Proposed policy would seek Hawaiians’ input

Corps of Engineers considering mandate on aquatic and watershed permits

By CHRIS HAMILTON, Staff Writer
KAHULUI — The Army Corps of Engineers is in the early stages of creating a self-imposed mandate to formally seek out the input of any and all Native Hawaiian groups before it makes decisions on aquatic and watershed permits that could significantly impact the islands and the ocean.

During a scheduled five-hour forum Saturday at Maui Community College, Corps Regulatory Program Manager Farley Watanabe said that the federal government is in the process of revising its regulations for who it must consult during the complicated and often long permitting process.

And the Army Corps wants Native Hawaiian organizations — from nonprofits and state agencies to ohanas, lineal descendants and individuals — to be included in that process for the first time, Watanabe said.

Fewer than 10 people attended the discussion, but most appeared to express agreement at one point or another with the Corps’ goals.

However, one of the problems shared by the Corps and Native Hawaiians is that Native Hawaiians are not certified with the U.S. Department of Interior as a American Indian tribe or Alaskan corporation, Watanabe said.

Without that formal designation, the 1992 National Historic Preservation Act does not grant Native Hawaiians the benefit of government-to-government diplomatic discussions when it comes to projects potentially affecting cultural as well as natural resources, Watanabe said.

That could change in the near future, however, if U.S. Sen. Daniel Akaka’s Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization Act of 2007 passes Congress.

The so-called Akaka Bill would grant Native Hawaiians federal status similar to American Indian tribes.

Watanabe said there is another problem being wrestled with in Washington. The independent federal agency, the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, which protects America’s historic resources, recognizes only the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, state island burial councils and the Hawaiian artifact group, Hui Malama, in its decision-making process.

The Corps doesn’t agree with the council’s narrow stance on whom to include in its debates since water, and all things surrounding it in Hawaii, is a cultural resource with significant historic properties, he said.

The Corps has jurisdiction over the nation’s navigable waters and public wetlands.

“This is exclusionary,” Watanabe said about the preservation council’s rules, to nodding approval from his audience.

“It doesn’t even come close to them doing the right thing, and they know it, and we disagree.”

The Corps’ proposed policy would broaden the definitions and throw a much wider net out for who would get notified when a permit application is taken out for a project such as a pier or dam.

“The Corps will talk to anybody else we know of who has a point of view,” Watanabe said.

“It can be one voice or an organization.”

Timmy Paulokaleioku Bailey, who is an expert in Hawaiian resource management through traditional practices, said it is vital that Hawaiians impart to these agencies how important it is for them to understand the Native Hawaiian perspective.

Education is key, he said.

For instance, ancient Hawaiian civilizations had their own natural resource management areas with individual water sources, much like today, he said.

“This is nothing new. It’s just different language,” Bailey said.

“We want them to know that all natural resources are cultural resources. . . . Pull the science out of it. Look at the Hawaiian side of it.”

There’s not even a document yet to debate, though, said facilitator Annelle Amaral.

When one is drafted, the Corps will hold public hearings, she said.

“Today is different,” Amaral said.

“We are used to chasing bulldozers from crisis to crisis. But we have advance warning on this.”

• Chris Hamilton can be reached at chamilton@mauinews.com.