Despite powerful friends, the plantation may be losing its grasp on the island's water
by Rob Parsons
 |
 |
 |
If
the attendees at last week's water commission meeting in Paia are any
indication, a familiar cast of characters still holds political clout
on Maui and in Hawaii.
Governor Lingle, her Department of
Agriculture Director Sandra Lee Kunimoto and Mayor Tavares headlined a
who's-who list of testifiers, as the state Commission for Water
Resource Management heard a full range of comments on the implications
of returning flows to East Maui streams. An overflow crowd of more than
150 people filled Paia Community Center, many of them East Maui taro
farmers or Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar (HC&S) plantation
employees.
A concerted push was made by HC&S, the Chamber of
Commerce, Maui County Farm Bureau and others to speak out to "protect
agricultural water" and save 800 plantation jobs threatened by
multi-million dollar losses with the sugar crop. Yet by the end of the
evening, even HC&S employees were calling to support taro farmers
by returning more water to the streams, especially in Honopou and
Nahiku, and to find ways to stop dividing the community over the water
issue.
HC&S plantation manager Chris Benjamin said that
with reduced yields from a 3-year drought, their losses this year could
be $25 million. Shareholders are not very tolerant, he said, and come
January parent corporation Alexander & Baldwin will have to make
hard decisions about the future of sugar. He staid they're looking into
alternatives but "that is not possible today." He indicated they need
assurances of water, and to keep sugar in the ground until they can
make a transition.
The next speaker, Upcountry
permaculturist/acupuncturist Michael Howden, challenged those
assertions and chastised Benjamin for publicly stating at a recent
meeting that HC&S is "not considering any other crop." Howden
called for the company to embrace real alternatives to "growing a
thirsty tropical grass on sand dunes in Central Maui."
Howden,
also chair of the Maui Board of Water Supply but speaking on his own
behalf, asked what the County is doing to find solutions. He spoke of
millions of gallons of diverted water leaking out of the decrepit
Waikamoi flume system, and said the County needs high lift pumps and
more filtration at their Kamaole Weir treatment plant.
Howden
sternly reminded the audience that the plantation's industrial
monoculture is poisoning our air, soil and aquifer. "It's really hard
to watch this and go on as usual, and pretend it's okay," he concluded.
Kula
organic farmer Gerry Ross, who grows more than 40 crops on four acres,
called this the "defining issue of our time." He spoke of efficient
water use, using companion and cover crops and returning organic
material to the soil so it holds the water more effectively.
Maui
Tomorrow Executive Director Irene Bowie pointed out there has been no
analysis provided of HC&S' economic viability, or of alternatives
to sugar.
Edwin "Skippy" Young of Nahiku told commissioners that
Makapipi Stream has been dry since last year. He said he asked East
Maui Irrigation manager Garrett Hew to release water to flush the
stagnant pools, but Hew refused. Addressing plantation workers who were
told to show up to help save their jobs, Young said bluntly, "HC&S
workers, your bosses stay lying to you."
"Poor plantation
workers," said Uncle Charlie Maxwell, who said he started working in
the HC&S fields at age 18, "they just call you together and you nod
your head.
"We should find an alternative crop [to sugar],"
continued Maxwell. "It's a dinosaur." Maxwell said Hawaiians came to
the islands 3,000 years ago and held a cultural and spiritual devotion
to the land. "Taro farmers should be number one," he added.
Native
Hawaiian Legal Corporation attorney Alan Murakami reminded the
commission that the burden is on HC&S to demonstrate that it's not
harming taro growers; the public doesn't have to prove that returning
stream flows wouldn't be a hardship for the plantation.
Yet the
plantation had plenty of testifiers speaking to uphold their diversion
of stream waters, starting with Governor Lingle, who called for
"balance" to "make sure existing users have enough water to thrive" and
told CWRM members that the policy they choose will also apply to the
rest of the state.
Representatives from the Farm Bureau, Hotel
Association, Department of Water Supply, Chamber of Commerce, ILWU,
Maui Electric and Maui Land & Pineapple all spoke of the importance
of ensuring the plantation's viability. Mayor Tavares favored a
cautious approach, with "incremental" return of instream flows, while
monitoring the impacts.
Eliza Goodhue said her grandmother
fought for water rights in New England many years ago. "We need a
consciousness change about water," she said, "and to grow things of
benefit to us all."
Honopou resident Joey Buck read excerpts
from A&B's recent 10K report filing, listing developments planned
for Central Maui. "Where will the water come from for thousands of
homes?" she asked.
Buck also noted that the agricultural sector
constitutes only 6 percent of A&B's total revenue. She read a quote
in the report that stated proposed stream diversions "won't affect
HC&S's operation."
Foster Ampong implored those gathered to
understand the real meaning of the word "sustainability." He likened
water for the Hawaiians to the importance of buffalo to Native
Americans.
Lucienne de Naie said that, from her experience
hiking in East Maui, it's not just streams being diverted but "every
little seepage [being] collected into the ditches, leaving the stream
beds dry."
Kula resident and retired MCC professor Dick Mayer
claimed the ditch systems have been adequately paid for over time and
should belong to the public. He asked what the cost of water delivery
would be if the County took over the system.
Mayer said
windmills could be used to pump brackish waters from HC&S wells,
and stated that alternative crops could provide more than the 800 jobs
the company says are in danger. He provided a detailed list of 10
potential and current water users, and recommended the CWRM put them in
a matrix to clarify the uses.
Wesley Bissen said he's a third
generation HC&S worker. "I'm in the economical system," he stated.
"I gotta live, so I work at HC&S."
Another HC&S worker,
Sheldon Biga—the 42nd speaker of the night—said he's part of a
committee forming to discuss things, and reached out to all in the
audience to work together with them. "Call me," Biga said.