Court Rules Sierra Club Deserved a Contested Case

By Marti Townsend | Reading time: 1 min

BIG NEWS! Last week, the court ruled the Board of Land and Natural Resources failed to respect the rights of the Sierra Club in our effort to protect East Maui's streams. The court's order means that for the first time, the Land Board will be required to make A&B fulfill its burden of proof before receiving any permits to use public resources.

Last November, the Sierra Club requested a contested case on A&B's revocable permit to continue diverting 45 million gallons of water a day from East Maui. The Land Board then denied the Sierra Club's request. Now after the court's ruling, the Land Board must hold a contested case hearing as soon as possible and the court can vacate A&B's revocable permit, which would discontinue A&B's current access to diverted stream water, unless A&B states its case to the court on why it should keep its public land and water access.

This is great news, especially after the last court ruling that A&B could continue to drain 13 of East Maui's streams dry. We now have an opportunity to show how much harm the diversion of East Maui's streams is causing and we need your support. Contested cases are a big undertaking and we could use your support to help cover legal fees and other related costs. Please consider making a donation today in support of East Maui's streams!