The Office of Hawaiian Affairs applauds last week’s Circuit Court decision invalidating the Department of Land and Natural Resource’s Mauna Kea emergency rule.
Judge Ibarra ruled that the department did not comply with the requirements for rulemaking because it failed to provide its reasoning supporting a finding that the rule was necessary to prevent “imminent peril to the public health, safety, or morals, or to natural resources.”
“OHA questions whether such ‘imminent peril’ can be demonstrated. For this reason, and our concern that the rule violated constitutionally protected rights of Native Hawaiians to reasonably engage in traditional and customary practices, OHA urges the DLNR to refrain from seeking reinstatement of the rule,” said OHA Ka Pouhana and CEO Kamanaʻopono Crabbe.
“We appreciate the significant efforts of plaintiff Kalani Flores and his attorneys from the Native Hawaiian Legal Corporation for their work in calling to the attention of the courts the shortcomings of the Mauna Kea emergency rule,” added Crabbe. (OHA is the key funder of NHLC, a non-profit law firm that seeks “to perpetuate, through legal and other advocacy, the rights, customs and practices that strengthen Native Hawaiian identity and culture.”)
OHA’s testimony opposing the Board of Land & Natural Resources’ emergency rules, submitted on July 10, 2015
