Every day, I’m scouring the Internet for land use and environmental news from around the state and around the world that means something for us here in Hawaii. Noteworthy today: a farm mansion on Kauai, more Water Commission coverage from Maui and the EPA fines Hawaii County.

• I love sarcasm and snark as much as the next guy, but the Saturday story about a large farmhouse proposed for Kauai’s North Shore goes too far. In our recent coverage of a proposed Honolulu ordinance, we asked if the focus should be on how the farm is used, not the farmer or how big his house will be.

• Friday’s land links included coverage of the Water Commission’s Thursday decision for West Maui’s streams from various media outlets. The Maui News went back to the well with a three-story package in its Sunday edition, with the different parts titled “HC&S says no victory, rather a reprieve as it tries to survive,” “Some planning appeal, argue legal precedent is on their side” and “Thielen: Need to be efficient in finding new water sources.”

• The Environmental Protection Agency this morning announced fines against Hawaii County and a resort developer for failing to close large-capacity cesspools.

• A weekend item in the “Raising Islands” blog points to a new paper [pdf] by marine researchers that found there’s a group of whales, related to each other, that seem to be hanging around Hawaii.

• Members of the International Whaling Commission were bribed by Japan for their votes on whaling rules, the Times of London reports. And the commission’s chief is ill and will miss the annual meeting next week, according to the AP.

• The latest edition of “Ocean Watch” from the Star-Advertiser talks about rats running wild on Palmyra Atoll, among other things. I have a package coming out later this week on efforts to stop rats here on Oahu. Look for it.

• The Hawaiian Electric Company is going back to the drawing board on their advanced metering deployment, Greentech Media reports. HECO has requested a follow-up pilot on Oahu after they encountered communications problems with their first pilot of 9,400 Sensus meters.

• Putting on the 2010 World Cup will create a huge carbon footprint — 2,753,251 tons of CO2 to be exact, according to a study [pdf] published by the Republic of South Africa’s Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism published last year.

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