ELR Citation: ELR 20901
No(s). 90-00407 DAE (D. Haw. Jan 8, 1991)

The court holds that, although material issues of fact remain regarding the Department of Energy's (DOE's) commitment to implementing the third phase of a four-phase geothermal energy project in Hawaii, the separate phases of the project constitute major federal actions that are sufficiently "connected" to require that the entire project be evaluated in a single environmental impact statement (EIS). Hawaii, with the cooperation of Congress and DOE, established a four-phase project to tap the geothermal energy of the Kilauea volcano. After the first two phases of the project were completed, three environmental groups brought suit seeking to compel the federal government, which provided $10.7 million and $24 million respectively as the federal share of funding for the first two phases of the project, to prepare an EIS for the entire project.

Addressing the government's summary judgment motion, the court finds that the record is insufficient to establish that the project was and is a single, integrated action with a solitary purpose. However, the court holds that, even assuming that the four separate phases of the project are distinct actions subject to separate obligations under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the phases are "connected actions" as defined in the Council on Environmental Quality's NEPA regulation at 40 C.F.R. §1508.25(a)(1)(kkk). The four phases are dependent parts of a larger action, which in turn justifies each phase. Phases I-III possess no independent utility because, without the possibility of Phase IV, it would be irrational or unwise to proceed with Phases I-III.