Hawaii's State Environmental Law (HRS 343) provides environmental
review triggers for the use of state land, state money, county land and
county money. Act 55 (2004) expands coverage to major projects that are
"privately financed ... on private lands." On the final reading of Act
55, no legislator opposed the bill and the Governor signed the bill
during session.
Superferry CEO John L. Garibaldi, married to Judge Collette Garibaldi,
asserts that using $40M in state funds does not trigger an EIS.
The Council on Environmental Quality, which oversees the National
Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) states on its website that an EIS
"includes all reasonable alternatives, which must be rigorously
explored and objectively evaluated," but city officials assert that
some options are off the table for the proposed Honolulu transit system.
BlueEarth proposes the largest biorefinery in the U.S. but asserts it
should be exempt from the refinery trigger.
Henry Curtis
Executive Director
Life of the Land
http://www.westhawaiitoday.com/articles/2007/09/01/opinion/letters_-_your_voice/letters02.txt
