By Patricia Tummons One of the key features of the Hawaiʻi planning law is the placement of all land in the state into one of four land use districts: Conservation, Agricultural, Rural, or Urban. And another key feature, until last … Continued
Whales on the Line, I: Last year, the Hawai`i-based longline tuna fleet hooked five false killer whales inside the Exclusive Economic Zone around Hawai`i. All of the animals were determined to have been mortally or seriously injured (M/SI) by the … Continued
Photo: Ted Hong, attorney for Community Based Education Support Services. By Patricia Tummons In the end, it wasn’t even close. By the time the Land Use Commission was set to vote on a special permit allowing the construction of a … Continued
Hu Honua Rebuffed: The on-again, off-again dispute over the Hu Honua power plant just north of Hilo is now on again. This comes after Hu Honua itself sought to postpone – possibly for months – the scheduled start of a … Continued
Can a private entity’s petition to designate state lands as Important Agricultural Lands advance without the state’s permission? That question and many others arose last month, when the Land Use Commission met to consider a petition to designate 12,123 acres … Continued
PRI Planning: The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service are inviting public input as a first step toward developing a management plan for the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument. The monument, which covers almost half … Continued
The 189th meeting of the Western Pacific Fishery Management Council convened last month, amid a spate of unfavorable publicity, much of which dealt with the council’s lack of transparency. On the day before the full council meeting, the council’s Executive and … Continued
For years, the Western Pacific Fishery Management Council has sought to obtain permission from the federal government to authorize the killing of green sea turtles (honu, in Hawaiian) for cultural purposes. The turtles around the Hawaiian archipelago are classified as a Distinct Population … Continued
‘Aina Le‘a, Inc., owner of more than 1,000 acres of land near the Big Island town of Waikoloa, has effectively lost a foreclosure lawsuit that was brought against it by the creditor whose loan allowed the company to climb out … Continued
NWHI Sanctuary? The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has launched the process of designating the marine portions of the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument as a national marine sanctuary. NOAA announced on November 19 that it would be taking comments on … Continued