STOP THE SALE of East Maui's Streams— BLNR Action Alert
Mahalo nui to everyone who has stood with East Maui's streams, farmers, and cultural practitioners over the years. Because of your support and the generations of leadership from East Maui communities and groups like Nā Moku Aupuni o Koʻolau Hui, we've had some real wins: historic Water Commission orders to restore flow to a number of East Maui streams; the defeat of legislation proposing to extend “temporary” water diversion permits for nearly a decade; and eight straight court victories forcing the Board of Land and Natural Resources (BLNR) to hold evidentiary hearings it had illegally denied, cap the water Mahi Pono can take, and require greater transparency around Mahi Ponoʻs water use and waste.
Now the fight over the long-term future of East Maui's water is at a pivotal moment.
On Friday, August 14, the BLNR will consider a proposal to sell an East Maui water license at public auction — giving Mahi Pono, owned by Canadian pension fund PSP Investments, the ability to take 88 million gallons of stream water from East Maui every day for the next 30 years.
Please submit written testimony today, consider testifying verbally to the Land Board on Friday, and join our rally. Ask your friends and networks to do the same! Sample testimony and testimony instructions below.
Rally and Sign-Waving on Maui
Friday, 8/14
9:00 AM til pau
J. Walter Cameron Center, 95 Mahalani Street, Wailuku, Maui
Wear blue for the streams
Bring a sign and a friend!
Why this matters
The auction of East Maui’s streams will perpetuate a harmful legacy of private, profit-driven corporations controlling our most precious public trust resource. We've already seen what private control of water has looked like for the past century — dewatered streams, rampant water waste, displaced communities, cultural erasure, and destroyed ecosystems. It’s time for a change.
Mahi Pono has been a poor steward of water — It continues to lose millions of gallons a day through unlined, leaking reservoirs it has refused to fix for nearly a decade — all while dragging its feet on state-mandated stream restoration orders that still remain unimplemented.
This isn't about agriculture — it's about Mahi Pono's bottom line. No one is questioning the need for water to support farming in Central Maui. But public management via the EMWA would secure just that, while also ensuring other public needs are considered. Giving Mahi Pono a long-term license to take water directly from East Maui’s streams only serves to inflate the value of Mahi Pono's assets and boost its parent company's returns — not Maui's food security.
The proposed license would let Mahi Pono divert 88 million gallons of water a day for the next 30 years — but there may not be that much water to take. State hydrologist Aaron Strauch has repeatedly warned of record declines in East Maui stream flows over the past few decades, a trend climate change is only expected to exacerbate. Handing a foreign corporation a 30-year claim to water that likely will not exist is irresponsible, if not dangerous.
A public auction would be grossly uninformed. The BLNR is only weeks away from initiating a contested case hearing that was ordered to investigate water availability, waste, cultural and ecological impacts, and other concerns regarding stream diversions for the next year and a half. There are also still questions about land ownership, compliance with stream flow restoration orders, Department of Hawaiian Home Lands water reservations, and other issues relevant to the long-term disposition of East Maui’s streams. A public auction for a water license would only turn a blind eye to these issues, for decades at a time.
A voter-created alternative option already exists. The East Maui Water Authority (EMWA) was established by a 2022 charter amendment to provide community-based, expert-informed stewardship of East Maui’s water, to meet the needs of East Maui communities and watersheds, Upcountry residents and farmers, and Central Maui agriculture alike. The mayor, numerous county council members, and 64% of Maui voters believe that East Maui’s water should be held by the EMWA, not Mahi Pono.
What we're asking the Board to do
Do not approve selling an East Maui water license at public auction. A public trust resource with this much at stake for streams, farmers, and cultural practitioners should not be sold to the highest private bidder.
Continue to work on giving the community-based, voter-established East Maui Water Authority access to East Maui’s waters. Maui’s water should be managed by an entity made up of Maui’s people, subject to the public trust, Sunshine Law, and best interests of the public – not a foreign corporation.
In the meantime, let the court-ordered contested case for the 2026-2027 revocable permits play out. The pending contested case hearing will allow for a careful, evidence-based examination of long-neglected issues such as water waste, water availability, stream flow restoration compliance, and Native Hawaiian traditional and customary rights - all critical to protecting the public interest in East Maui’s streams as the transition to public, Water Authority stewardship of East Maui’s water takes place.
WHAT YOU CAN DO:
East Maui streams need your voice. Please submit testimony and show up for our wai!
How to testify:
Written testimony (submit by 9am Thursday if possible): Email written testimony to blnr.testimony@hawaii.govwith Testimony: Agenda Item D-7 (East Maui Water License) as the subject line.
In-person oral testimony (limit ~2 minutes): Friday, Aug. 14, 9:00 a.m., at either the:
DLNR Boardroom, Kalanimoku Building, 1151 Punchbowl St., 1st Floor, Honolulu, Hawaiʻi 96813, or
J. Walter Cameron Center, 95 Mahalani Street, Wailuku, Maui, 96793
By Zoom: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/84790711512 (Meeting ID: 847 9071 1512). To sign up to testify in advance, email blnr.testimony@hawaii.gov at least 24 hours ahead with your name, email, and the agenda item (D-7); you can also testify without signing up in advance.
By phone: 1-719-359-4580, Meeting ID 847 9071 1512, on the day of the meeting, when Item D-7 comes up.
Livestream: https://www.youtube.com/live/F6yXscIyd9M
Sample Testimony
Subject: Testimony: Agenda Item D-7 (East Maui Water License)
Aloha Chair and Members of the Board of Land and Natural Resources,
My name is _____ and I ask you to REJECT Agenda Item D-7 for the sale of an East Maui water license at public auction.
Historic decisions about Maui’s water must be made on Maui, and I respectfully ask that this Board travel to Maui for any future meetings on this matter, as it has done in the past.
[Optional: add your own story, perspectives, lived experiences, or other useful information]
East Maui's streams are a public trust resource, not a commodity to be auctioned to the highest private bidder. Maui voters created the East Maui Water Authority specifically so this water could be managed by the county in the public interest, and Mayor Bissen has explicitly asked this board to support the transition from private to public management of East Maui water. I ask the Board to direct staff to 1) continue working to ensure East Maui's water is placed in the hands of the East Maui Water Authority, and 2) in the meantime, focus on holding the court-ordered contested case hearing on Mahi Pono's stream diversion permits, to meaningfully investigate longstanding issues of water waste, actual water needs, stream and estuary health, and Native Hawaiian traditional and customary rights, among other public interests
Mahalo nui for the opportunity to testify.
Sincerely,
[Your Name]