Court Limits A&B East Maui Stream Diversion

Civil Beat
By Chad Blair

A Hawaii judge has ordered Alexander & Baldwin to significantly reduce the amount of water it diverts from East Maui streams for agricultural, domestic and industrial purposes.

Judge Jeffrey Crabtree of Hawaii’s Environmental Courts said in a written order Friday that A&B — a major real estate company in Hawaii — and subsidiary East Maui Irrigation Co. must limit diversion of the water to no more than 25 million gallons per day.

“This should be more than enough water to allow all users the water they require, while hopefully reducing apparent or potential waste,” Crabtree wrote.

A&B did not respond to a request for comment. The Sierra Club of Hawaii, which has long challenged A&B’s state-approved permits to divert the water, called Crabtree’s ruling “a big deal.”

“We are very pleased that the court reviewed all of the evidence and made a thoughtful determination that serves the legitimate water needs of the community and protects the health of these streams,” David Kimo Frankel, attorney for the Sierra Club, said in a press release Monday.

“This is a fair and balanced decision, a true win-win-win all the way around,” he added.

The Land Board authorized A&B to divert up to 45 million gallons daily. The environmental group said that the figure of 25 million gallons more closely matches actual water used based on reports to the Board of Land and Natural Resources. Correction: An earlier version of this article said that the Sierra Club estimated the water use figure of 45 million gallons, and not the BLNR.

Much of the water, the club estimated, was wasted due to system losses, seepage and evaporation.

Crabtree cited the Sierra Club in his ruling, stating that “it was the only party which offered the court concrete and specific options and support for how to modify the defective permits and not leave a vacuum until BLNR conducts a contested case hearing.”

The land board in November authorized A&B and Mahi Pono — a Maui farming business seeking to transform 41,000 acres of A&B’s former sugar cane land into diversified agriculture — to continue diverting water from dozens of streams via EMI. A&B sold the land to Mahi Pono for $262 million in 2018.

Mahi Pono declined to comment.

A Longstanding Issue
The state’s Environment Courts were established by the Legislature in 2014, making Hawaii at the time only the second state after Vermont to have a statewide environmental court.

The courts, according to the state judiciary, have “broad jurisdiction, covering water, forests, streams, beaches, air, and mountains, along with terrestrial and marine life.”

The battle over water rights involves various state agencies, several prominent businesses, conservationists and Native Hawaiian taro farmers in East Maui who need lots of water for the crop. The origins of the water diversion extend back to the plantation era of the 19th century, when sugar was the Hawaiian Kingdom’s top export.

For now, environmentalists and farmers are claiming victory.

“Just as upcountry Maui residents are being asked to conserve water right now, the court recognized that Mahi Pono also must do all that it can to reduce waste in its own water usage,” said Marti Townsend, director for the Sierra Club of Hawaii, in the press release.

Crabtree is the same judge who in April sided with BLNR and Alexander & Baldwin in a case challenging temporary water permits issued in 2018 and 2019, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported.

The judge ruled at that time that the board acted properly when it allowed the diversion of stream water in those permits, “saying Hawaii’s public-trust doctrine imposes a dual mandate on the state to both protect water resources and make maximum reasonable beneficial use of those resources.”

In his latest order, Crabtree made clear that the matter should ultimately be resolved by other parties: “The court repeats its prior statements that it does not want to be in charge of the specifics of east Maui water distribution. That role should be filled by others with more expertise and experience. But the court will not risk a vacuum which causes hardship to those on Maui who rely on the water at issue.”

That ruling was hailed as a victory by the DLNR and A&B.

But the fight over water is not over. The BLNR is expected to take up the matter of A&B’s long-term water permits later this month.

Lucienne de Naie, a resident of Huelo in East Maui, was pleased with Crabtree’s ruling.

“These streams often run dry in sections, putrid puddles breed mosquitoes, old pipes and other debris litter the stream banks, and the native stream species do not have enough water to thrive in,” de Naie was quoted as saying in the press release. “And all of us who live in East Maui rely on this water as well for our own homes and farms in East Maui.”

Judge may vacate East Maui water diversion permits

Maui News
by Melissa Tanji –

Circuit Court said contested case should have been held before the state land board

Revocable permits granted last year for diverting water from East Maui streams for Mahi Pono’s farming and other uses may be in jeopardy unless a First Circuit Court judge hears a formal request to stay the order.

Saying that “the court does not wish to create unintended consequences or chaos by vacating the permits without knowing the practical consequences of such an order,” First Circuit Judge Jeffrey P. Crabtree ordered the state Board of Land and Natural Resources, which granted the permits on Nov. 13, to hold a contested case hearing on the matter “as soon as practicable.”

The BLNR initially denied Sierra Club’s request for a contested case hearing on the permits, but Crabtree said Friday in an interim decision on appeal that the board violated the Sierra Club’s “due process rights” by not holding the hearing and that the club had new information to present regarding the permits.

The orders are the latest developments in the Sierra Club’s appeal against the BLNR, Alexander & Baldwin Inc. and East Maui Irrigation Co.

On Nov. 13, the BLNR approved another round of one-year permits, allowing A&B to divert 45 million gallons of water per day using the East Maui Irrigation system on state lands for Mahi Pono crops this year. A&B co-owns the water diversion system with Mahi Pono.

Water from the East Maui system is also diverted for other users, including the county Department of Water Supply for municipal purposes such as domestic water use.

Crabtree said he is not vacating the revocable permits yet and that “the court reserves jurisdiction to consider any additional requests from the parties on whether or not the court should modify the existing permits, and how, or whether the court should leave the existing permits in place until their current expiration date.”

He added that if “no such further requests” are filed by 4 p.m. June 30 then the revocable permit “shall automatically be vacated.”

“The court’s order means that for the first time, the Board of Land and Natural Resources will be required to make A&B fulfill its burden of proof before receiving any permits to use public resources,” Sierra Club attorney David Kimo Frankel said in a news release Monday. “It also means that the Sierra Club will be given an opportunity to show how much harm the diversion of our streams is causing. A&B cannot justify draining streams dry when most of the water it takes is wasted.”

For more than 150 years, A&B diverted East Maui streams for sugar operations in Central Maui and Upcountry. After the sugar plantation closed down in 2016, some of those stream flows were restored. In June 2018, the state water commission set in-stream flow standards for East Maui streams diverted by A&B through subsidiary East Maui Irrigation Co.

A&B, whose water permits are nontransferable, had been granted one-year revocable permits for more than a decade for sugar operations. The company would not have been allowed to apply for a revocable permit beyond 2019 were it not for the Intermediate Court of Appeals in June of that year overturning a lower court decision in a lawsuit filed by East Maui taro farmers and practitioners against the BLNR, A&B and the County of Maui.

In November, the BLNR unanimously approved the permit. Following Crabtree’s decision, the Sierra Club will have a chance to get a hearing before the board.

“Our East Maui communities who depend upon the dozen streams left out of previous restoration decisions, will finally have a chance to make a case to restore the life-giving waters to our streams and fisheries,” East Maui resident and Sierra Club Maui Group Executive Committee Chairperson Lucienne de Naie said.

Sierra Club Director Marti Townsend added that the court’s decision “does not jeopardize Upcountry users of East Maui water.”

“The Sierra Club has repeatedly committed to ensuring that water continues to flow to domestic users of the water like those in Upcountry,” Townsend said.

Both the county and the state declined to comment on the decision, with Department of Land and Natural Resources spokesperson Dan Dennison saying that the department “cannot comment on pending legal proceedings.”

Maui County spokesperson Brian Perry said that “Mayor (Michael) Victorino has no comment while he’s reviewing the First Circuit order and looking out for the best interests of the people of Maui County.”

A spokeswoman for Mahi Pono also said the company did not “have a statement at this time.” Mahi Pono, which owns half of EMI and purchased 41,000 acres of former sugar cane lands from A&B in 2018, has sought to differentiate itself from its predecessor’s plantation-era water use.

A&B also did not provide a comment by Tuesday evening.

Judge orders new hearing on Maui water permits

Star Advertiser
By Timothy Hurley –

A Circuit Court judge says he’s prepared to revoke Alexander &Baldwin’s annual permit allowing it to divert up to 45 million gallons per day from dozens of streams in East Maui.

Judge Jeffrey Crabtree, in a ruling issued Friday, ordered the Board of Land and Natural Resources to hold a contested case hearing about the revocable permit and said he would cancel it June 30 unless he sees a formal request to stay his order.

The Sierra Club asked the Land Board in November to hold a contested case hearing on Alexander & Baldwin Inc. and East Maui Irrigation’s request to continue using about 33,000 acres of public land and divert 45 million gallons per day from East Maui streams for the year 2021.

The board denied the request and approved the continuation of the permits, prompting an appeal by the Sierra Club.

On Friday the court concluded in an interim decision that the board violated the nonprofit’s due process rights and ordered a contested case hearing as soon as practicable.

“The court’s order means that for the first time, the Board of Land and Natural Resources will be required to make A&B fulfill its burden of proof before receiving any permits to use public resources,” Sierra Club’s attorney David Kimo Frankel said in a statement.

Frankel said the Sierra Club finally will be given an opportunity to show how much harm the diversions are causing the streams.

“A&B cannot justify draining streams dry when most of the water it takes is wasted,” he said.

Asked for comment, BLNR spokesman Dan Dennison said the agency doesn’t comment on legal issues prior to settlement. A spokesperson for Alexander &Baldwin could not be reached Monday.

In his ruling, Crabtree said he didn’t buy arguments from the board that allowing contested case hearings on annual revocable permits could mean requiring such hearings on virtually everything BLNR decides.

Crabtree said new information, issues and developments pertinent to the stream diversions have come up recently and are worthy of a closer look in a contested case hearing.

“Our environmental law system has a goal that the decision-makers will hear from stake-holders before decisions are made, to help decision-makers reach sound policy decisions examined from multiple perspectives,” the judge said in his ruling.

“The new information and issues,” he wrote, “are relevant, and are not insignificant.”

Crabtree is the same judge who in April sided with BLNR and Alexander & Baldwin in a similar case challenging the 2018 and 2019 permits.

Following a three-week trial, Crabtree ruled that the board acted properly when it allowed the diversion of stream water in those permits, saying Hawaii’s public-trust doctrine imposes a dual mandate on the state to both protect water resources and make maximum reasonable beneficial use of those resources.

The parties remain in mediation over the final order.

Sierra Club Director Marti Townsend said the upcoming contested case should provide a full hearing on the issues, including the amount of wasted water in the aging system and the fact that the diversions are making the streams run dry too much of the time, causing immense ecological damage.

“We’re trying to use all remedies available to us to make sure we protect those resources,” she said.

Townsend said the court’s decision will not affect Upcountry Maui users of the stream water. “The Sierra Club has repeatedly committed to ensuring that water continues to flow to domestic users of the water like those in Upcountry,” she said.

Alexander & Baldwin buys California shopping center

Alexander & Baldwin Inc. has added a California neighborhood shopping center to its commercial real estate portfolio, paying $48 million for a 165,500-square-foot complex in Temecula, Calif.

The Honolulu-based company said it bought Rancho Temecula Town Center through subsidiary A&B Properties Inc., in part, using proceeds from a warehouse complex in Ontario, Calif., it sold in October for $43 million.

A&B said the shopping center, which was built three years ago and is 97 percent occupied, is one of Temecula’s best-performing retail properties and is expected to benefit from population growth.

Alexander & Baldwin buys California shopping center – Hawaii News – Staradvertiser.com

HC&S hires industrial processing plant expert – The Maui News

maui-news-ad

HONOLULU (AP) – Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Co. has hired Anna Skrobecki to be the company’s senior vice president for factory and power plant operations. HC&S General Manager Christopher Benjamin said in a statement that Skrobecki has extensive experience in industrial processing plants.

Benjamin said this will help the sugar plantation as it researches alternative processing methods for biofuels.

The Navy and U.S. Department of Energy earlier this year announced they would spend several million dollars researching biofuel production at HC&S’ sugar cane fields on Maui. Skrobecki most recently was operations vice president at Wausau Paper in Wisconsin.

She also worked for Weyerhaeuser and James River Corp.

HC&S hires industrial processing plant expert – Mauinews.com | News, Sports, Jobs, Visitor’s Information – The Maui News

Hawaii and Related Agriculture Daily Charts for the week ending 06-04-2010

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