“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
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
Kauaʻi Water Decision: On September 30, the Hawaiʻi Supreme Court ruled that the state Board of Land and Natural Resources should not have denied contested case hearing requests by Kia‘i Wai O Wai‘ale‘ale and Friends of Māhāʻulepū over revocable permits … Continued
Do the interim instream flow standards for East Maui need to be revised again to meet off-stream uses in Upcountry and Central Maui? Even when the current flow standards haven’t been fully implemented? On October 27, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser ran … Continued
On October 29, Environmental Court Judge Lisa W. Cataldo issued an opinion in the Sierra Club of Hawaiʻi’s appeal of a June 30, 2022, contested case decision by the Board of Land and Natural Resources to approve revocable permits allowing … Continued
Trail Contract: After a jury found in April 2014 that the state — not Haleakala Ranch Company — owns the historic Haleakalā bridle trail, plaintiff David Brown, the executive director of Public Access Trails Hawaiʻi, stated,“We have a moral obligation … Continued
Court Rebuke for BLNR: The Hawaiʻi Supreme Court has issued its ruling in the challenge brought by several Kauaʻi groups to the state Board of Land and Natural Resources’ issuance of a revocable permit to the seed company Syngenta Hawaiʻi, … Continued
Above photo: A stream diversion in East Maui. CREDIT: SIERRA CLUB OF HAWAI‘I. Last month, the Hawaiʻi Supreme Court granted applications for a writ of certiorari from both sides of a case involving the state Board of Land and Natural Resources’ renewal … Continued