State approves $1.12M settlement for Honolulu Harbor reef damage

The state Board of Land and Natural Resources today approved a $1.12 million settlement agreement with Healy Tibbitts Builders Inc. for extensive reef damage that occurred last year during the company’s dredging operations near the Honolulu Harbor entrance. 

The amount is roughly half of what the state could have sought for damage to approximately 15,628 specimens of stony coral and 140 square yards of live rock over a total area of more than 5 acres. The Division of Aquatic Resources recommended the settlement “to acknowledge the emergency restoration actions taken by Healy Tibbits at its own expense, and to incentivize future natural resource violators to participate in timely mitigation actions,” according to its report to the board.

The reef damage was discovered May 4, 2021, when divers from the Army Corps of Engineers and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service were retrieving water-quality monitoring equipment near the Honolulu Harbor entrance channel and observed the extensive coral damage near barge anchorage sites for dredging operations by Healy Tibbitts, which was contracted by the Army Corps of Engineers to maintain the entrance channel through periodic dredging.

The settlement also includes a $400 fine for two violations involving damage to stony coral or live rock and $55,732 in DAR staff time and administrative costs, for a total settlement of roughly $1.12 million “to be held in trust for the purpose of coral reef management and restoration on Oahu.”