On January 1, the stay of an injunctive order that was initially set to take effect last April expired. This, despite efforts by the state to extend the stay or amend the order to give the Department of Land and … Continued
In June 2024, the state Supreme Court ordered the Commission on Water Resource Management to revisit its findings in a contested case over stream flows in Nā Wai ʻEhā, the four great waters of central Maui. That was the second … Continued
Housing Scandal Update: Sentencing for all four defendants in the federal fraud case involving abuse of Hawaiʻi County’s system of awarding credits for affordable housing has been postponed yet again. Ex-county employee Alan Rudo, who pleaded guilty in 2022 to … Continued
“If you don’t make a credible case, you’re not going to get the water,” Water Commissioner Aurora Kagawa-Viviani said November 18 of the permit applications submitted two years ago for water from the streams and aquifers of West Maui, also … Continued
Forty-one months have passed since the Commission on Water Resource Management voted to designate the ground and surface water of West Maui as water management areas. Thirty-nine months have passed since the date the designation became effective. Twenty-seven months ago, … Continued
Swift action on the water use permit applications for the Lahaina Aquifer Sector groundwater and surface water management area is not the only thing members of the public are clamoring for. “Where the heck is the shortage plan? I’m … … Continued
The Hawaiʻi Water Service has a plan to encourage its customers to conserve water. You won’t find it filed with the water use permit applications submitted to the Commission on Water Resource Management. But the three-page plan does appear in … Continued
Last month, when Ayron Strauch, hydrologist with the Commission on Water Resource Management, was giving commission members a summary of water use applications received, he described the challenges. Applications were not uniform. End uses were not well matched with sources. … Continued
Tantalus Couple Seeks Damages, Fights Enforcement Regarding Land Boards’ Conservation District Decisions A couple that owns an old two-story house on rainy Tantalus Drive reached out a few years ago to the state Office of Conservation and Coastal Lands to … Continued