VIDEO….COURT UPHOLDS BOARD OF LAND & NATURAL RESOURCES BALANCING OF AGRICULTURE AND MUNICIPAL USES WITH PROTECTION OF EAST MAUI STREAMS
East Maui Stream from Hawaii DLNR on Vimeo.
In a sweeping and complex, 46-page-long ruling, First Circuit Court Judge Jeffrey P. Crabtree ruled in favor of the Board of Land and Natural Resources (BLNR), Maui County, Alexander and Baldwin, and East Maui Irrigation, in a case brought by the Sierra Club regarding water diversions from east Maui streams. The BLNR allocates available water for off-stream uses.
“This is a classic balancing”, the court ruled, “and the court is persuaded and finds and concludes that applying the applicable law…it was not unreasonable for the BLNR to balance these considerations as it did.”
Judge Crabtree pointed to the BLNR’s Public Trust Duties which “imposes a dual mandate on the State to both protect water resources, and to make maximum reasonable beneficial use of the State’s water resources.”
During a weeks-long trial, which began last August, the Sierra Club argued that the BLNR’s decision to renew two hold-over Revocable Permits (RPs) and allow for the diversion of some water from East Maui violated its public trust duties. The RPs for 2018 and 2019 authorize off-stream uses of water for agriculture, residential use, firefighting, dust suppression and commercial uses.
