Legal matters of maritime concern in Hawaii, Oceania, and beyond.
The State of Hawaii filed its Brief in Opposition to UFO Chuting's Petition for Certiorari to the U.S. Supreme Court. The brief is here.
The State's argument is several: first, that UFO Chuting's argument regarding the Marine Mammal Protection Act was not presented to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals (and therefore the Supreme Court…
The Ecological Society of America filed an amicus, or friend of the court, brief in support of NRDC in the Winter v. NRDC case pending before the U.S. Supreme Court. Its brief is here.
The Ecological Society of America’s arguments are three-fold:
I. Scientific evidence supports the injunction. The peer-reviewed, published literature has led
…
A recently enacted law in Hawaii is sure to cause some confusion and commotion because of its unintended consequences.
This summer, a law was passed that requires a fee to be paid on freight brought into the state. The Legislature passed the law, the Governor vetoed and the Legislature overrode the veto. The fee is…
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the Coast Guard's security zone for the Superferry (posted earlier here ). In Wong v. Bush (opinion available here), the Ninth Circuit upheld the Coast Guard's security zone created to protect the Superferry in Nawiliwili Harbor on Kauai.
Several Superferry protestors challenged the Coast Guard's security zone…
The U.S. Navy was just sued in federal court in Washington for alleged violations of the National Environmental Policy Act, Marine Mammals Protection Act, the Endangered Species Act and the Administrative Procedures Act. The complaint is available here.
Plaintiffs, PUBLIC EMPLOYEES FOR ENVIRONMENTAL RESPONSIBILITY and the WILD FISH CONSERVANCY allege:
Plaintiffs bring this action for declaratory and injunctive relief to require the Navy to comply with NEPA, and to enjoin the Navy from continuing to engage in Explosive Ordnance Disposal (“EOD”) training operations in Puget Sound until it comes into compliance with NEPA by producing adequate environmental reviews and/or institutes mitigation measures to sufficiently reduce or eliminate the environmental impacts of its EOD training operations. NEPA requires a federal agency to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (“EIS”) for all “major federal actions significantly affecting the quality of the human environment,” prior to undertaking such actions. 42 U.S.C. § 4332(C).
The lawsuit pends in the Western District of Washington.
Today, on behalf of the U.S. Navy League – Honolulu Council, nine retired Navy Admirals, naval warfare experts, and other civic organizations, we filed an amicus brief in support of the U.S. Navy in the Winter v. NRDC case pending at the U.S. Supreme Court. The brief is here.
We represent several major civic…
Today, I lectured at the Lorman Seminar entitled, "Coastal Engineering and Land Use Issues in Hawaii."
These are the slides from my presentation (3MB in PDF).
The California Air Resources Board just voted to regulate shipboard emissions again – just several months after an earlier attempt was struck down by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. The proposed rules and the Board’s “authority” to enact such rules are available here.
Some quick problems:
Board Is Regulating Beyond California territory:
“Regulated
…
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals struck down the Environmental Protection Agency’s 30+ year old regulation exempting vessel “discharges” from the Clean Water Act’s permit requirement.
In Northwest Environmental Associates v. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (opinion here), at issue was a 35 year old regulation which set forth various vessel discharges that did not…
