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Isaac Moriwake

Managing Attorney Mid-Pacific Office

Isaac Moriwake, Managing Attorney

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Miranda Fox
Public Affairs and Communications Strategist
mfox@earthjustice.org

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HI

Pronouns

he / him

Isaac Moriwake is the Managing Attorney in the Mid-Pacific regional office in Honolulu, HI.

He has extensive experience litigating before federal and state courts and agencies on a range of issues, including water rights, Native Hawaiian rights, shoreline protection, endangered species, environmental health and disclosure, and clean energy.

Isaac graduated from Pomona College in International Relations, and from the William S. Richardson School of Law at the University of Hawaiʻi. After law school, he clerked for Justice Paula A. Nakayama of the Supreme Court of the State of Hawaiʻi.

In his free time, Isaac’s usually enjoying family, moonlighting in music on bass, or hoping to get back in the water surfing.

The Latest from Isaac Moriwake

Earthjustice attorney Isaac Moriwake speaks at the Navahine + Hawai’i Department of Transportation youth climate settlement celebration at ‘Iolani Palace on June 24th, 2024.
October 30, 2024

5 Questions: Attorney Isaac Moriwake Reflects on Landmark Hawai‘i Cases

By Isaac Moriwake

Isaac Moriwake, longtime environmental attorney at Earthjustice, reflects on recent cases that now have potential to improve on the status quo.
March 8, 2024

In the News: Grist

How changes to Hawaiʻi’s home battery program could hinder its clean energy transition

Quoted: Isaac Moriwake

“You ought to consider the big picture of how not only individual systems, but the aggregate, are able to respond to grid needs on call, and respond to emergencies. There’s big-time value there.”
February 20, 2024

In the News: Honolulu Civil Beat

Proposed HECO Bailout Bill Could Force The Utility Company To Restructure

Quoted: Isaac Moriwake

“I appreciate what the legislators are trying to do here in stepping up and protecting the ratepayer and public and adding some balance to a deal that was originally stacked 100% in the utility’s favor.”
February 12, 2024

In the News: PV Magazine

Hawaii legislation seeks to undo “massive momentum killer” for rooftop solar

Quoted: Isaac Moriwake

“In my 15 years working with this Commission, this decision is the most drastic misstep I have seen — up there with slamming the curtain on net metering eight years ago, but with potentially more disastrous results.”
January 31, 2024

In the News: Fast Company

Hawaii is at the forefront of clean energy (or is it?)

Quoted: Isaac Moriwake

“Rooftop solar is our No. 1 success story. It jumpstarted our renewable energy growth and also captured the public’s imagination. We’ve made progress on the electric side, but we are not making progress overall. We are not going to get to our overall decarbonization goals unless we confront the transportation sector head on.”
January 16, 2024

In the News: Honolulu Civil Beat

Will A New Order Shut The Door On Future Rooftop Solar Across Hawaii?

Quoted: Isaac Moriwake

“This decision is the most drastic misstep I have seen — up there with slamming the curtain on net metering eight years ago, but with potentially more disastrous results.”
January 2, 2024

In the News: E&E News

Climate in the Courts: Lawyers to watch in 2024

Quoted: Isaac Moriwake

Climate lawyers are gearing up for another monumental year in 2024.
August 20, 2023

In the News: CNN

Hawaii’s climate-change lawsuit going to trial next summer

Quoted: Isaac Moriwake

On the constitutional climate lawsuit files by 14 young people against the Hawaiʻi Department of Transportation
December 13, 2022

Hawai‘i Continues to Light The Way For Rooftop Solar

By Isaac Moriwake

In November 2022, Hawai‘i took a major step forward on advancing its rooftop solar and clean energy grid.

November 7, 2022

In the News: The Honolulu Star-Advertiser

Hawaiian Electric ordered to revamp power rate structure

Quoted: Isaac Moriwake

"It sets Hawaii at the head of the class nationally in advanced utility rate design, and it will be a model for other states to follow."
July 2, 2021

In the News: Civil Beat Honolulu

Thousands Of New Rooftop Solar Systems Could Be Going Up On Oahu

Quoted: Isaac Moriwake

“This is a first installment of the next big wave of rooftop solar and battery storage.”
June 30, 2021

In the News: Honolulu Star Advertiser

Battle might not be pau over Maui stream water

Quoted: Isaac Moriwake

“This is a model for 21st-century water management for all of Hawaii. We owe it to the community who carried the burden for this, and to future generations, to get it right.”
June 29, 2021

In the News: Hawaii News Now

In historic decision, commission fundamentally changes water distribution system in West Maui

Quoted: Isaac Moriwake

“There’s no question that this is a historic move forward, in terms of shifting from the old plantation paradigm of draining rivers and streams dry to now recognizing the need to protect flowing rivers and streams.”
January 19, 2021

In the News: Utility Dive

Hawaii finalizes utility regulation considered potential template for US power system transformation

Quoted: Isaac Moriwake

"This is the most consequential decision in the commission’s history in terms of its comprehensive scope and leadership vision."
Fog surrounds Mauna Kea.
December 21, 2018

Hawai‘i High Court Fixes Flawed Footnotes in Mauna Kea Decision, but Problems Persist

By Isaac Moriwake

The language the court deleted would have plagued the law of environmental and Native Hawaiian rights for years.
The Waime canyon and river in Kaua'i, Hawai'i
May 5, 2017

Waimea Water Deal Is a ‘Win-Win-Win’ for Hawai‘i

By Isaac Moriwake

For the first time in more than 100 years, the Waimea River will flow from mountain to sea—thanks to successful mediation, not years of litigation.
Water rights heroes John and Rose Marie Duey at home in ‘Īao Valley.
September 9, 2016

Maui Couple Plants a Taro Patch, Grows a Movement for Hawaiian Water Rights

By Isaac Moriwake

It was like a horrible dream: Native Hawaiians fined for growing food and practicing their culture.
Solar panels on the rooftops of homes in the Salt Lake neighborhood of Oahu, Hawaii.
August 5, 2016

Model For Monopoly Power Companies Needs to Change

By Isaac Moriwake

The Public Utilities Commission rejected the NextEra-Hawaiian Electric takeover deal, but the real work to build a clean energy system by and for the people of Hawaii has just begun.
Earthjustice Managing Attorney Isaac Moriwake surveys rooftop solar
July 28, 2016

Hawai‘i Rejects a Billion-Dollar Power Play

By Isaac Moriwake

Hawai‘i’s Public Utilities Commission recently rejected the $4.3 billion sale of the state’s main utility company to out-of-state profiteers.
"Maui Sugar Factory" by Justin Ennis/CC BY 2.0 https://flic.kr/p/jsiYWL
May 2, 2016

Without a Sustainable Ag Plan, Sugar Company Must Leave Water in the Streams

By Isaac Moriwake

Hawaiʻi’s last sugarcane plantation is closing, but plantation politics are still playing a huge role in allocating Hawaiʻi’s water resources.
Solar panels on homes at Salt Lake in Oahu, Hawaiʻi.
November 19, 2014

Coming Clean in Hawai‘i: A Launchpad for Clean Energy Liftoff

By Isaac Moriwake

Hawai‘i, along with 26 other states, already has clean energy goals that outpace the Clean Power Plan’s projected targets.
Local citizens jumped into the Wailuku River (`Īao Stream) to celebrate the return of stream flows.
October 13, 2014

Turning the Tide of History: Maui Waters Flow Again After 150 Years

By Isaac Moriwake

Flow has returned to two streams on Maui that have been diverted for more than 150 years.
Powerlines and rooftop solar panels in Oahu, Hawaii.
May 23, 2014

Hawai‘i Regulators Read Riot Act To Utility

By Isaac Moriwake

The Hawai‘i Public Utilities Commission tells Hawai‘i’s main electric utility (HECO) to start moving to a clean energy model of the future.
Taro fields on Kauaʻi.
April 2, 2014

Another Victory For Public Rights In Water Resources

By Isaac Moriwake

The Hawaiʻi Supreme Court recently issued another landmark decision on water resources and the public trust. The case, Kauai Springs v. Kauai Planning Commission, involved a company bottling and selling spring water on the island of Kauaʻi.
Upper diversion on Waihe`e River with the entire flow of the river being diverted.
March 3, 2014

Restoring Instream Flow to Maui's "Four Great Waters"

By Isaac Moriwake

Under modern Hawaiʻi law, the rivers and streams in question (collectively known as Nā Wai ʻEhā—“The Four Great Waters” of Waihe‘e, ʻĪao (traditionally Wailuku), Waiehu, and Waikapū) are a public trust; but since the sugar plantation era, two companies drained them dry for private profit.