Legislature to get report on Ka Loko Dam breach
Kauai residents could learn as early as Tuesday the results of an independent civil investigation into the cause of last year's fatal breach of Ka Loko Dam on Kauai.
A report on the investigation is complete and has been turned over to Attorney General Mark Bennett, who said he expects to deliver the report to the Legislature by Tuesday or Wednesday.
"It will be many hundreds of pages," Bennett said yesterday.
Bennett said he would not comment on the details of the report until it is turned over to the Legislature. Special Deputy Attorney General Robert Carson Godbey, who conducted the investigation, also declined comment until the report is made public.
Sen. Gary Hooser (D, Kauai-Niihau) said he spoke with Bennett about the report, but he also had not seen any details.
Hooser said he plans to solicit feedback from people most affected when the century-old earthen dam burst March 14, killing seven people.
"The people most affected by it -- the property owners and the people in that area -- I want to find out from them their reaction to the report," Hooser said.
Bennett also declined comment on the status of the state's criminal investigation into the dam breach.
Although Bennett launched a criminal investigation, state lawmakers called for an independent probe after concerns were raised over the state's possible liability in causing the breach and Bennett's former working relationship with attorney William McCorriston, who is representing the dam's owner, James Pflueger.
Pflueger conducted his own investigation and already has claimed in a lawsuit that the state was negligent in its oversight of the dam.