Ka Makani 'O Kohala Ohana Inc. v. Water Supply

Plaintiff-Appellant Ka’ Makani ‘0 Koha-la Ohana, Inc. (“Ka Makani”), a citizens’ coalition, appeals the district court’s summary judgment in favor of Defendants-Appellees County of Hawaii Department of Water Supply (“DWS”) and Milton Pavao, its Department Manager; the United States Geological Survey (“USGS”) and William Meyer, its District Chief; and the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (“HUD”) and Art Ag-nos, the Secretary’s Representative of HUD (collectively “Appellees”) dismissing Ka Makani’s action against them. Ka Ma-kani alleged that Appellees’ involvement in the Kohala Water Transmission System Project (“Kohala Project”) constituted “major federal action” that triggered the requirement to prepare an environmental *958 impact statement (“EIS”) under the National Environmental Policy Act (“NEPA”), 42 U.S.C. § 4321 , and sought to enjoin Appellees from proceeding with any work on the Project until a federal EIS is completed. This appeal followed. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291 , and we affirm.

I. FACTUAL BACKGROUND

In 1987, the DWS began planning for the Kohala Project, a transbasin water diversion system on the Big…