#Earthjustice

Gov. Josh Green is coming under pressure from dozens of Native Hawaiian and other community advocacy organizations to appoint a “loea,” or expert, in Native Hawaiian water management to the state Commission on Water Resource Management.

The Hawai‘i Supreme Court ruled in a 4-1 decision today that the pet industry’s environmental review of commercial aquarium fish collection in West Hawai‘i is legally adequate.

Conservation groups and the Grand Wailea Resort have reached a settlement agreement to protect endangered Hawaiian petrels (‘ua‘u) while the resort seeks a permit from the US Fish and Wildlife Service.

The Hawaiʻi Supreme Court on Thursday issued a landmark decision in the long-running water case over Nā Wai ‘Ehā, “The Four Waters” of Waihe‘e, Waiehu, Wailuku, and Waikapū in central Maui. In a 134-page unanimous opinion authored by Justice Sabrina McKenna, the court ruled in favor of Maui community groups Hui o Nā Wai ‘Ehā and Maui Tomorrow Foundation, who were represented by Earthjustice, and joined by the Office of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA).

After a settle agreement on Thursday, the State of Hawaiʻi will now recognize children’s constitutional rights to a life-sustaining climate. The settlement involves mobilizing the Hawaiʻi Department of Transportation (HDOT) to develop a plan to decarbonize the state’s transportation system by 2045.

A coalition of conservation groups today filed a second lawsuit to protect endangered Hawaiian petrels (ʻuaʻu) from lights at the Grand Wailea Resort on Maui. Today’s lawsuit was filed by Earthjustice on behalf of Conservation Council for Hawaiʻi and the Center for Biological Diversity.

Earthjustice officials said they are asking to extend the deadline to Aug. 14 for public comment on Maui County’s proposal to reduce the amount of treated sewage entering the ocean from injection wells at the Lahaina Wastewater Treatment Plant due to the Lahaina wildfire.

The Hawai‘i Department of Health is seeking public comment on a proposed Clean Water Act permit for the County of Maui’s Lahaina Wastewater Reclamation Facility. This is the first time a permit is being proposed for a wastewater treatment facility that discharges to the ocean via groundwater.

Hawaiʻi Wildlife Fund co-founder Hannah Bernard is happy with the successes of her groups on Maui and Hawaiʻi islands, including the scores of volunteers who help to clean up marine debris. The nonprofit educational organization is part of a broad movement to protect endangered species, such as the Hawksbill and green sea turtle, and to take measures to maintain clean coastal waters. Maui Now writer Gary Kubota talks to Bernard about Hawaiʻi Wildlife Fund’s successes and future challenges in this People of Maui series.

A judge has ruled in favor of Hawaiʻi youth plaintiffs in the climate case, Navahine F. v. Hawaiʻi Department of Transportation. The case argues the state transportation system causes high levels of greenhouse gas emissions, violating the youth plaintiffs’ state constitutional rights and public trust doctrine. The case will now proceed to trial.

Earthjustice filed suit today on behalf of the Conservation Council for Hawai‘i and native Hawaiian cultural practitioner Mike Nakachi seeking protection of a host of threatened and endangered Pacific Ocean species from harm.

The youth plaintiffs contend that the Hawai‘i Department of Transportation operates a transportation system that emits high levels of greenhouse gasses, violating their state constitutional rights.

In accordance with a recent settlement agreement, the Grand Wailea Resort on Maui has implemented protective measures, including reducing lighting, to help protect the endangered ‘ua‘u, or Hawaiian petrel.

Bill 21 amends Maui County’s lighting ordinance to increase protections for Hawai‘i’s threatened and endangered seabirds and sea turtles by requiring outdoor light fixtures to limit blue light. It will be phased in over three years.

The lawsuit says the endangered ‘ua‘u seabirds, which breed nowhere else on the planet, have become disoriented by the resort’s bright lights as they navigate between breeding colonies and the ocean.

Earthjustice and the Sierra Club of Hawai‘i expressed “deep frustration” at the US Navy’s decision to appeal the state’s emergency order to defuel the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility.

The Hawaiʻi State Board of Land and Natural Resources voted Friday to reject a final environmental impact statement submitted by the Pet Industry Joint Advisory Council and aimed at reopening the aquarium pet trade on Oʻahu.

Conservation groups in Hawai‘i represented by Earthjustice sent a notice of intent to sue the Grand Wailea Resort on Maui for alleged violations of the Endangered Species Act if the hotel does not fix lights that the groups says are impacting native seabirds.

“Maui County is making investments to make its wastewater system more efficient and environmentally friendly, and that effort will continue regardless of the outcome in any court case,” Council Chair Alice L. Lee said today.

Conservation groups, Native Hawaiian fishers and cultural practitioners sued the Hawai‘i Board of Land and Natural Resources today to protect West Hawai‘i’s reefs and coastal areas from commercial extraction of fish and other wildlife for the aquarium pet trade.