Coco Palms in Court: This past summer, Utah-based Reef Capital Partners, which owners the former Coco Palms resort site in Wailua, Kauaʻi, secured $431 million in redevelopment financing. Whether that will be enough for the company to fulfill its plans...
Wendy Gady, for nearly three years the executive director of the Agribusiness Development Corporation, is out. Facing almost certain termination after an evaluation of her performance that included a negative grade, Gady submitted her resignation letter on August 12, effective...
A push by the Trump administration to mine the seabed off the coast of American Samoa is being challenged in court by groups in both American Samoa and Hawaiʻi. The lawsuit, brought against the National Marine Fisheries Service and Commerce...
This PDF contains an error in the article on page 7, “In Sierra Club Appeal, Judge Reverses Water Permit, Orders Contested Case on East Maui Diversions.” The court ordered a contested case to be held by September 28 if the...
“This is crazy. It’s a crazy amount of money. It’s like $2 million dollars.” Wendy Gady, executive director of the state Agribusiness Development Corporation, was describing the legal charges her agency had already incurred and those it was likely to … Continued
(Above photo: Kevin Minoli. Credit: Alston & Bird) In November 2024, members of the board of the state Agribusiness Development Corporation were advised by Ben Berridge of Stantec GS, Inc., that complying with permit conditions of a draft National Pollutant … Continued
(Above photo: From the state’s contract with Alston & Bird.) Environment Hawaiʻi received detailed breakdowns of invoices submitted by the law firm of Alston & Bird to the Agribusiness Development Corporation. Here’s what we learned: The first invoice, dated July … Continued
‘Good Cause’ Challenge Upheld: On June 26, the Hawaiʻi Supreme Court upheld the right of a Hawaiian group, Mālama Kakanilua, to challenge a decision of the Maui County director of Public Works to grant a time extension of a grading...
“BLNR’s renewal decision for the 2026 RP must be reversed, because BLNR breached its public trust duties by (1) failing to render independent findings for the identification and protection of Native Hawaiian traditional and customary practices, and (2) failing to...
(Above chart credit: Petition to designate Kamaʻole aquifer system area.) Last year, when the Commission on Water Resource Management voted to accept a petition by the Honolulu Board of Water Supply to designate the Waiʻanae aquifer sector as a groundwater...