STATEMENT FROM HART BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Board Chairwoman Carrie Okinaga issued the following statement
following today’s meeting of the Board of Directors of the Honolulu
Authority for Rapid Transportation (HART):
The State and the City followed the State Historic Preservation
Division’s long-standing interpretation of its rules to allow the
subsurface AIS work to proceed by sections. The lower court agreed
with that interpretation. The Supreme Court disagreed with this
interpretation and past practice. They ruled that we
should complete the AIS work for all four sections of the
project.
The HART Board is committed to fully comply with the Supreme
Court ruling. The AIS work has already been completed in
construction sections 1 and 2 and the AIS work in sections 3
and 4 will continue.
We were pleased to hear that the Supreme Court ruled that the
City and State gave full consideration to cultural and historic
values and that the court upheld the rail project’s
Environmental Impact Statement under State law.
We remain fully committed to moving the project forward as well
as being in full compliance with all laws. The delay in
construction will add costs, however we do have contingency
funds to cover these costs.
The Board is fully committed to moving the project forward as
required by our charter in a manner that is responsible to
taxpayers and respectful of our cultural resources. The Board
has directed the CEO to fully comply with the Supreme Court ruling
and take the necessary steps to complete the AIS, including design
and engineering.