Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 40, Number 10, 1 October 2023 — State-Aided Disaster Capitalism? [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

State-Aided Disaster Capitalism?

Gūvernor's administration targets stream, groundwater protections in the wake of Maui wildfires as water protectors fight back By WayneTanaka As people throughout Hawai'i and the world eame together to support the survivors of the devasting Lahaina wildfires, government and corporate actions quickly gave rise to deep concerns regarding their apparent exploitation of the disaster to roll back water protections long opposed by the landowner and developer community. First eame the "re-deployment" of celebrated Water Commission Deputy Kaleo Manuel on August 16, after a West Maui Land Company official misleadingly suggested that Manuel had delayed the delivery of water needed to fight the Lahaina fires. West Maui Land Company and its affiliates have a long history of diverting streams for luxurious "gentlemen farms," at the expense of Maui Komohana (West Maui) kalo farmers, kuleana owners and watersheds. Under Manuels leadership, the water commission had made unprecedented strides in implementing stream and groundwater protections that would have placed additional scrutiny on these companies' use of water, and forced them to share this puhlie trust resource. Accordingly, many suspected Manuels unexplained removal, and the governor's subsequent suspension of Maui Komohana water protections, as the opportunistic removal of obstacles to the continued misuse of water by West Maui Land Company and other large-scale eonsumers in the region. When the West Maui Land Company's claims were disproven - water diverted by the company could not have been used in any way to fight the Lahaina fires - these suspicions only grew. Then, the following week, a smoking gun would demonstrate clear government collusion with a corporate water diverter seeking to exploit the tragedy. On August 23, the Hawai'i Supreme Court heard oral arguments over the state attorney general's petition for a "writ of mandamus" against environmental court judge

Jeffrey Crabtree. The petition sought to overturn Crabtree's modest eap on the amount of Maui Hikina (East Maui) stream water that could be diverted by real estate investment trust Alexander & Baldwin. Filed on August 9, the petition declared that "Maui is in peril as it is ravaged by wildfires," and claimed in several instances that the 31.5 million gallon per day eap on Maui Hikina stream diversions left the island with "not enough water . . . to battle the wildfires." This elaim would quickly fall apart. Over the course of the oral arguments, it was established that water from Maui Hikina, stored in Central Maui, would never have been used to fight the devastating wildfires miles away in Lahaina. Moreover, millions of gallons of water from Maui Hikina were available in Central Maui reservoirs for firefighting, and Crabtree's order allowed at least two million additional gallons of water to flow into them every day. Sierra Club of Hawai'i attorney David Kimo Frankel also established that equipment and personnel limitations meant that Maui County could only physically use a few hundred thousand gallons of water at most to fight a fire - not millions of gallons, and not millions of gallons per day. Ihen, the smoking gun surfaced: Maui County Corporation Counsel Mariana Lōwy-Gerstmar confirmed that there, in fact, had been sufhcient water to combat the Upcountry fires under Crabtree's order, and that the Maui Fire Department had not made any requests for additional water. Moreover, over the course of five days, the Maui Fire Department had used only 37,000 gallons of reservoir water for firefighting - orders of magnitude far less than the millions of gallons of Maui Hikina water that had been available every day for firefighting.

The oral arguments made it clear that the state attorney general had submitted muhiple false statements to the court. Any suggestion that this was due to some kind of oversight quickly evaporated when the attorney general's representative repeatedly declined to "walk back" the state's now disproven claims. The only discernable purpose for the knowing submission of these falsehoods was to tie the hands of an environmental court judge and allow a corporate water diverter to take an additional 10 million gallons of water per day from Maui Hikina. Unsurprisingly, the Hawai'i Supreme Court rejected the attorney general's petition. A Pattern of Collusion? The apparent collusion between developer and corporate interests and executive branch government ofhcials had predated the Maui fires. In July, e-mails revealed how Maui land developer Everett Dowling convinced Department of Hawaiian Home Lands Director Kali Watson to withdraw the department's nomination of water law expert Jonathan Likeke Scheuer to the newly created East Maui Community Water Authority. Dowling wrote that Scheuer was "generally disliked by the development community, large landowners such as ML&P (Maui Land & Pineapple), A&B, the construction trade unions and the ranches." Beneficiary outcry ensued, ultimately leading to Scheuer being renominated and confirmed to the authority. Later that month, Gov. Josh Green vetoed two bills SEE STATE-AIDED DISASTER CAPITALISM? ON PAGE 13

Kaleo Manuel - Photo: MR

Jefferey Crubtree - Photo: Hawai'i State Judiciary

Jonuthun Likeke Scheuer- Photo: Switzer Foundation

Community leoders ond woter protectors rallied ot the Stote Copitol to protest severol concerning decisions mode in the oftermoth of the Maui wildfires - including the removol of respected Woter Commission Deputy Koleo Monuel by DLNR at the behest of West Maui Land Compony, ond on effort by stote's ottorney generol to overturn environmentol court judge Jeffrey Crobtree's eop on the amount of woter thot Alexonder & Baldwin could divert from Eost Moui streoms. - Photo: Kanai'a Hakamura/Kanaeokana

STATE-AIDED DISASTER CAPITALISM? Continued from page 12

Wesf Maui kalo farmer Kekai Keahi speaks ot en August 24 rally and press conference. - Photos: Kanai'a Nakamura/Kanaeokana

that would have held deep-poeket water hoarders aeeountable, espeeially during future water shortages. Ihen, the governor issued an "emergeney proelamation on housing" suspending environmental, cultural protection, as well as government transparency and other laws long targeted by corporate and developer lobbyists - with no affordability or meaningful residency requirements that could have reduced developer profit margins for housing built under the proclamation. For many, the water issues in Maui Komohana and Maui Hikina not only reflected a eontinued pattern of government ofhcials enabling

corporate interests, but also signaled these leaders' willingness to go so far as to exploit the heartbreak and trauma of Lahaina's destruction, to do so. Water Protectors Rise Kānaka 'Ōiwi - including survivors of the Lahaina tragedy - and water protectors across the islands have now pushed back against the apparent collusion between government and corporate interests. Dozens rallied the day after Manuel's "redeployment," expressing their gratitude for his work with hula and lei. The next day, a group of prominent families of Lahaina, Nā 'Ohana o Lele, eame together to demand that Green give impacted families time to process and grieve, and center the Lahaina community in any and all conversations about rebuilding and redevelopment.

Rallies continued at the state capitol and testifiers deluged the water commission and Maui County Council. This grassroots uprising has already seen some successes: Green eventually restored the water protections he had suspended for Maui Komohana, and drastically amended his emergency proclamation on housing to remove the suspensions of environmental, cultural, and good governance laws. Whether the governor and his administration will fully recognize and address the dangers of blind deference to corporate powers-that-be, however, remains to be seen. ■ Wayne Tanaka is the chapter director ofthe Sierra Club ofHawai'i, and aformer puhlie policy managerfor the Office ofHawaiian Affairs. He has worked on Hawai'i water law and policy issuesfor the last 15 years.

For mony, ongoing woter issues in both Eost ond West Maui represent o continued pattern of government officiols enabling corporate interests.