Judge to rule on HILO >> Judge Greg Nakamura will rule by the end of this month on the validity of a state permit for the Big Island's $165 million Saddle Road project, he said yesterday.
validity of Saddle
Road permit
The project would destroy some
habitat of an endangered birdBy Rod Thompson
rthompson@starbulletin.comHilo attorney Katsuya Yamada had challenged the state conservation district use permit for the project as it relates to a 6-mile segment of the 47-mile plan.
The 6-mile segment on the Hilo side of the Army's Pohakuloa Training Area runs through the forest habitat of the endangered palila bird. Because the road would destroy 102 acres of the habitat, state and federal agencies propose 9,345 acres of new habitat in other areas.
In a court hearing yesterday, Yamada argued that no state rule allows such an exchange of use from one area to others.
Yamada also said the state only looked for endangered plants and animals in the 197-foot project right of way, illegally ignoring the surrounding area where eight endangered or threatened species besides the palila are found.
Attorney Rosemary Fazio, representing the state Department of Transportation, said the claim that the biological survey was limited to the 197-foot corridor is "simply not correct." She said biological studies were started in 1990, even before a decision was made to realign the road.
But Yamada maintained the studies were incomplete. For example, none made any reference to the endangered asplenium fern, he said.
Fazio said the existing Saddle Road has a high accident rate. "Completion of this project is a matter of life and death," she said.
Yamada said he supports the project but wants the 6-mile segment to follow the existing Saddle Road route over old lava flows, not through the forest.
The Army has said it wants the route through the forest to get civilian traffic away from troop movements.