Per news releases and reports, the County of Kauai brought suit against a vessel operator to enjoin passenger loading operations in the Hanalei River. The County asserts that the operator must obtain a Special Management Area permit from the Planning Commission. Hat tip to Kauai blogger Charley Foster for his post on this new lawsuit with links. We'll try to get a copy of the complaint.
Tough to operate on the Hanalei River it seems. Some of the operators have been in Hanalei River litigation before.
The State of Hawaii attempted to require boat operators to obtain permits to operate in Hanalei Bay and Hanalei River. A boat operator challenged the regulations, citing the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution. The regulations were struck down by the Ninth Circuit. Young v. Coloma-Agaran, 340 F.3d 1053 (9th Cir. 2003).
Separately, rival tour boat operators brought suit against the Hanalei boat operators asserting that their alleged failure to obtain necessary state and county permits were unfair competition. The Hawaii Supreme Court rejected the suit. Whitey's Boat Cruises, Inc. v. Napali Kauai Boat Charters, Inc. No. 26334 (2006).
It'll be interesting to see how the state courts deal with this one. Good case to show the interplay between state and federal authority to regulate vessel operations.
Aloha,
I was trying to find the Hawaii regulations concerning commercial slip boats ferrying customers out to none Hawaii commercial permitted boats. So in other words, can one boat go in and out of a commercial slip and load and unload a boat out of the harbor that does not have a commercial permit?
Mahalo for any clarification.
Posted by: Lee James | December 01, 2009 at 10:22 PM