Maui Group Report
Dry Waipio Stream in Huelo. PC: Lucienne de Naie
East Maui Streams
The Sierra Club sued the Board of Land and Natural Resources for authorizing an increase in the amount of water taken out of the east Maui watershed. The Board authorized A&B/EMI to take all the water from 13 streams, leaving them bone dry 80% of the time. The Board failed to ensure that the water taken is actually being used. The Board failed to address the harmful diversion structures on public land. And it has turned a blind eye to the trash that litters our land. The Hawaiʻi Environmental Court heard the case in a two and a half week trial in August. Read more about the Sierra Club's trial here.
Lahaina Injection Wells
The environment won big time when the Supreme Court ruled that the Clean Water Act applies when pollution is transmitted to the ocean, lake or river through groundwater, not only if it is dumped directly in the protected water. That was in response to the County of Maui seeking to reinterpret the Clean Water Act to avoid having to get a NPDES permit for the discharges from the Lahaina Wastewater Reclamation Facility. That effluent has wreaked havoc on one of the previously most pristine coral reefs in Hawaiʻi.
However, the County wants to re-litigate the case in the Hawaiʻi Federal Court! They still do not want to apply for a NPDES permit and are unwilling to commit to a timeline for ending the pollution. Sierra Club and allies are open to discussion but not to continuing the destruction of the West Maui marine life.
Wiliwili Tree in Wailea 670. PC: Rob Weltman
Wailea 670
The developer of this land area in South Maui appears to be reneging on core tenets of the settlement reached with Sierra Club and allies around native habitat preservation. Among other things, they claim to have removed the tree tobacco plants this summer that provided sustenance for the endangered Manduca blackburni, or Blackburn’s sphinx moth, and therefore there cannot be any more of the moth needing protection. Having eliminated the presence of the moth, they now reject the need for a Habitat Conservation Plan as agreed on in the settlement. The Sierra Club and allies are evaluating actions to protect the area.
Grand Wailea Expansion
In reviewing the expansion plans for the Grand Wailea resort and a Shoreline Management Area permit with the potential for unearthing iwi kupuna (ancestral bones), attendees of the hearings received shocking documents and testimony by people present at the time of the initial development around how casually iwi kupuna were dug up and disposed of. The hearing officer will produce Findings of Fact and Conclusions of law, possibly in October; then the Planning Commission will hear her conclusions and maybe also the contestants and make a decision, then it may be appealed.
Water Use and Development Plan
The proposed Water Use and Development Plan has been in process in the Department of Water Supply for five years and has now been submitted to the County Council for approval. However, some key assumptions are based on older – since then updated – data and others do not fully take into account the changes in water usage projection after the end of sugarcane production. Sugarcane is a very water-intensive crop, while the many crops discussed by new land owner Mahi Pono are expected to require considerably less. That means Maui’s agricultural future can coexist with healthy stream flows and reliable potable water distribution to homes. Also, while there were informational meetings on the plan, they were insufficiently promoted and so poorly attended. Haʻikū, where much additional water is proposed to be taken for use in central and south Maui, did not have a public meeting. The Sierra Club is requesting that a decision on the plan be postponed until Haʻikū residents have a chance to learn about it and ask questions, and until key shortcomings in the assumptions are addressed.