Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 18, Number 10, 1 October 2001 — Public trust Symposium [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Public trust Symposium

A symposium on the Public Trust Doctrine will be held on Oct. 6, 8:30 a.m.-l p.m., at the UH Mānoa School of Architecture Auditorium. Discussions will center on the Aug. 2000 Hawai'i Supreme Court decision in the Waiāhole Ditch case whieh recognized and upheld "the enduring public rights in trust resources (water) separate from, and superior to, the prevailing private interests in the resources at any time." The Court affirmed that the scope of the public trust eneompasses all waters in Hawai'i, "above and below the surface of the ground," and emphasized that under the doctrine "the state has both the authority and duty to preserve the rights of present and future generations in the waters of the state." Keynote speaker will be Joseph Sax, professor of environmental regulation at the Boalt Hall Law School, U.C. Berkeley, considered the "father of the Public Trust Doctrine." Guest speaker will be Jan Stevens, chair of the California Attorney General's Water Advisory Group. Topics to be addressed as they relate to the Waiāhole decision include state and county responsibilities; impacts on policy makers, decision makers, regulators, landowners and communities; and how the Public Trust Doctrine is administered in Hawai'i. Symposium sponsors are the State Department of Health, Hawai'i State Coastal Zone Management, Office of Planning, Office of Environmental Quality Control; Department of Land and Natural Resources Division of Aquatic Resources, the Native Hawaiian Bar Association, Hawai'i's Thousand Friends and others. A $10 registration fee is payable at the door. For additional information, eall Bill Tam at 5241800, Jim Paul at 524-1212, or Donna Wong at 262-0682, email htf@ lava.net.

Nū Hou

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