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, LLC.
The challenge, first brought in 2017, alleged that the BLNR should have required the preparation of an environmental assessment before approval of the permit. The Department of Land and Natural Resources had determined – and the BLNR agreed – that the land disposition was allowed under one of the exempt activities in the agency’s approved exemption list.
Over the next few years, the lawsuit, brought by Ke Kauhulu o Mānā, Hawaiʻi Alliance for Progressive Action, Surfrider Foundation, Koholā Leo, and Punohu Kekaualua III, was heard by the 5th Circuit Environmental Court, which upheld the BLNR action, and the Intermediate Court of Appeals. In April 2024, the ICA remanded the issue to the lower court, with instructions that it consider whether the EA exemption was appropriate.
The plaintiffs appealed to the Supreme Court, arguing that the ICA erred when it ordered the remand instead of finding that an environmental assessment was required as a matter of law.
“We agree with Ke Kauhulu,” the high court wrote in its ruling, which held that the BLNR did not follow appropriate procedures or consider appropriate factors in its EA exemption declaration. For this reason, “an EA is required as a matter of law.”
The ruling returned the matter to the environmental court “for further proceedings consistent with this opinion, which includes requiring the BLNR to prepare an EA regarding possible environmental impacts from use of the land for seed research.”
The September 2024 edition of Environment Hawaiʻi has a lengthy and detailed report on this litigation.
A Re-Do for CWRM: The state Commission on Water Resource Management’s Nominating Committee – convened for the purpose of forwarding to the governor a list of qualified candidates for vacancies on the commission – is now going to hold all its interviews in public.
According to CWRM deputy director Ciara Kahahane, the committee will probably meet in September to select candidates to fill two positions. Before scheduling the meetings, she said, she needed to find out if candidates who had previously asked to be interviewed outside of public view would still be interested now that all candidate interviews will have to be public.
There are two vacancies to be filled. At present, Aurora Kagawa-Viviani, whose first term expired June 30, is continuing to serve on the commission as a holdover appointee. She also has submitted her name as a candidate.
Environment Hawaiʻi reported on the Nominating Committee’s secret interviews in our July edition: “Water Commission Nominating Panel Runs Afoul of State’s Sunshine Law.”
Give Aloha: Now through September 30, you can support Environment Hawaiʻi through Foodland’s annual charitable campaign. For each dollar donated, Foodland will provide a match based on the percent of total donations we receive. Just give the check-out cashier the number of our organization, 77036, along with your payment. Foodland will give you the receipt you need for tax purposes.