Pacific West Energy, LLC is not going away quietly. With a handful of high-profile backers, its request to lease feedstock land for a proposed 20-megawatt power plant may yet win approval from the state Agribusiness Development Corporation. Or it may … Continued
The fight to “keep the country country” isn’t confined to O`ahu’s North Shore. It’s happening right now on the Leeward Coast. Eric Enos, founder of the non-profit Cultural Learning Center at Ka`ala Farm, compared the light industrial park proposed by … Continued
Good News for Golden Gooneys: The Fish and Wildlife Service has been fluttering with excitement for the last few weeks, ever since it discovered a short-tailed albatross chick had hatched at Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge. And anyone who views … Continued
After all was said and done, the would-be developers of a thousand acres in Waikoloa simply had no more credibility with the Land Use Commission. On January 20, members of the commission voted, 5-3, to return the land to the … Continued
The Department of Land and Natural Resources, the state’s first line of defense against environmental and ecological depredations, has been hit hard over the last two years with blows to its budget. In light of the serious budget shortfalls that … Continued
Kona Blue Escapes Fine for Pen’s Coral Damage Fining a company for damaging coral inside a boat harbor just didn’t seem fair. So instead of imposing the $6,750 fine its staff had recommended, the state Board of Land and Natural … Continued
Planning is a good thing. And the 15-year Comprehensive Conservation Plan for the Hakalau Forest National Wildlife Refuge is, by our lights, a pretty good one. But the thing about planning is this: it should never undercut its own viability. … Continued
Land Board Fines Eco-Tour Company for Cutting Trail in Conservation District Sam Lemmo couldn’t believe what he was hearing. KapohoKine Adventures, LLC, was arguing that it cut a trail through the Conservation District in Honoli`i, Hawai`i, merely to allow neighboring … Continued
On June 14, U.S. District Judge David Ezra denied without prejudice the Hawai`i Longline Association’s (HLA) appeal of a January settlement between the National Marine Fisheries Service and environmental groups regarding interactions between the shallow-set longline fishery and threatened loggerhead … Continued
Tropic Land, LLC has failed to persuade enough members of the state Land Use Commission to approve a boundary amendment allowing for the company’s proposed light industrial park in Lualualei Valley in West O`ahu. On April 21, the LUC voted … Continued