The Board of Land and Natural Resources’ ongoing practice of issuing temporary permits to divert water from East Maui streams was upheld Friday in a decision by the Hawaiʻi appeals court.
The Intermediate Court of Appeals overturned a lower court decision requiring the BLNR to hold a contested case hearing challenging the continued use of revocable permits for water diversion.
The case arose from the continuance of four, one-year revocable permits issued by BLNR to Alexander & Baldwin and the East Maui Irrigation Company. The permits allowed A&B and EMI to divert water from certain streams in East Maui to Central and Upcountry Maui for agricultural, domestic and other purposes.
In 2020, the Sierra Club of Hawaiʻi petitioned BLNR for a contested case over continuing the permits for 2021.
BLNR denied the petition and continued the permits, without conducting a contested case hearing. Sierra Club appealed the decision in the Environmental Court of the First Circuit.
In 2023, the court ordered BLNR to hold a contested case hearing, while also modifying the terms of the permits, and reducing the amount of water A&B and its subsidiary, EMI, could divert until the contested case hearing was held.
The BLNR, A&B, EMI, and the County of Maui appealed the Environmental Court's judgment at the ICA.
The ICA ruled Friday that the contested case hearing was not required as a matter of law and that the lower court exceeded its authority in modifying the terms of the revocable permits.
