2010 News

The Hawaii Coastal Zone Management Program is requesting your help to complete a survey. If you use the shoreline or ocean for recreation, work or any other type of use, and/or if you reside near or along the shoreline, please complete the survey at the link provided below. If you can complete the survey by September 8, 2010, your comments and concerns will be counted.
www.surveymonkey.com/s/section309

Na Wai Eha: Streams flow again - along with controversy and conflict
Wailuku Water Co. restored water to the Wailuku River, carrying out the terms of an order by the state Commission on Water Resource Management in June that the company return 12.5 million gallons per day to two of the four streams that make up Na Wai Eha.

"Geotube" project called a failure
A Sprecklesville beach restoration project that used large bags of sand has come under criticism for blocking beach access and damaging the reef.

Injection well work draws attention
The Maui County Department of Environmental Management has issued a call for bids to clean all 18 of its injection wells across the county. Department Director Cheryl Okuma said the cleansing project is routine maintenance to ensure that the wells, which funnel treated wastewater up to 200 feet underground, do not break and result in sewage spills into the ocean. But whenever the county plans to do something with its injection wells, it attracts the attention of local environmental watchdog groups.

Wetlands Information page
Links to info on projects that use wetlands as a tool for cleaning wastewater.

A proposed bill amending rules for development on steep terrain
Read the draft submitted by Councilor Sol Kahoohalahala (PDF file)

Waiale treatment plant report impacted by Na Wai Eha ruling
Maui County has agreed to withdraw its acceptance of the environmental impact statement for the proposed Waiale Road water treatment plant. The project is being studied by Alexander & Baldwin, which would split half of the 9 million gallons per day of potable water with the Department of Water Supply.
See also: Groups reach settlement with Maui County regarding water treatment plant EIS

Sand replenishment effort runs aground
An attempt to slow beach erosion by the Stable Road Beach Restoration Foundation of Spreckelsville has been suspended. Opinions on the project range from "complete failure" to "disappointment" to "overall success", depending on who you ask.

Central District Water Strategies Report Meeting
Participants in the Water Advisory Committee process are encouraged to offer comments and recommendations regarding the Central District Report by providing public testimony at upcoming meetings of the Water Resources Committee of the County Council.

Download the Environment Hawai'i newsletter (PDF file here) with their view of the final Na Wai 'Eha and East Maui streams decisions. The July issue is the latest in a long series of articles that Environment Hawai'i has published about Maui water disputes. We invite you to visit their website at www.environment-hawaii.org and encourage you to subscribe in support of their efforts.

Ahihi-Kinau to remain closed
BLNR votes 2-year extension to draft management plan
The Ahihi-Kinau Natural Area Reserve will remain closed to people for another two years. The Board of Land and Natural Resources voted last month to extend the closure, which had been scheduled to expire Aug. 1. The restrictions will allow Ahihi-Kinau's natural resources to continue to be protected while staff members complete a draft management plan for the area. The reserve was closed to people in 2008, after years of escalating conflicts over human use.

Sierra Club Maui Group comments on the Wailea 670 Draft Environmental Impact Statement

What Rules Maui Water, Law or Sugar?
Michael Levine at Honolulu Civil Beat online asks the question, "Who ultimately controls this invaluable public resource, and how is that power used?"

Ka'anapali Makai Watch "Talk Story" meeting

Honua'ula opponents: EIS remains incomplete
The Maui Planning Commission got the first public look at detailed designs for the long-debated - and for many - long-awaited Honua'ula 1,400-unit housing development in South Maui. Tuesday was the first of two opportunities the commission will have to review, and ultimately pass or fail, what is currently the draft environmental impact statement for the $1.2 billion Honua'ula, formerly known as Wailea 670, development. The county administration also will do a final review of the EIS.

Draft EA posted for Strawberry Guava management
The Hawai'i Department of Agriculture has posted a draft Environmental Assessment (EA) for the release of a natural predator (Tectococcus ovatus, a Brazilian scale insect) for the sustainable management of strawberry guava in Hawai'i. This action is proposed to mitigate the impacts of strawberry guava on native forests, the water supply, and agriculture.

Wastewater Injection Wells May Be Polluting Our Ocean
And the County wants to build more

Pa‘ia Bypass report issued
The Hawai‘i Department of Transportation, in cooperation with the Federal Highway Administration, has prepared an Environmental Impact Statement to evaluate alternatives to improve the roadway capacity, safety, and reliability of Hana Hwy between the intersection of Haleakala Hwy and Hana Hwy and Maliko Gulch on the north side of Central Maui in the Pa‘ia-Ha‘iku region. Potentially significant environmental, economic, and social impacts could result. Download the full EIS here.

Water is the topic at KCA meeting
One of life’s most fundamental needs, clean water, may soon be in short supply on Maui.  And the way we dispose of our wastewater may be causing irreparable harm to our environment. At the June 15 meeting of the Kihei Community Association, representatives of three environmental groups explained how our water is under assault from the land and the sea.  They sounded an alarm that critical issues need to be addressed now to avoid a future crisis.

The Ma'alaea Small Boat Harbor Project is being re-evaluated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the State of Hawai'i Department of Land and Natural Resources - Division of Boating and Ocean Recreation. Over the past forty years, ongoing planning efforts have sought to address navigational safety issues and substandard facilities within Ma'alaea Harbor. Throughout this process, concerns over potential impacts to adjacent surf breaks, coral reefs, and sensitive marine species have been raised by community members and environmental groups. As a result of these concerns, project development has been repeatedly delayed.

Na Wai Eha: Decision in but dispute lingers
HC&S says no victory, rather a reprieve as it tries to survive. Some planning appeal, argue legal precedent is on their side.

Compromise reached on East Maui stream flow case
In a compromise decision that is being called "groundbreaking" and "historic", State Commission on Water Resource Management members chose to restore some of the natural water flow to six East Maui streams.
See also: Water decision meets most demands

Draft EIS for $1.2 billion Honua'ula (Wailea 670) project
Developers are moving forward with plans to construct the $1.2 billion project with 1,400 homes and apartments, an 18-hole golf course, commercial space, trails and parks. The development group recently made public its draft environmental impact statement, a three-volume document containing 2,380 pages of information, pictures, building designs, spreadsheets and maps.
Download the EIS documents here (3 PDF files)

Councilors consider restrictions on injection wells
County Council members heard proposals that would require Environmental Management Dept. to recycle more wastewater and sample more water for contamination before rehabilitating existing injection wells.

Injection wells permit exemption upheld
The Maui Planning Commission voted 5-1 to uphold Planning Director Jeff Hunt's determination that the Division of Wastewater Management is exempt from having to obtain a special management area permit to build two replacement injection wells at the Kahului wastewater treatment plant. The sole dissenting vote came from Commissioner Warren Shibuya, and the five votes in favor were cast by Commissioners Kent Hiranaga, Jack Freitas, Orlando Tagorda, Ward Mardfin and Lori Sablas. Commission Chairman Jonathan Starr did not cast a vote.
see also – Thumbs down on appeal of SMA exemption for Kahului injection wells

Former Makena Resort and Maui Prince Hotel up for April auction
The 1,800-acre property formerly known as Makena Resort and the Maui Prince Hotel will be up for public auction April 29 in the lobby of the Wailuku courthouse. The auction is believed to be the largest foreclosure sale in Maui County history. The South Maui property stretches from Haleakala's slopes, across dryland forests and over lava-rock expanses to beaches. The auction comes after Maui developer Everett Dowling and Morgan Stanley Real Estate defaulted in August on $192.5 million in loans for the original purchase price of $565 million in 2007 from the Japanese firm, Seibu.

Advisory body: Delay opening of Ahihi-Kinau Natural Area Reserve
Fish, turtles and birds have returned since it was closed to people two years ago, but the shutdown is set to expire at the end of July. An advisory group is recommending that the closure be extended until state wildlife officials can complete a master plan for the area.
The Division of Forestry and Wildlife held a meeting to gather public testimony on the proposal, and the Natural Area Reserve Commission is expected to review the recommendation for continued closure at a meeting May 5 in Honolulu. If the commission endorses the idea, it would then go before the Board of Land and Natural Resources for a decision in June.

Friends of reefs getting online home
Coral reef-loving advocacy groups and government agencies are collaborating to simplify ocean monitoring programs in an effort to increase the participation of Maui's "citizen scientists

Hawai'i taxpayers aren't done yet paying for the failed Superferry project
The state Department of Transportation's Harbors Division has awarded a $218,000 contract to Healy Tibbitts Builders Inc. to tow a state-owned barge, which had been used to load vehicles on and off the now-defunct interisland ferry, from Maui's Kahului Harbor to Honolulu. The $10 million barge Manaiakalani is being moved primarily so it can be better protected from the sea conditions at the Kahului port, where it is battered by storm surges. Hawaii Superferry stopped paying insurance on the barge after filing for bankruptcy in May.

Maui could lose tsunami preparedness program
A message from Jonathan Starr, Maui Planning Commission

Moratorium sought on solar installation
Hawaiian Electric told the state Public Utilities Commission earlier this month that it wants to suspend adding new photovoltaic systems to the grid because the growing number of renewable-energy systems poses a threat to the reliability and stability of its transmission system. It is asking the PUC to agree to the moratorium while a group is convened to study reliability issues.

As a counterpoint to HECO's position on renewables, consider this report from the Rocky Mountain Institute:
Keeping the Lights On While Transforming Electric Utilities
Electric utilities operate now much as they did a century ago—but the environment in which they operate is changing dramatically. Potential competitors armed with new technologies, new business models, and greater cultural agility are emerging in many sectors.

Council sends policy plan back to committee
The Maui County Council came close to passing the 2030 General Plan's Countywide Policy Plan on Friday, but instead decided to send it back for further additions. Earlier this month, the County Council had passed the Countrywide Policy Plan on first reading. But council members decided to work on it further in committee after a pair of amendments were introduced.

Water system maps from the recent Kula Community Association Forum –
"Who should get the East Maui stream-water?"

Modernizing Hawaii's environmental review system
Here's a UH blog offering results of a study of Hawaii's EIS system along with some potential fixes. The study is the result of a request by the Hawaii State Legislature to the University of Hawaii.

From Sierra Club Hawai‘i –
Protect Smart Land Use Planning – Preserve Meaningful Public Participation
If you think citizens shouldn't ask tough questions and challenge bad assumptions made by developers, please don't read any further.
The legislature is considering eliminating meaningful public participation from the land use process (HB 2338). Under this measure, counties could ask the State Land Use Commission to reclassify large tracks of land without giving residents the right to intervene, cross-examine witnesses, or put on differing viewing views about the future of their community. This is wrong and counter to a democratic society.

Read Executive Director Irene Bowi's testimony in support of SB2441, which establishes the intentional taking of an endangered species as a class C felony and provides a private right of action to enforce conservation of aquatic life, wildlife, and land plants laws.
"In light of the recent killings of three seals on Kauai and Molokai, it is increasingly clear that stricter penalties and enforcement of laws protecting the monk seal and other endangered species are critical to their survival."

REPORT TO THE LEGISLATURE ON HAWAII’S ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW SYSTEM
(PDF file) - UH Manoa staff conducted this study of the environmental review system and developed legislative recommendations for modernizing Hawaii's system of environmental review.

Council bill would allow wind-powered generators in all county zoning districts
Cities and counties across the United States have been busy the past couple years passing ordinances that allow homes, farms and businesses to install small wind energy systems, or turbines, to meet their electricity needs. Maui County could be next, thanks in part to a bill proposed Tuesday by Council Member Mike Molina, who holds the Makawao-Haiku-Paia residency seat. Mayor Charmaine Tavares, her administration and the Maui Planning Commission also have been working on similar small-scale renewable energy system allowances on a zoning district basis. It's part of a much larger effort by county planners to update and streamline the Maui County Code.

2009 News

Interisland Cable Survey Report Completed
The State of Hawai‘i has announced the completion of the Interisland Cable Project Ocean Floor Survey. The survey indicates that placement of undersea electrical transmission cables is physically possible between the islands of O‘ahu, Maui, Moloka‘i, and Lana‘i. The cable is an integral part of a proposed Interisland Wind project that would transmit up to 400 megawatts of renewable electricity generated from wind farms on Moloka‘i and Lana‘i to O‘ahu and potentially to Maui.

E. Maui water decision deferred
The state Commission on Water Resource Management decided not to make a decision in the contested case over 19 East Maui streams. The deferral until March was considered a win by Native Hawaiian groups. Sugar growers and farmers on the other side of the emotional water debate said they probably could live with compromises suggested by the independent panel.

$312,500 in Grants Benefiting Environmental Protection and Education
Mayor Charmaine Tavares announced that the County has executed grants totaling $312, 500 to Tri-Isle Resource Conservation and Development Council, Inc. and Maui Nui Botanical Gardens in a continued effort to support environmental protection and education.

Read the Planning Director's proposed Draft Maui Island Plan as presented to the Planning Committee. Download a PDF of the entire plan here.

Planners streamline permit processes
For the past year, at the direction of Mayor Charmaine Tavares, the county Department of Planning has quietly been working to streamline and update the county's out-of-date code into a new era of "smart-growth" and "mixed-use" planning.

Competing interests vie for East Maui water
After a full day of testimony before the state Commission on Water Resource Management, the panel likely will make a decision today on how much water to restore to 19 East Maui streams. Late Wednesday evening, commissioners finished listening to public comments after seven hours of testimony and about a two-hour staff presentation at the Paia Community Center. Commission members planned to reconvene at 9:30 a.m. today and said they would render a decision, make amendments or send it back to staff members with proposed changes and conduct another meeting at a later date. No matter what is decided today, the complex and emotional issue has pitted HC&S and its supporters - even the Hawaii Democratic Party - against taro farmers, environmentalists and Native Hawaiians who also say they need the water to restore the host culture, aquatic life, flora and fauna.
Read also – Attorney for taro farmers calls recommendations 'ludicrous'

Humpback Whale Sanctuary Seeks Advisors
NOAA's Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary is seeking to fill eight primary seats and eight alternate seats on its advisory council. The council represents the public's interests in sanctuary matters and provides advice to the sanctuary superintendent and state co-manager. Additionally, the HIHWNMS will be one of the first sanctuaries in the country to recruit a youth member seat to participate on the advisory council.
Applications are due by Jan. 31, 2010. To receive an application kit or for further information, please contact council coordinator Joe Paulin via e-mail at Joseph.Paulin@noaa.gov, by phone at 808-397-2651, ext. 257, or visit the sanctuary website at: http://hawaiihumpbackwhale.noaa.gov.

Remarkable Aloha – The teachings and legacy of Uncle Ed Lindsey
"Ed Lindsey was a friend and hero to many, and a spirited warrior for the `aina. Though we will miss him in our daily musings, his journeys and work are now complete, and he is now among the ancestors we may call to bless our endeavors."

'A pledge to preserve open space on Maui'
About 11,300 acres on the leeward slopes of Haleakala on Maui will be dedicated to agricultural use, in a plan to preserve ranching and the rolling green hills at Ulupalakua. The agricultural easements awarded to Maui Coastal Land Trust consist of two parcels, one of 6,000 acres and a second of 5,328 acres, stretching from the ocean to the 6,000-foot elevation.

County Seeking Eligible Project Proposals to Include in the Community Development Block Grant 2010 Annual Action Plan
The County of Maui Community Development Block Grant Program announced that it expects to receive approximately $2 million for the CDBG program and is seeking eligible project proposals to include in its 2010 Annual Action Plan.

USDA Rural Development program now accepting energy applications
The Rural Energy for America Program, or REAP, is looking for projects to be awarded in 2010. Businesses and producers in rural Hawaii and the Western Pacific looking to create renewable energy, or make energy-saving improvements may be able to finance up to 75 percent of eligible project costs through the program. Stand-alone grants can be awarded up to 25 percent of total eligible costs.

Cold ocean water to be turned into air conditioning

Planning Committee completes review of Countywide Policy Plan 2030

Read a draft of the Central District Final Candidate Strategies Report – intended to serve as a broadly distributed document for review of the major strategies being considered for the Central District in the Maui County Water Use and Development Plan

Proposed development projects map for the Makena and Wailea regions as of 2009
(Download a printable PDF file here)

The Lingle administration, attempting to balance the state budget, has authorized the layoff of about 118 Department of Agriculture employees. This will mean that most imported produce will NOT be inspected on Maui, but in Honolulu before eventually being shipped by barge to Maui. The delay will cause higher costs and lower quality due to the spoilage of produce.
This chaotic situation may even allow some produce and other goods to enter Hawai'i un-inspected. (Sign our online petition here or download and submit a PDF petition here).
The improvement to our existing fine inspection regime was hard won over the past twenty years. It will be lost with this dismantling of the DOA wall of protection. The Ag inspectors who are targeted for lay-offs have intercepted the Brown Tree Snake on eight occasions, and the dangerous Red Imported Fire Ant on two occasions.
The Lingle administration's abandonment of this essential infrastructure leaves us vulnerable to a flood of invasive species that threaten our economy, health and way of life. There is an additional problem for the export farms and nurseries who may be denied certification of their exports, thus closing hundreds of small businesses with the loss of numerous jobs.
Cutting Ag Inspectors will save only $5.9 Million annually, but the negative impacts will likely be measured in the hundreds of millions of dollars. The Dept. of Ag lay-offs are grossly dis-proportionately larger than other State departments.
Read more – Agricultural inspector layoffs slammed
and – Big Isle ag interests lobby at state Capitol to keep inspectors

Maui can get most energy in renewable ways
Maui residents can meet the goal of getting 95 percent of their energy from renewable sources by 2020, but the community will need to tap into all potential renewable power sources to do so, according to a report by the Maui County Energy Alliance.
That will mean finding ways of encouraging more conservation, more development of wind farms and more use of photovoltaic technology in the short term, and exploring how to develop geothermal energy in a way that is culturally sensitive in the long term, according to the report. It also encourages Maui County to look into harnessing hydroelectric power from its water systems, and developing biogas production and waste-to-energy systems in its sewage plants and landfills.

Makena Resort investors default on loan
Skittish lenders and real estate buyers apparently accomplished what hundreds of protesters couldn't: halt the massive Makena Resort development in South Maui. At least for now. Everett Dowling, the Wailuku developer who spearheaded the project, said on Tuesday that he hopes to be back on board with new investors in six months.
However, on Monday, Honolulu attorneys for the resort's trustee, Wells Fargo Bank, filed a complaint in 2nd Circuit Court alleging that the partnership of Dowling Co. Inc. and Morgan Stanley Real Estate, together called Makena Land LLC, defaulted on the original $192.5 million loan to purchase the 1,800-acre Makena Resort.

Walking downriver for justice and sustainability
As with many other things in life, we tend to take water for granted. Yet water is amazing, and deserving of our great respect and stewardship. An upcoming march in support of restoring in-stream flows seeks to remind us of the importance of water not just to ourselves, but to all life.

GMO Taro ban update
The Committee on Agriculture, Economic Development and Recreation chaired by Councilmember Jo Anne Johnson passed the GMO Taro Ban bill (09-100) out of committee to the full council.

Historic Stream Protection Effort needs your Kokua
Efforts by Hui o Na Wai ‘Eha, Maui Tomorrow and Earthjustice to restore continuous mauka to makai stream flows to the four great waters of ‘Iao, Waiehu, Waihe‘e and Waikapu are moving forward through the state’s contested case hearing process.

A Clean Energy Future For Maui and Hawaii
Download a whitepaper (PDF file) written by Creative Conflict Solutions which documents the opinions of key stakeholders in Hawaii’s clean energy movement, including: solar, wind and geothermal contractors, a bio-fuel company owner, electric utility administrators, the Mayor of Maui County, leaders of non-profits invested in sustainable living and energy innovation, environmentalists and native Hawaiians. Through an in-depth interview process, each of these stakeholders spoke of their visions, their interests and their issues.

Maui Island Plan documents

Hawaii paying nearly twice market rate for solar power
The state signed 20-year power purchase agreements with Hoku Scientific Inc. last fall. It failed to get a large number of competitive bids, which could have lowered the price. The state is paying 38 cents a kilowatt hour on Maui and Kaua'i for solar power. In Hilo the rate is 33 cents a kilowatt hour, and in Kona the rate is 32 cents a kilowatt hour. Hawaiian Electric Co.'s rates for medium and large customers on Maui this month vary from 16 cents to 21 cents a kilowatt hour

Hydrogen power plant proposed for Molokai
A New Mexico-based energy technology company has chosen Molokai for one of four sites on which it plans to build what it calls the world's first utility-scale, zero-emissions hydrogen power plants. The Molokai plant, proposed by Jetstream Wind Inc., would use electricity from wind or solar or a combination of the two to separate water into hydrogen and oxygen. The hydrogen would then be burned in a turbine - similar to what is used in a natural-gas-fired power plant - and would generate enough electricity to power 6,000 homes and businesses, the company said.

State grant to help train for Maui green jobs
A $100,000 state grant to provide training for green jobs will unite the forces of Maui Economic Opportunity Inc., which received the grant from the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations, Maui Community College's VITEC and the Sustainable Living Institute of Maui. They will develop two programs in small business and residential energy management, and in commercial building energy management. MEO Chief Executive Officer Sandy Baz noted that next year all residential construction will require solar water heating, which will require trained people to maintain. The partners are forming an advisory council of interested business leaders to ensure the curriculum will meet business needs.

ACTION ALERT
Help Stop the Hawai'i Swordfish Fishery Expansion
Sea Turtles and Whales under Threat from Longline Hooks

The Kaho'olawe Island Reserve Commission has announced the online availability of the Kaho'olawe Island Reserve Strategic Plan 2009-2013.
"Our job is to restore the island and its waters and to increase the culturally appropriate, safe use of the Reserve toward the fulfillment of the vision for Kahoolawe," said KIRC Executive Director Mike Näho'opi'i. "Our updated strategic plan for the Reserve, outlines the goals we must achieve in the next five years in order to fulfill that vision."

Presentation casts sunlight on island solar possibilities
the Hawaii PV Coalition spent Saturday morning on Maui lobbying local politicians and media members to promote policies and laws that would make the use of widespread alternative energy - particularly solar - more reality than vision.

First phase of solar photovoltaic array for Makena plant dedicated
The first phase of a solar photovoltaic array that will make the Makena Resort's wastewater treatment plant the state's first net-zero energy reclamation plant was dedicated.

 

Isle luxury projects in limbo over financing
Keaka, Everett Dowling's development company, was at the Maui Planning Commission to seek an amendment to permits for its Maluaka project to drastically downsize the project from 71 luxury condominiums to 13 lots plus recreational facilities. The commission favored it, also praising Dowling for seeking LEED "green" certification on his development.
Demand for luxury housing is down, but it appears that lack of financing is an even greater impediment to developments and redevelopments along Maui's golden shores.

A&B property designated as important ag lands on Maui
The state Land Use Commission has unanimously approved a request by Alexander & Baldwin to designate more than 27,000 acres on Maui as important agricultural lands. The designation includes lands currently being used for sugar cane cultivation and other farming activity in Central Maui and Makawao. But it does not include some areas where A&B has previously indicated an interest in development, including lands along the island's north shore and in Maalaea and Haliimaile. County and state officials said they would have liked the designation to include the additional fields.

County's Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle Averages 64 MPG
The County-owned Toyota Prius Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle achieved an average performance of 64 miles per gallon, according to the first monthly report from the U.S. Department of Energy. The report, which provides data for the North American PHEV Demonstration, also lists a high of 97mpg for city driving and a low of 40mpg for highway driving.

Rural Energy for America Program (REAP) Accepting Applications NOW
Only rural small businesses and farmers/ranchers are eligible. To qualify as a farmer/rancher, the entity, including corporate parents, affiliates, and subsidiaries, must derive at least 50% of total income from the farm operations. To qualify as a small business, the entity, including corporate parents, affiliates, and subsidiaries, must meet the definition based on the Small Business Administration guidelines.  (Download PDf file here)

County Maps Showing Planned Development on Maui
All projects filed at Planning Department

Are GMOs Safe?

Big on Bamboo

The Drowning of Hawaii

Government to repossess Hawaii Superferry boats built at Austal
The U.S. Maritime Administration says that it plans to repossess and sell a pair of fast ferries built at Austal USA for Hawaii Superferry Inc. Hawaii Superferry owes $136.8 million to the agency — commonly known as MARAD — which guaranteed the loans used to buy the ferries. It has another $22.9 million outstanding on a pair of loans from Austal.
MARAD reported this week that it plans to take possession of the ferries, now docked at Atlantic Marine in Mobile, as soon as it receives approval from bankruptcy court in Delaware. Hawaii Superferry Inc. filed for Chapter 11 reorganization in that state May 30. The ferry vessels were purchased in 2004 for a combined price of $190 million, according to Austal, which now puts their value at about $87 million each, or $174 million together.

Hawaii enacts legislation on electric cars, alternative energy
Hawai'i will become one of only a few states that require large parking lots to reserve spaces for electric cars and to provide recharging capacity if a bill passed by the Legislature is signed into law.The measure would take Hawai'i one step closer to developing a viable electric-vehicle market, supporters say.

Wind farm’s draft EIS open for public comment
The wind farm that Maui Tomorrow and others worked hard to get online has now decided to expand.

Can algae save the world again?
The microscopic green plants cleaned up the earth's atmosphere millions of years ago and scientists hope they can do it now by helping remove greenhouse gases and create new oil reserves.

Wind, Waves, and Watts
Grays Harbor Ocean Energy Company up in Washington state is proposing offshore wind farms for the NewEngland coast. One item of interest for island residents is that the supports anchoring each wind turbine platform to the ocean floor would be designed in a way to turn wave action into electricity as well.

Shoreline protection in Hawai‘i is based on Chapter 205A of the Hawaii Revised Statutes. A proposed bill (SB1318) before of the State Senate will repeal 205A if it becomes law. In addition to eliminating all current protection of our shorelines, it will eliminate the State Office of Planning. Anyone who feels strongly that current and future efforts to research, manage and protect our diminishing shoreline resources should continue, may want to offer comment on Senate Bill 1318 to their legislators. A copy of SB1318 is available at www.capitol.hawaii.gov

Makena Development
Your Voice is needed! Wailea 670 is doing a Environmental Impact Statement  The first step is an "EIS Preparation Notice" (EISPN) that the public can comment on. Deadline for comments is April 7. If you had concerns during the hearing process, please ask to be a consulted party.

Navy May Lease Both Superferry Ships The Navy will also lease four joint high speed vessels next year, instead of two, until DoD takes delivery of its own ships in 2011, Gates said. The Navy leases high-speed catamarans, such as the Swift, now on a humanitarian deployment in the Caribbean, but has ordered its own purpose-built JHSVs from the Austal shipyard in Mobile, Ala.

Conspiracy Ferry Hawai‘i's Superferry ended its choppy ride last week, leaving tantalizing clues, but no proof, that the whole venture was about more than providing "reliable commercial service in these islands, as CEO Thomas B. Fargo insisted at his dawn press conference. "You look at the players involved, you have to question their motives, there are some pretty significant defense contracts involved, said Rep. Hermina Morita, who chairs the House Energy and Environmental Protection Committee.

Secretary Gates Adds Possible Superferry Vessel Lease to DOD Line up Defense Secretary Robert Gates' recommendation Monday that the Navy buy three, not two, littoral combat ships in fiscal 2010 is good news for a program that at least initially struggled with cost overruns. Gates also said Monday he wants to charter two additional Joint High Speed Vessels, which are used for transporting troops and equipment.

Hanabusa and Hemmings Team Up to Gut Environmental Law
The plan would eliminate secondary impact considerations during an environmental review process.

A proposal to build wind and wave energy platforms within a Hawai‘i whale sanctuary
Grays Harbor Ocean Energy Co. wants to build up to 100 raised platforms at Penguin Bank in the channel between O'ahu and Moloka'i. The area is used by humpback whales, Hawaiian monk seals and for commercial and recreational fishing.
"Great project, wrong location," said Irene Bowie, executive director of Maui Tomorrow.
"It's going to be a big, big problem," said Moloka'i resident Halona Kaopuiki, whose family has fished the area for four generations. "We're really against this."

Superferry Progress Report After more than a full year of operation, it's time to give the albatross of inter-island travel known as the Hawaii Superferry a progress report. Has the high-speed ferry service given indications it can be profitable in the long term? Has there been justification for Gov. Linda Lingle leading the charge, with state legislators close behind, to rewrite the state's environmental laws to allow Superferry to operate? Has the entire state been taken for a choppy, 40 knots per hour, $45 million ride? And is this the biggest boondoggle in state history?

New state program pays farmers to restore unused farmlands
The state of Hawaii has started a new program that will pay ranchers and farmers to plant native species on land they aren't using for crops. The $67 million program is expected to restore habitat for endangered species, reduce soil erosion and prevent fertilizers from draining into streams that flow into the ocean.

What's the real reason that the Hawaii Superferry is leaving?  Is HSF happy to leave its failing ferry business and get a lucrative DoD contract?

Musings on a Supreme Court Slap Down In a 113-page opinion, the Justices ruled that Act 2 was actually written to benefit just one company — Hawaii Superferry — despite language in the law that referred to a “large capacity ferry vessel.”

Hawaii Superferry Hawaii Court Backs Protestors vs. Superferry
(But the Saga Continues)
This recent article in The Nation offers a summary of the Hawaii Superferry reaction to a Supreme Court ruling that the company has no legal authority to continue its operations.

Draft Environmental Impact Statement Comments The examination of alternatives is incomplete... Since the ferry's inception, how often have the ferry's services been cancelled due to high seas and maintenance? What are the maximum wave conditions that the vessel can operate under?

County Council Backs GMO Home Rule  Council Member Sol Kaho'ohalahala introduced a resolution at the regular council meeting in opposition to a bill from the state House of Representatives. The House bill, which has now passed to the state Senate for review, would preempt any county's ability to ban or restrict the testing, growth and sale of genetically modified plant organisms (GMOs).

State set to review Pu'unani proposal
Developers of Pu'unani will need district changes approved by the state Land Use Commission and new zoning from the Maui County Planning Commission and County Council before the 208-acre project gets under way.The new subdivision would build 754 units in Wailuku, south of the corner of Honoapiilani Highway and Kuikahi Drive.

Public comment deadline on Superferry EIS nears Brad Parsons says, "OK, time to get going on this, commenting on the Act 2 P-EIS (Pseudo-EIS). Have been waiting for the Supreme Court to do the right thing, and hopefully they will. For now though, we gotta get going."

Wind Wave Platforms

Protecting Molokai's Sea 'Molokai's Fisheries Bill' was introduced in the House by Mele Carroll and in the Senate by Kalani English. It has passed the first reading in both and will be headed for hearings if all goes well. As of this writing, 14 different Senators have signed on to the introduction of the bill.

Council reviews Residential Workforce Housing Act
The Public Services Committee began its required review of the legislation crafted to increase affordable housing on Maui. Amendments may be proposed by committee members that will require approval before the full Council.

Residential Workforce Housing Act review begins
The Public Services Committee will begin this week reviewing 30 pages of detailed administrative rules that expand on the Residential Workforce Housing Act. The two-year old legislation was created to require new subdivisions to provide 40 percent to 50 percent of homes at a price affordable for local residents.

Wind, Waves, and Watts
Grays Harbor Ocean Energy Company is proposing offshore wind farms for the New England coast. Of interest to island residents is that the supports anchoring each wind turbine platform to the ocean floor would be designed in a way to turn wave action into electricity as well.

Watchdog Millionaire
Volunteer groups working on conservation, preservation, restoration, planning and sustainability efforts on Maui and throughout Hawaii have many successes to show for their work. Yet much more slips through their fingers each year, due to insufficient staff and funding and the enormity of the challenges they face.

Draft Act 2 Impact Statement

State panel reclassifies Kihei land from ag to urban
Although Maui County officials opposed the idea, the state Land Use Commission voted 8-1 to approve a district boundary amendment from agricultural to urban that may lead to a $150 million, 600-unit housing development in Kihei.

County Planners seek limited water use by projects In a dramatic departure from past practice, the Maui Planning Department wants a developer to agree to limit water usage in a project. That, at least, was the ideal of planner Paul Fasi. As it played out over the past few months, it looks as if he persuaded A&B Wailea LLC to agree to a three-year monitoring program, after redesigning the landscaping at its Wailea MF-10 project to reduce projected irrigation use.

EU Parliament Votes to Ban Farm Use of Pesticides The European parliament today voted by a sweeping majority to tighten the use of pesticides in agriculture and to ban 22 treatments.

What could be more tied to economy than protecting our water supply?
In Hawaiian, the word for water is wai. The word for wealth is waiwai. When it comes to infrastructure, one of the obviously very important issues on Maui is water supply.

Don’t Inject, REdirect
A newly created coalition, DIRE (Don’t Inject, Redirect) is working to improve the ability of the Lahaina wastewater facility to bring the majority of its effluent up to a level that meets health and safety standards for reuse.

Fruit from backyards of Maui picked for the Food Bank A new Maui organization is bringing together community volunteers to help feed the island's hungry by harvesting the unwanted yield of backyard fruit trees.

Sierra Club Outings – Explore the back trails of Maui by foot and become a certified hike leader

Hike with the Kipahulu 'Ohana – East Maui nonprofit offers an authentic Hawaiian experience at "the last Hawaiian place"

PSA on YouTube for More Fish in the Sea Festival
30-second video for the More Fish in the Sea festival, Saturday April 4th, 2 - 10 pm at Maui Community College, Great Lawn & Pilina Building. For more information visit morefishhawaii.com

Panel to review housing ordinance

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