FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, September 30, 2024
CONTACT: Kirsten Kagimoto, Sierra Club of Hawai‘i
808-425-2857, kirsten.kagimoto@sierraclub.org
Over 70 organizations ask Governor Green to immediately fill
key vacancy on state Water Commission
Critical decisions loom while the Commission faces additional months of
delay before the appointment of a Native Hawaiian water management
expert
More than six dozen organizations, representing interests ranging from housing to food security to public health, are urging Governor Josh Green to uphold the state water code by appointing a “loea,” or expert, in Native Hawaiian water management to the state Commission on Water Resource Management. The legally mandated seat has
been vacant since June, and the Governor has now indicated his intent to do-over a
nominating committee recommendation process originally completed in February.
“We need this seat filled now. We cannot wait another three months for a loea to be
chosen,” said Kekai Keahi, a taro farmer and stream advocate from Lahaina, who first
began uplifting the importance of the pending appointment in February. “We got water
permits in West Maui that need urgent review, more action in Nā Wai ʻEhā, and stream
restoration work across the islands – all these pressing issues need a loea perspective
on the Commission to protect our ecosystems, our Hawaiian water rights, our food and
water security.”
Governor Green recently acknowledged his mishandling of important water issues
following the devastating wildfires in Lahaina last year, and specifically apologized for
how his administration treated the Deputy Director of the Water Commission at the time, Kaleo Manuel. Eight months after Manuel’s subsequent resignation in January, the
Governor appointed a new Deputy Director with strong ties to West Maui, a long-
awaited decision applauded by many. However, with major water permitting and other
decisions on the horizon, community groups are urging him to fill another critical gap
with the water commission, by appointing loea from the existing list of qualified
candidates delivered to him early this year.
A nominating committee convened at the end of 2023 reviewed more than a dozen
applications for the seat. This body provided a list of four people who they felt were themost qualified candidates. That list – which includes celebrated and highly respected
experts Hannah Kīhalani Springer and Lori Buchanan – was sent to the Governor’s
office in February. Without explanation, the Governor has taken no action to select a
nominee. He is instead attempting to secure a new list of candidates by restarting the
nominating process, sparking widespread concerns across a diverse set of stakeholders
and water advocates.
“This is highly irregular,” said Earthjustice attorney Leināʻala Ley. ““The law does not
authorize the Governor to ignore a properly promulgated list and just convene a new
nominating committee. There are two highly qualified candidates on the existing list, he
must choose one of them.”
“As a physician, the Governor should understand the very real health impacts and
traumas that result from cultural erasure. Without a true loea in Hawaiian culture on the
Water Commission, as required by law, Native Hawaiian rights and cultural identity
dependent on relationships to wai could be lost in its decision-making – retraumatizing
the Hawaiian community again and again,” noted Seiji Yamada, family physician. “He
has two highly qualified candidates to choose from. There is no reason to delay this
decision any longer.”
“This is not just about Hawaiian rights, which are critically important to protect,” said
former water commissioner and ʻĀina Aloha Economic Futures co-founder Kamana
Beamer. “This is also about restoring our food systems, our loʻi kalo, loko iʻa, our
fisheries, that depend on the science of native water management. This is about our
state taking threats of contamination, waste, or misuse of our precious wai with the
seriousness that such a sacred resource deserves. This is about the future of how our
public trust water is managed – which is to say, the very future of our islands.”
Individuals across Hawaiʻi are urged to voice their support for timely and appropriate
action by sending the Governor an email via bit.ly/cwrmloea.
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