At issue is whether transit alternatives and environmental issues were properly studied.
More than 115 onlookers packed a federal courtroom among the plaintiffs taking on the city and federal agencies, antirail candidate for mayor Ben Cayetano.
Judge Wallace Tashima addressed the topic early on saying: "Who wins the election is not going to be determinative of what happens in court."
From there it was on to arguments by rail-critic plaintiffs and city and federal defendants.
"They eliminated all of the alternatives before they did the EIS,” said Matthew Adams, attorney for plaintiffs. “They said that none of them would meet the purpose and need of the project. That is something you do in the EIS process. That’s not something you do beforehand so you have a predetermined outcome."
“Looking at the record as a whole there’s certainly enough information to support what was decided,” said Gary Takeuchi, City Deputy Corp. Council. “And it’s not arbitrary and capricious."
For the Federal Transit Administration, the Department of Justice attorney said, "This isn’t a case where agencies dismissed out of hand alternatives… Public outreach was extensive."
Burial matters not yet studied were a main point.
"We’re talking about something that might happen,” said Bill Meheula, attorney for defendant intervenors. “We haven’t run into any burials yet. But if it does happen, the Native Hawaiian community can be rest assured the city has committed that they’re gonna move the project."
“I frankly don’t think that’s something that’s going to happen,” said Ben Cayetano, co-plaintiff. “Because they’re going to talk to the burial council and say where can we put these bones, because we’re not going to move this column because it’s too expensive."
The judge pressed the defendants on traditional cultural properties not being identified until well after the record of decision was issued, calling it a failure of the agency and contrary to case law.
"Based on his questions, my feeling is that we’re going to get a good decision,” said retired judge Walter Heen, co-plaintiff. “Now, I’m not predicting, because i never try to predict a judge."
Judge Tashima said at the end he’ll take the arguments under submission and, quote "if the plaintiffs prevail, we’ll have to have a discussion on remedy. We’ll see if we have to get there or not."
The timing of any upcoming ruling is not yet known.
See the original article at: KHON2 Local News
