Life of the Land will celebrate its 55th anniversary in February. Mahalo for those who have supported our efforts. We need your continued support. Life of the Land is a 501(c)3 charitable organization. Donations are tax-deductible. Energy The Public Utilities...
LIFE OF THE LAND, by and through its attorney, Diego Rivera (Law Office of Diego A. Rivera, LLLC) filed a legal brief with the Public Utilities Commission on November 4, 2024. Hawaiian Electric Company requested that the Public Utilities Commission open a new...
Life of the Land asserts that several reforms could be made to make the state legislature operate in a more democratic way. Committees The Legislature exempted itself from the sunshine law. We have witnessed the hearing notice being posted after the hearing is over....
The deadly Lahaina fire is transforming the way wildfire is viewed in Hawai`i. Life of the Land spend the past year reviewing fire mitigation approaches and regulatory policies in Hawai`i, California, Oregon, Australia, and elsewhere. Life of the Land asserts that...
Pearl Harbor is contaminated. The military, the regulators, and the community know it. But the military has defined part of it to be contamination free using curious logic. The military asserts that the Pearl Harbor watershed covers 20% of Oahu, that industrial,...
The Hawaiian Electric Companies needs a pot of money on hand because they spend money for fuel, operations and capital expenditures before they are reimbursed through ratepayer bills. Therein lies a problem. HECO`s credit rating dropped to junk bond status following...
Hu Honua`s long-running tree-burning fiasco has entered its 17th year. Hu Honua Bioenergy LLC was incorporated on April 8, 2008, to burn trees to generate electricity to be sold to Hawaiian Electric Company (HECO) subsidiary Hawaii Electric Light Company (HELCO)....
I was in a suburb of New York City to spend time with my father during his final week of life. Early on the morning of August 9, in the space of two minutes, I learned of his death and of the Maui fires. Two emotionally intense events. It is critical that the...
The 2018 Paradise fire in California and the 2023 Lahaina fire had much in common. The utility detected faults on the transmission line. Shortly thereafter, fire erupted in an area suffering from drought, high winds, low humidity, and available fuel in the form...
By Olivia Chang, Life of the Land intern and a fossil fuel divestment organizer with Olin Climate Justice. Aviation accounts for at least a quarter of Hawaii’s emissions, and more if we account for emissions from international and military flights. The aviation...
Guest post by Olivia Chang. As the narrative around the climate crisis has shifted from a debate over its existence to one where polluters claim they are meaningfully committed to climate action, it can be difficult to distinguish between real solutions and...
Hurricane Lane passed to the south of the Hawai`i chain in August 2018. Intense 70-mph winds ignited a wildfire on the parched hillsides and fields above Lahaina. Towering walls of flames scorched more than 2,800 acres, devoured at least 21 structures, including 13...