Acting CWRM Chair Rescinds Chang Email Allowing Golf Course Use of Groundwater
On March 2, Ryan Kanakaʻole, acting chair of the state Commission on Water Resource Management, did what members of the public clamored for him to do at the commission’s meeting last month: He rescinded an August 21 email then-commission chair … Continued
Commission Lets Maui Ditch Owner Pay For New Stream Gauge to Offset $140,000 Fine
Above photo: Honokōhau Stream below Aotaki Weir. Credit: CWRM At its February 24 meeting, the state Commission on Water Resource Management directed Honokōhau ditch owner Maui Land and Pineapple Company to pay for a new U.S. Geological Survey stream gauge … Continued
New & Noteworthy: Deer Bounty; Alakaʻi, Pālamanui Comments
Alakaʻi Wilderness Expansion: The Division of Forestry and Wildlife, part of the Department of Land and Natural Resources, is seeking public comment on a plan to increase by 2,400 acres the protected area of the Alakaʻi Wilderness Preserve on Kauaʻi. … Continued
BOARD TALK: Board Approves Public Hearings on Rules For Kaʻūpūlehu Fisheries Management Area
The waters off Kaʻūpūlehu are slated to reopen to fishing after a ten-year rest that, according to Hui Kahuwai executive director Rebecca Most, has resulted in twice as much fish biomass in the area compared to “any other area in … Continued
ADC Challenges Department of Health Over Discharge Permit in West Kauaʻi
Above photo: A discharge from the Cox Drain in 2021, looking seaward. The drain is one of the outlets whose discharges are regulated under the NPDES permit issued in October. A decade ago, the state Agribusiness Development Corporation let lapse … Continued
A Conversation with Ciara Kahahane
Environment Hawaiʻi editor Patricia Tummons recently interviewed Ciara Kahahane, the deputy director of the Department of Land and Natural Resources and effectively the executive director of the Commission on Water Resource Management. The focus of the discussion was the way … Continued
New & Noteworthy: ADC Land Management Questions In Kea‘au, Central O‘ahu
ADC Squatters: Last March, Environment Hawaiʻi reported on Pacific Biodiesel’s rent-free use of 1.53 acres of land owned by the Agribusiness Development Corporation. The ADC’s “Hawaiʻi Agribusiness Plan 2025” report, dated January 2026, states that the parcel, in Shipman Industrial … Continued
Warehouse Owners, Solar Firms Sue Each Other Over Botched Solar Development at Marconi Point
The lawsuits over activities at Marconi Point on Oʻahu’s North Shore just keep coming. This time, they’re over the development of a large solar photovoltaic system on the rooftops of eight agricultural warehouses on land owned by RCA Trade Center, … Continued