Professor Rock Pring Interviewed Regarding Environmental Courts in Hawaii

Professor Rock Pring

Hawaii is considering the benefits of establishing an environmental court. Advocates of the environmental court system feel that environmental crimes, such as pumping pool water into the ocean or dumping trash on the roadside, etc. would be better prosecuted in an environmental court.

"Nearly 500 jurisdictions around the world, including dozens of U.S. cities, maintain environmental courts and tribunals," said George Pring, a professor emeritus at Sturm College of Law at the University of Denver and the co-author with his wife, Kitty Pring, of "Greening Justice," a study of environmental courts.

Hawaii Senate Bill 632, which recently survived committee and will head to the senate floor, would create an environmental court within the state's circuit courts. If the bill passes, it would make Hawaii the second state to create a court specifically for dealing with environmental matters (the other state being Vermont).

Professor Pring stated, "We have a real proliferation of environmental courts around the world, and it's not just the rich countries doing it, by any measure. We watched them in Bangladesh, for heaven's sakes. Such courts work better in some jurisdictions than in others. When they do work, the special courts save money and get complex cases through the system faster."

For more information about the benefits and call for an environmental court in Hawaii, visit the following Associated Press article: Hawaii Considers Establishing an Environmental Court