Trending
Native Hawaiian taro farmer Ed Wendt said he's against a proposal to allow a private entity to obtain a license for East Maui water -- a proposal that is going before the state Board of Land and Natural Resources on Friday.
"Water is a public trust resource and it is highly inappropriate to allow a private, much less foreign, for-profit corporation to control any part of it," said Wendt, who grows taro in Wailuanui.
The board meeting will start at 9 a.m. Friday in Honolulu. The public can watch the hearing through a live stream at the J. Walter Cameron Center in Wailuku or via YouTube at youtube.com/live/F6yXsclyd9M.
While the proposal has its pro-agricultural supporters, a number of environmentalists and Native Hawaiians are submitting testimony against the proposal by Maui agricultural landowner Mahi Pono.
Mahi Pono, which is backed by a Canadian-based pension fund, purchased 41,000 acres of land from Alexander & Baldwin, including the East Maui Irrigation system in December 2018.
In December 2025, Mahi Pono received a one-year revocable permit from the state land board to continue managing the diversion of water by East Maui Irrigation. But there are plans to have East Maui residents eventually assume management control through an East Maui Water Authority enabled by the passage of a County Charter Amendment.
The license would apply to government surface water in the Nahiku, Keanae, Honomanu and Huelo.
Wayne Chung Tanaka, executive director of the Maui Group of the Sierra Club, said Mahi Pono's request of a 30-year license for withdrawing 88 million gallons of water a day was too high.
He said the Environmental Court has reduced Mahi Pono's level of stream allocation by the board to 31.5 million gallons a day in the interim.
Tanaka said the board has also been told that it must conduct a contested case hearing reviewing the evidence before making a decision on the license for an allotment.
Hawaii agricultural director Scott Enright said he's in favor of a long-term water license for Mahi Pono.
Enright said as one who has worked for a water management company, a long-term permit is needed especially when a company is moving from sugarcane to diversified farming.
"That transition does not finish in a year or five years," he said in written testimony sent to the board. "It takes decades of investment."
A Mahi Pono representative was unavailable for comment.