Report from the East Maui water meeting

Rec'd this report via email from Ed & Mahealani Wendt...

The meeting before the Commission on Water Resources Management last night, held to address the East Maui taro farmers' petition to restore their streams, was phenomenal! The Haiku Community Center was jam packed with grassroots Hawaiians, and their testimonies were filled with great pride, intensity, passion, anger and tears. For too long, the enormity and grand scale of EMI's crimes, wholesale theft of water out of over 100 streams in the East Maui watershed, have gone largely unnoticed and under-publicized in the Hawai`i community. Last night was truly uplifting, because Hawaiians turned out in force, and many other members of the community came out to support them.

Continued...

The members of Na Moku Aupuni o Ko`olau Hui (Keanae-Wailuanui families) and Ed Wendt, Na Moku's water liason, played a great role, but there were many others: Gwen Kim of QLCC-Punalu`u and her Onipa`a Na Hui Kalo network of taro farmers; Lynn and the Honopou `ohana came out in force; Amanda Martin helped with informal radio announcements. There were also supporters from Na Wai `Eha, the West Maui water case, rallied by Kapua Sproat, and Isaac Hall and his Maui Tomorrow network. Here in the Keanae-Wailuanui community, Solomon Ka`auamo's family all gave testimony - "Solo", his wife Ku`ulei, his daughter Cindy, and two of his college-age grandchildren. Their testimony was riveting. Junior Kekiwi and the young bruddahs came out in force. Bush Martin spread the word far and wide. This meeting was competing with an Aha Moku Council meeting in Hana, but there was an awesome turnout.

The big disappointment of the evening was that none of the Commissioners attended - only three staffers. I believe the current staffers are well-intentioned and want to do the right thing (although they got blasted too). Our challenge is to get to the Commissioners. There were many complaints throughout the evening that these Commissioners did not, for whatever reason, attend in person. They're going to hear it from the community, long and loud, about their decision not to attend, very disrespectful.

Finally, there were a few representatives of Alexander & Baldwin / East Maui Irrigation, including the much-reviled Garrett Heu, who, at a water seminar held at Maui Community College last year, unapologetically and matter-of-factly discussed his management of the water diversion system. He's the man on the ground, in the mountains making sure that the system runs uninterrupted and efficient. What I found particularly disturbing about Garrett was what he did to the Honopou kupuna, Auntie Beatrice and Marjorie Wallet during one of our site visits. While his system was diverting all of the Honopou Stream, he was down at the kupuna's taro patches installing a 3/4" pipe, looking more like drip irrigation for dry land taro, suggesting that she could make do with this in lieu of the lo`i that he deprived them of. Last night, the people took Garrett Heu and his cronies on, right to their faces. They were rebuked, challenged and the people even uttered expletives to describe their contempt for EMI. You could hear a pin drop when one of the testifiers turned to the EMI group and said, "My ancestors farmed taro in Keanae-Wailuanui since time immemorial. You don't even want to know my genealogy. If these were the old days, maybe I would kill you." Others spoke openly about the possibility of blowing up the diversions. I think this gives everyone a flavor of what happened last night. Again, thank you for your support!

Ed & Mahealani Wendt

Posted: Fri - April 11, 2008 at 10:36 AM

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Report from the East Maui water meeting

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