State's Position on Waiahole Was Made Over Objections of OSP

posted in: September 1996, Water | 0

In a policy decision made at the highest levels of state government, the state Department of Land and Natural Resources and the state Department of Agriculture allied themselves with the interests of the leeward parties in the Waiahole contested case hearing. It was not a decision that enjoyed full support of all agencies. One indication of the dissension within the governor’s staff is found in a memorandum to Governor Benjamin Cayetano from Gregory Pai, head of the Office of State Planning. The memo is dated May 17, 1995, and concerns the “consolidation of state petitions in Waiahole Ditch Water Use Permit Applications.” Here is part of that memorandum:

In a recent meeting with Attorney General Margery Bronster, we were informed that the state intends to consolidate its major petitions to the Water Commission concerning the use of Waiahole Ditch water. The resulting decision was to consolidate the Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) and the Department of Agriculture (DOA) applications, while keeping the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands (DHHL) application separate due to its fiduciary responsibilities to homestead beneficiaries….

The Office of State Planning (OSP) supports the intent of these moves from the perspective of efficiency as well as the potential conflict of interest of the Chairperson of DLNR. However, as a result of the above-mentioned meeting, we also became aware of the fact that the state’s applications unduly favor large private leeward users and question whether this should ultimately be the state’s position with respect to the allocation of Waiahole Ditch water.

With the exception of DHHL petition, the present state applications give an unfair advantage to private industry users and bias the allocation of water toward the leeward side. As shown in an [attached] table, DLNR application is listed as a joint applicant along with private developers Amfac/JMB, Campbell Estate, Halekua Dev. Corp., Pu`u Makakilo, Robinson Estate, West Beach Estates, and others. In addition, as shown in [a second attached table], DOA application consists almost entirely of petitions by private industry users such as Campbell Estate, Robinson Estate, Castle & Cooke, and Bishop Estate. As a result, the consolidated state application could possibly result in an unfair advantage given to private developers benefiting from the state ‘umbrella,’ while at the same time unfairly benefiting leeward as opposed to windward applicants, as virtually all of the private sector applications are on the leeward side….

Our concern lies in the possible perception that the state may be ceasing to play an unbiased, objective role in the allocation of Waiahole Ditch water, and, rather, becoming a partisan player for large landed leeward interests…. Our concern is that the state’s position will simply evolve to that of the consolidated private petitioners, and that OSP’s role will be that of supporting that partisan position….

Volume 7, Number 3 September 1996

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