Recap of the "Fact-gathering" Meeting of the State Water Commission on
Petitions to Amend Interim Instream Flow Standards for East Maui Streams

Haiku Community Center, Maui
April 10, 2008
by Alan T. Murakami

The so-called "fact-gathering" meeting called by the Commission on Water Resources Management last night from 5 PM - 9 PM was phenomenal by any account! The Haiku Community Center was jam packed with about 100 grassroots Hawaiians, and a sprinkling of their non-Hawaiian supporters, FULLY united in their call for the restoration of East Maui streams.

• Their testimonies were filled with intensity, great passion, anger and tears.
• The witnesses ranged from young to old; one young woman testified in Hawaiian.
• The enormity and grand scale of the "theft' of water being perpetrated by Alexander & Baldwin/East Maui Irrigation (A&B/EMI) had too long gone largely unnoticed and under-publicized, so last night was truly uplifting, because the Hawaiians turned out in force, and many other members of the community came out to support them.
• No one amongst the DOZENS that testified over 4 hours that the streams should be left in their diverted state to support the sugar plantation. There was none of the dozens of red shirts (representing HC&S supporters) that packed the ILWU hearing room when the BLNR held its 2001 meeting to consider allowing A&B/EMI to divert the waters from 33,000 acres of ceded lands, one of the the largest in the country by a private diverter.  
• This meeting was competing with an Aha Moku Council meeting in Hana, so we were concerned about what to expect, but we had an awesome turnout.
 
Maui community support testimony was widespread, unanimous, focused, passionate, and compelling.

 • Na Moku Aupuni O Ko`olau Hui members and its network played a great role getting their community supporters out. 
• Solomon Ka`auamo got his whole family out, and they all gave testimony - Solo, his wife, his daughter, and two of his college-age grandchildren.  Their testimony about continuing Hawaiian cultural practices was riveting. 
• Junior Kekiwi talked to his network of 20-something bruddahs, and they came out in force to demand the water they could not do without as taro farmers. 
• Bush Martin is the Maui News of East Maui, and he spread the word far and wide.  Bush was amazing, epitomizing the determination Hawaiians share in this struggle against a major land owner.. 
• Lynn Scott and the Honopou `ohana of Beatrice Kekahuna and Marjorie Wallett and their relatives and neighbors came out in force to describe the hardships A&B/EMI caused their families, including diverting Honopou stream 4 times along its course to the sea.
• Amanda Martin, Bush Martin's sister, had her D.J. friend, Alaka`i, do radio announcements throughout yesterday.  She spoke passionately from her heart about being Hawaiian FIRST amongst all her priorities.
• Supporters from Na Wai `Eha, the West Maui water case, rallied by Kapua Sproat, came forward in solidarity with their brother and sister taro farmers. 
• Isaac Hall and his Maui Tomorrow network headed by Lucienne de Naie showed up to bolster the claims about the state's gift of a trust resource to a commercial water user at the expense of Hawaiians. 
• Hand-painted signs dotted the walls throughout the community center walls calling on the Water Commission to act NOW.
• Many testified that they were outraged that the Water Commission had dragged its feet for 7 years, while A&B/EMI unabashedly stole stream water Hawaiians have used for generations with no consequences to pay.
 
The big disappointment of the evening was that none of the Commissioners attended - only three staffers sat through four solid hours of testimony. 

• Many recognized that the staffers are well-intentioned and want to do the right thing (although they got blasted too). 
• Most criticized the Commissioners for first failing to respond to Hawaiians in need for 7 years, then not showing up at the first public meeting belatedly called to discuss the issues. 
• Many called it an insult, a slap in the face of the community, for not to showing up for so important an issue. 
 
The few representatives of Alexander & Baldwin/East Maui Irrigation, including the much-reviled Garrett Heu, sat quietly as many directed anger and shame to them

• Heu is man in charge of making sure that the system runs uninterrupted and efficient, no matter the cost to Hawaiians. 
• In Honopou, Heu, exhibiting total disrespect for kupuna Auntie Beatrice and Marjorie Wallett, caused diversions of practically all of the Honopou Stream, while he simultaneously, without permission, installed what looked more like drip irrigation for dry land taro on these kupuna's property, suggesting that they could make do with this in lieu of the traditional lo`i.
• Last night, Ed Wendt reminded the crowd that Heu lied about whether A&B/EMI diverted one of the streams on which Wailuanui taro farmers relied.. 
• Others took Garrett Heu and his cronies, to task, heaping shame upon them to their faces, for the harm they were causing to Hawaiians trying to pursue their cultural traditions.
• Many rebuked and challenged their disregard for taro farmers and gatherers, demanding they prove why they took so much water, even uttering expletives to describe their contempt for EMI, calling their acts "cultural genocide." 
 
For those who could not be there, there will be broadcasts of the meeting on Akaku and hopefully other community channels on cable systems on other islands.  Watch for announcements. While it will be lengthy, it will be worth watching this unique and formidable display of Hawaiian solidarity.
 
Mahalo for all those who spread the word, especially to Lynette Cruz, Gwen Kim, and the Onipa`a Na Hui Kalo network of taro farmers, and the Save Honolua Alliance, and the many others who tried to get the word out. I am sure there were others of whom I don't know who cared to share the information prior to the meeting with their own networks once they got the word.  Mahalo to all of you.
 
Alan T. Murakami, Esq.
Native Hawaiian Legal Corporation