Monk Seals on the Rise: The National Marine Fisheries Service has released a draft assessment of the populations of marine mammals in waters around Hawai`i, among other areas. The date of the publication is July 2023 and includes assessments of … Continued
The state Department of Land and Natural Resources and the American Bird Conservancy were awarded their motion for summary judgment in a case brought by Maui resident Tina Lia and a group she founded last year, Hawaiʻi Unites. Lia had … Continued
In late 2015, the Board of Land and Natural Resources did what it had been doing annually for years: approved four revocable permits that allowed Alexander & Baldwin and affiliated companies to withdraw up to 100 million gallons a day … Continued
Hoʻokipa, the first Laysan albatross to return to nesting within an ecological restoration area makai of the Turtle Bay golf course, died last month after getting stuck in an iron fence near her new nest at Marconi Point. In mid-December, … Continued
On December 4, the City & County of Honolulu’s Department of Planning and Permitting finally issued a Notice of Violation for unauthorized clearing of coastal vegetation at Marconi Point on Oʻahu’s North Shore. The clearing, which the DPP notice says … Continued
A federal lawsuit over whether development planned for a condominium property regime at Marconi Point requires a Special Management Area permit is still alive, but much narrower in scope. On December 20, U.S. District Judge Jill A. Otake granted in … Continued
“I’m hearing a lot of shirking of responsibility,” board member Aimee Barnes said on December 7, after the Board of Land and Natural Resources heard from Sunset Beach homeowner Eric Freeman and his attorney, Bernard Bays. Freeman had just claimed … Continued
Preset Ban Ignored: “No commercial vendor shall preset commercial beach equipment on any beach … unless the customer is physically present for the immediate use of the commercial beach equipment.” So states Act 227 of the 2023 Legislature, which is … Continued
On September 25, the County of Hawaiʻi was sued in federal court over the operation of its Kealakehe sewage treatment plant. That facility disposes of treated effluent by pumping it uphill to a disposal pit, where it then percolates through … Continued