Protect East Maui Streams from Corporate Control - Three Things You Can Do Today.
On Friday, November 14, the Land Board will consider moving forward with the process needed to issue a long-term lease of East Maui stream water to Pomona Farming LLC and PSP Investments, d.b.a. Mahi Pono.
This flies in the face of not just the needs of the East Maui community, but the decision of Maui County voters, who in 2022 established the community-based East Maui Community Water Authority (now called the ʻAha Wai o Maui Hikina) to administer East Maui streams - not a foreign corporation.
Notably, it has also been three years since the Water Commission ordered the restoration of stream flow to East Maui streams that are still being drained dry; millions of gallons of diverted stream water are still being lost every single day due to Mahi Pono's refusal to use lined reservoirs; and DLNR has failed to initiate a court-ordered evidentiary hearing over the immediate impacts of a short-term, one-year revocable permit for the continued diversion of East Maui streams by PSP Investments/Mahi Pono through 2026. To move forward with a long-term private lease while these critical and pressing issues continue to languish only prioritizes the desires of a corporate entity over ecosystem protection, Hawaiian rights, water and food security, and county home rule.
Here are three things you can do right now to help stop this misguided ball from rolling:
Submit written testimony and consider verbally testifying to the Land Board (via Zoom or in person) this Friday.
Sample Testimony (submit by 9 a.m. Thursday, November 13, if can):
To: blnr.testimony@hawaii.gov
Subject: Testimony on Agenda Item D-10
Message (be sure to include a request to testify via Zoom, if you wish to testify verbally as well):
Dear Chair Chang and Members of the Land Board,
My name is [your name] and I urge you to NOT accept the staff recommendation to move forward with any process that contemplates giving Mahi Pono, a.k.a. PSP Investments, a long-term lease for East Maui's streams, for the following reasons:
1. This violates the wishes of Maui County voters. In the 2022 elections, Maui's voters established a community-based East Maui Community Water Authority to take over the long-term administration of East Maui streams. This Authority and its staff have been diligently preparing to accept this kuleana, with the full support of the county administration. DLNR staff should be assisting and working toward a set-aside of East Maui diversion infrastructure to the Authority - not spending time and resources on creating a path for a foreign entity to continue the corporate control of Maui's public trust resources.
2. This ignores pressing matters central to your mission. The Land Board is the primary agency tasked with upholding the public trust in our natural and cultural resources. Yet, there are still long-standing violations of the public trust in East Maui's streams that must be addressed, before any contemplation of leasing them to a private entity, including: the non-implementation of Water Commission stream restoration orders for streams that continue to be drained dry; the continued, decades-long loss of millions of gallons of water per day through unlined reservoirs that Mahi Pono/PSP Investments still refuses to line; and the need to hold a court-ordered contested case hearing to address the immediate impacts to watershed health, native species, and Hawaiian rights (among other pressing issues) of the upcoming 2026 revocable permit for Mahi Pono/PSP Investments' stream diversions. There should be no time or energy spent on trying to meet the desire of a foreign corporation to control East Maui's streams for the next 30 years, when so many mission-critical issues in these streams continue to remain unaddressed.
3. This perpetuates drought denial. As you likely know, over the last five years, East Maui and the rest of Hawaiʻi have been undergoing a drought that has worsened far, far more quickly than anticipated. There is no indication that conditions will stabilize in the near future. To contemplate a long term disposition of water when we have no idea how much water will be available in the next 5 years, much less 30, with a corporation whose farm plans are completely out of touch with this climate reality, is nonsensical, wasteful, and dangerous.
Please do not waste your limited staff and financial resources on a misguided attempt to appease a foreign corporation's interests over that of the public, Native Hawaiian communities, and all who have a stake in our islands' environmental integrity, democracy, and dignity. Please reject the staff proposal to move forward with the process for a long-term lease to PSP Investments/Mahi Pono, and please instead ask your staff to work with the East Maui Community Water Authority/ʻAha Wai o Maui Hikina, to facilitate their administration of East Maui's diversion infrastructure via a set-aside or similar disposition.
Mahalo nui,
[your name]
2. E-mail or call Mayor Bissen’s office:
To: mayors.office@co.maui.hi.us (or call (808)270-7855)
Subject: East Maui Streams - Please take a stand with Maui voters
Message:
Aloha e Mayor Bissen,
My name is _____ and I reside in _____. First, thank you so much for standing with the voters of Maui County and the East Maui Community Water Authority, in opposing the Department of Land and Natural Resources’ attempt to move forward with a long term lease of East Maui’s streams to PSP Investments, otherwise known as Mahi Pono, last year.
Unfortunately, this Friday, the DLNR is attempting to again move forward with the process for a long-term lease to this Canadian entity. I am respectfully urging you to again tell the Land Board that our public trust water should be administered by a community-based public body, not a foreign corporation. With its limited resources, there are far more important and pressing matters the DLNR needs to attend to rather than cater to the desire of a private business to control our public trust water.
[Optional: Insert your own reasons here]
Please testify in opposition and do whatever else is within your powers to stop this misguided proposal from moving forward. Mahalo nui!
3. Spread the Word! Share this web page, amplify social media content such as:
Mehealani Wendt at Maui Community Water Authority Workshop: https://www.instagram.com/p/DQ5IRfQEmxz/
Kuaaina.X instagram reel on water theft in East Maui: tinyurl.com/wai-tal-reel.
Our BLNR action alert post: https://www.instagram.com/p/DQ6DU4ZEWir/?img_index=1
and ask your friends and networks to do the same!