Sierra Club v. Hawaii Tourism Authority

Dissenting Opinion by

MOON, C.J.,

in which LEVINSON, J., joins.

The plurality holds that Sierra Club lacks standing to challenge the failure of the Ha-wai'i Tourism Authority (HTA) to conduct an environmental assessment (EA), pursuant to chapter 343, otherwise known as the Hawai'i Environmental Policy Act (HEPA), prior to committing state funds to a contract for tourism marketing services. In my view, the court has misapplied the doctrine of standing by erroneously characterizing Sierra Club’s asserted injury as an injury to the environment. In actuality, the asserted injury in this case is the…