Creating environmental courts to achieve law-based protection of the environment is new to the United States. While 41 countries have developed environmental courts, the U.S. has only two — in Vermont and Hawaii — and Hawaii’s jurisdiction is the broadest. Every natural resource can fall within its purview: water; forests; streams; beaches; air; mountains; terrestrial and marine animals and plants; even state parks with their associated issues of litter, graffiti and illegal camping.

To understand the new court’s creation, we must ask the question: “What do we care about?” The land, air and water that surround us give Hawaii life, and form the core of our needs for health, natural beauty and economic security. Even our state motto recognizes that our lives depend on how we treat the environment: “The life of the land is perpetuated in righteousness.” 

The Hawaii Constitution also contains provisions unique among state constitutions, mandating that natural resources, including “natural beauty,” be protected for “future generations.” No other state has elevated protection of “natural beauty” to the level of a mandate. Hawaii’s Constitution also is unique in its guarantee to every citizen “the right to a clean and healthful environment.”

Thus, with the establishment of the environmental court, Hawaii seeks to ensure a fair and effective forum for issues affecting our environment.

A second question also helps define the new court: “What is happening to what we care about most?” What is happening to the land, air and water upon which our communities depend?

At the local level, the answer affirms the creation of Hawaii’s environmental court. There is wide recognition that Hawaii is considered the ideal world environment — a beacon of hope for the globe. As a result, there’s been international interest in Hawaii’s new court. Signifying its importance, the presiding Judge of India’s National Green Tribunal, the Honorable Justice Swatanter Kumar, a foremost world environmental court leader, joined an all-day educational symposium about the new court held Friday at the William S. Richardson School of Law at the University of Hawaii.

While Hawaii’s environment is a treasure for humanity, it must be treated justly. This is where the Environmental Court will play a major role.

Already Hawaii faces resource challenges. These issues could well involve legal decision-making by Hawaii’s environmental court.

>> The Pearl Harbor Aquifer, as the most important on Oahu, provides about 100 million gallons per day of fresh groundwater mainly for public supply. But groundwater head levels in Pearl Harbor, which supplies 60 percent of Oahu’s municipal water, have declined by half since 1910.

>> On Maui, the Iao aquifer’s water levels have declined to 50 percent of predevelopment levels, and the transition zone level of the freshwater lens has shrunk from 823 feet in 1985 to 667 feet in 2007.

>> Forest watersheds that replenish aquifers are also at risk. As the Pearl Harbor aquifer diminishes, so does the watershed on which its recharge depends. Hawaii has already lost half of its natural forest cover.

>> The global issue of climate change is a signature environmental issue for Hawaii, and its beaches. Mayor Kirk Caldwell recently proposed a special global warming tax to address effects of sea level rise on Waikiki beach, warning that Hawaii’s iconic beach faces inundation because of climate change.

>> Hawaii’s coral reefs, the foundation of the state’s aquatic ecosystems, are also at risk.

Does the ordering of all natural resource laws under one court matter? The short answer is yes. The strategic positioning of environmental legal issues with one court offers efficient and consistent application of Hawaii’s environmental laws.

The great promise of Hawaii’s environmental court is matched by the tremendous partnership behind it. Every county prosecutor, the state public defender, the attorney general, the natural resources section of the Hawaii Bar Association, the chief judges of every island, the Department of Land and Natural Resources, and the Richardson Law School have all joined to make the court an innovative arbiter for Hawaii’s natural resources.

This moment is historic! Hawaii stands ready to move forward with fair, effective and consistent protection of its renowned natural environment.

OVERVIEW

» The goal of the Hawaii Environmental Courts is to ensure the fair, consistent and effective resolution of cases involving the environment. The system was established as Act 218 in 2014, and enacted as Hawaii Revised Statues Chapter 604A "Environmental Courts."

» Hawaii is the second U.S. state to have a statewide environmental court; Vermont founded the nation’s first statewide environmental court in 1990. Around the world, 350 environmental courts of some kind are operating in 41 countries.

» Hawaii’s Environmental Courts are a court system of exclusive jurisdiction, and will have broad jurisdiction, covering water, forests, streams, beaches, air and mountains, along with terrestrial and marine life.

» Key contributors to the implementation of the Environmental Courts include the police, prosecuting attorneys, public defenders, the private defense bar, corporation counsels, the state Attorney General, the Department of Land and Natural Resources Division of Conservation and Resources Enforcement, court administrators, chief judges, and District and Circuit Court judges.

FUNCTION

» Hawaii’s Environmental Courts will launch on July 1. New cases will be placed on the Environmental Court calendars; current cases will not be transferred. The Judiciary will begin keeping statistics on the numbers of EC cases.

» Environmental Court judges have been designated in the District and Circuit Courts statewide.

» Initial appearances for Environmental Court criminal cases will be placed on the regular arraignment and plea calendars in their respective districts. After the initial appearance in court, subsequent proceedings will be placed appropriately on the Environmental Court calendar in their respective District and Circuit Courts.

» Each circuit has scheduled their environmental calendars for specific days of each month. When judges do not have environmental cases, they will hear other types of cases.

» Parties may appeal rulings from the respective District or Circuit Courts in accordance with the Hawaii Rules of Appellate Procedure, through the Hawaii Intermediate Court of Appeals, and finally to the Hawaii Supreme Court.

JUDGES

The assigned Environmental Court judges, effective July 1:

FIRST CIRCUIT

» Circuit Court: Jeannette H. Castagnetti*, Karen T. Nakasone

» District Court: James H. Ashford, William M. Domingo, Shirley M. Kawamura, Lono J. Lee, Linda K. Luke, Clarence A. Pacarro, Barbara P. Richardson, Paul B. Wong

SECOND CIRCUIT

» Circuit Court: Joseph E. Cardoza*

» District Court: Kelsey T. Kawano, Adrianne N. Heely

THIRD CIRCUIT

» Circuit Court: Ronald Ibarra*, Greg K. Nakamura

» District Court: Barbara T. Takase, Melvin H. Fujino, Margaret K. Masunaga

FIFTH CIRCUIT

» Circuit Court: Randal G. Valenciano*, Kathleen N. Watanabe

» District Court: Trudy K. Senda, Edmund D. Acoba

* Designated as senior environmental court judge in their respective circuits

Information supplied by state Judiciary communicator Andrew Laurence.