled, 28-megawatt power plant on the Big Island coast a few miles north of Hilo, has faced multiple applications for mechanic’s and materialman’s liens filed by contractors and … Continued
What’s the difference between “grubbing” and “mowing”? That was the question posed to the Hawai`i County Board of Appeals earlier this year, as a Kona landowner challenged the accusation he had violated the county’s prohibition on grubbing without a permit. … Continued
The morning of the vote, before the day’s meeting officially began, members and staff of the Western Pacific Fishery Management Council huddled with staff from the National Marine Fisheries Service’s Pacific Islands Regional Office. Wespac executive director Kitty Simonds, NMFS … Continued
How much did U.S. taxpayers spend to argue against the recent expansion of the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument? Environment Hawai`i asked that question after the Western Pacific Fishery Management Council (Wespac) issued a press release describing a meeting … Continued
At its November meeting, the state Board of Land and Natural Resources deferred for the second time acting on a proposed $31,000 fine against Grand View Apt., Inc., which owns a shoreline parcel in Mokuleia, O`ahu, that was devastated by … Continued
A Seal by Any Other Name…: The endangered Hawaiian monk seal has a new name: Neomonachus schauinslandi, reflecting its genetic divergence from the Mediterranean monk seal. The name change reflects recent genetic studies by researchers at the Smithsonian and colleagues … Continued
The kind of massive coral bleaching event that afflicted 75 percent of the dominant coral species in O`ahu’s Kane`ohe Bay last September is likely to become a regular occurrence within a few decades, according to modeling by scientists Jeff Maynard, … Continued
For years, drivers on the old Red Road in lower Puna, the coastal highway running from Kalapana to Kapoho, have been treated to such unusual sights as jugglers practicing their craft on the sea cliffs and unicyclists pedaling unsteadily on … Continued