Updated at 3:06 p.m., Wednesday, April 11, 2007
DLNR's Peter Young begins confirmation hearing
Advertiser Staff
A state Senate panel today began confirmation hearings for Peter Young as director of the state Department of Land and Natural Resources, hearing from dozens of people about whether Young should remain on the job for another four years.Environmentalists and many Native Hawaiians came out in support of Young, while fishing interests, and some Native Hawaiians concerned about burial issues, urged senators to reject him.
State Sen. Russell Kokubun, D-2nd (S. Hilo, Puna, Ka'u), the chairman of the Senate Water, Land, Agriculture and Hawaiian Affairs Committee, said the hearings would continue today, tomorrow and possibly into Friday.
The panel is expected to hear tomorrow from about a dozen subpoenaed witnesses about Young, at which point much of the criticism about his nomination is likely to surface.
The panel will make a recommendation to the full Senate about whether Young should be confirmed.
