The National Marine Fisheries Service has announced its intention to prepare an environmental impact statement for the Hawai`i- and American Samoa-based deep-set longline tuna fishery and will be holding a series of public scoping meetings around the islands beginning February … Continued
On January 10, Marti Townsend, executive director of the Hawai`i Chapter of the Sierra Club, took the witness stand in the contested case hearing on the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT). She testified for the better part of five hours, with … Continued
When the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service published its recovery plan for the endangered Hawaiian hoary bat in April 1998, it didn’t consider wind farms to be a threat to the species. At the time, potential threats included habitat loss, … Continued
Operators of Hawai`i’s wind farms are poised to spend more than $4 million on efforts to fill critical knowledge gaps regarding the endangered Hawaiian hoary bat, and may eventually spend up to $6 million. “We’re starting a massive research push,” … Continued
Having been pushed back a month from its previously scheduled time, the re-opened contested case hearing on amendments to the interim instream flow standards (IIFS) of some two dozen East Maui streams begins on February 6 at Maui Community College and … Continued
January began with the TIO (the TMT International Observatory, LLC) wrapping up its case in support of the Conservation District Use Permit for the Thirty Meter Telescope. Witnesses included two native Hawaiians with doctoral degrees in astronomy or astrophysics: Paul … Continued
As the case involving the challenge to the application to build the Thirty Meter Telescope enters its fifth month of testimony and evidence, some government procedure wonks have raised the question: Are contested cases still appropriate for disputes coming before … Continued
Robin W. Baird. The Lives of Hawai`i’s Dolphins and Whales: Natural History and Conservation. University of Hawai`i Press, 2016. 342 pages (including bibliography and index). Less than two decades ago, knowledge of and research into Hawai`i’s cetaceans was pretty much … Continued
February 2017
Hoping to spur a resolution of a years- long dispute over stream water in West Kaua‘i, the state Agribusiness Development Corporation (ADC) approved a five-year lease to the Kaua‘i Island Utility Cooperative (KIUC) for its Pu‘u Opae hydropower project. The … Continued