Lingle may sign 'ceded lands' moratorium

These vast areas of ceded lands span the Hawaiian Islands, and they include airport, resort, conservation, university and forest lands. They generate revenues in excess of $75 million yearly for the state.

Sen. Clayton Hee, a former OHA chairman, said state lawmakers need to step in because it's likely the U.S. Supreme Court will rule that these lands are the property of the state - not the Hawaiians.  ''We want to do this as soon as possible, and ideally before the Supreme Court rules,'' said Hee, D-Kahuku-Kaneohe. ''It wouldn't pre-empt the Supreme Court. It would fortify the argument . . . that no land sales should occur until reconciliation with the native people occurs.''

The high court will hear the case Feb. 25, and lawmakers are racing to pass a measure before the court can make a decision.

Gov. Linda Lingle has said she would likely sign a bill that calls for a moratorium on sales of ceded lands into law, depending on its details.

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Rail Contractors vs HGEA: Use of rail fund worth a look, Hanabusa says

"You have some people at the Legislature and the executive branch reaching across the street into the pockets of the City and County of Honolulu, saying we want to use that to help balance the budget...."

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Puna Geothermal eyes Hualalai, may drill test well this year

(OHA won't get intere$ted until PGV proves its economic viability.  Then the prote$ter$ will be ordered to begin.)

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Berkeley Daily Planet: Global Warming is Over, we stopped it

It’s barely three years since Al Gore put global warming on the map with his video, An Inconvenient Truth. Global warming was barely on the public radar before then. Recent events show that we have made significant progress on the issue. Despite the despair in much of the media, echoed in the pages and on the web screens of the Planet, it’s very clear that due to concerted effort both nationally and worldwide, we’ve turned the corner on global warming and are now moving the other way.

RELATED:  Low priority, Global Warming dead last in poll,  Gaia theory originator Lovelock "Green stuff is verging on a giant scam"  (verging???)

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Sewage keeps North Shore waters off limits

Residents were advised to stay out of Kaukonahua Stream and Kaiaka Bay on the North Shore while 1.2 million gallons a day of treated waste water normally used for agricultural irrigation was diverted to those waterways early this week. 

...the waste water has been through tertiary treatment, including disinfection, so it looks like drinking water and is odorless and quite clean. "We believe that the discharge is cleaner than the water coming from the Wahiawa Reservoir," Wong said yesterday. "Because of the treatment process, the ultraviolet disinfection, there are virtually no bacteria in there."

(But releasing sewage with only primary treatment s OK on the other side of the O`ahu?)

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