Environment

Maui Is Deploying Water Tanks Around The Island To Help Fight Fires Erin Nolan/Civil Beat/2025

Maui Is Deploying Water Tanks Around The Island To Help Fight Fires

The tanks hold thousands of gallons of water so firefighters have a ready supply, especially in dryer and harder to reach areas.

EV Use Has Skyrocketed In Hawaiʻi. Why Is It So Hard To Find A Charger? Kevin Fujii/Civil Beat/2025

EV Use Has Skyrocketed In Hawaiʻi. Why Is It So Hard To Find A Charger?

As federal incentives for electric vehicles are drying up, will the state still expand its fledgling charging network?

Another Destructive Beetle Is Spreading, Killing Hawaiʻi’s Trees Kevin Fujii/Civil Beat/2025

Another Destructive Beetle Is Spreading, Killing Hawaiʻi’s Trees

Big Island farmers want the state to tackle the Queensland longhorn beetle before it spreads to the rest of the state and wreaks havoc like the coconut rhinoceros beetle.

Deep-Sea Mining Risks Disrupting The Marine Food Web, Study Warns Nathan Eagle/Civil Beat/2024

Deep-Sea Mining Risks Disrupting The Marine Food Web, Study Warns

University of Hawaiʻi researchers found that mining waste could affect anything from tiny shrimp smaller than an inch long to fish 2 inches long.

Green Sea Turtles Have Rebounded. Should Hawaiians Be Able To Eat Them? Nathan Eagle/Civil Beat/2012

Green Sea Turtles Have Rebounded. Should Hawaiians Be Able To Eat Them?

The honu has recovered from the brink of extinction, prompting some to ask if it’s time to give Native Hawaiians the right to resume traditional harvesting.

Hawaiʻi Needs More Firebreaks. Maui Is Making It Happen Courtesy: Lance Desilva

Hawaiʻi Needs More Firebreaks. Maui Is Making It Happen

Collaboration has been critical in making progress on a key component of fire safety in communities across the county.

A Deep Well May Bring Kunia Village’s Toxic Water Legacy To An End Kevin Fujii/Civil Beat/2025

A Deep Well May Bring Kunia Village’s Toxic Water Legacy To An End

The former Del Monte pineapple plantation camp’s water sources have been tainted by forever chemicals and crop fumigants.

What Toxic Legacy Did This Abandoned Sugar Mill Leave Behind? Brittany Lyte/Civil Beat/2025

What Toxic Legacy Did This Abandoned Sugar Mill Leave Behind?

The owner of the land tied to a former sugar mill wants to develop housing on the site but must make sure hazardous plantation-era remnants are cleared.

Aquarium Fishing Could Return To Hawaiʻi Under Proposed New Rules Cory Lum/Civil Beat

Aquarium Fishing Could Return To Hawaiʻi Under Proposed New Rules

The land board and DLNR staff have clashed for years over whether to let the practice continue. That might be changing.