Senate Unanimously Confirms Hannah Springer for Water Commission’s Loea Seat

Today, the Hawai‘i State Senate voted unanimously to confirm Hannah Kihalani Springer’s appointment to the loea seat on the Commission on Water Resource Management. This confirmation brings to an end the year-long controversy over Governor Josh Green’s delays and detours in the nomination process for this key position of interest for the Native Hawaiian community. Springer will serve a four-year term as the loea commissioner, a role designated for experts in the traditional and customary water management practices of Native Hawaiians.

“The resounding consensus around Aunty Hannah’s appointment to the water commission should erase any doubt that pono governance in water management is in everyone’s best interests,” said Harley Broyles, an associate attorney with Earthjustice and lead counsel on the lawsuit challenging the flawed process prior to Springer’s nomination. “We and our client group, Hui Kānāwai ‘Oia‘i‘o, feel relieved and fulfilled to see that we finally have a true loea confirmed. After all the hassle and delay the community had to go through over the nomination process. We hope that the Green administration better appreciates the need to rebuild the community’s trust and avoid more problems in filling future vacancies on this critical commission.”

On April 11, the Senate Committee on Water and Land, chaired by Senator Lorraine Inouye, held a public hearing and unanimously voted 5-0 in favor of confirming Springer’s nomination. The committee received 308 written testimonies in support, totaling 454 pages, from a host of organizations and individuals from across the pae ‘āina, with no one in opposition. At the hearing, the commission’s Deputy Director Ciara Kahahane led off the testimony in favor of Springer, explaining that, “As the loea water commissioner, she will ensure that indigenous knowledge systems are not only represented but meaningfully engaged in shaping water policies. Her ability to elevate and articulate the ‘ike of place-based communities will significantly strengthen the work that we are doing.”

For the past year, the community has been calling for the appointment of a qualified and lawfully selected loea. In February of last year, the nominating committee sent the governor a list of nominees to succeed the outgoing loea commissioner, which included Springer. But instead of picking from the list, the governor orchestrated a do-over of the process to produce a new list. He then picked Vincent Hinano Rodrigues, who drew objections that he was too closely tied with Peter Martin, the notorious real estate developer and water diverter in West Maui. Rodrigues’s withdrawal in March in advance of the senate confirmation process opened the way for the governor to cure his mistake and return to the original list to nominate Springer.

This summer, there will be two additional vacancies on the water commission, and the community of kia‘i wai that rallied to uphold the water commission’s nomination process will remain vigilant. “We will be maka’ala to make sure the nomination process is conducted lawfully and transparently, and that the most qualified and pono individuals are appointed” said Lahaina community member Kanoelani Steward. “Let’s not repeat the wrong turns in filling the loea seat. Let’s make sure everyone considered for this important kuleana has the best interests of Hawai‘i and our wai in mind and heart.”