Hannah Springer Nominated to Hawai‘i Water Commission

Governor Josh Green sent Governor’s Message 770 to the Senate today, naming Aunty Hannah Springer to the loea seat on the Commission for Water Resource Management. This announcement comes after more than a year of turmoil and false starts to fill the one seat on the Commission legally designated for an expert in Native Hawaiian traditional and customary water management practices.

“We are all winners now that the Green administration is following the Water Code,” said Harley Broyles, an Associate Attorney in Earthjustice’s Mid-Pacific Office. “Thank you Governor Green for heeding the community’s call to nominate someone who is both highly qualified and well respected among the community of kalo farmers and others who are committed to perpetuating traditional Native Hawaiian practices in their daily lives.”

The loea seat was created by law to ensure representation of Native Hawaiian water management principles in commission decisions. But it has become a focus of controversy over the last year, as the Green administration first delayed naming someone from the nomination list it received last February, and then orchestrated an illegal do-over of the whole nominating process. In October, the second, do-over nominating committee endorsed Mr. Vincent Hinano Rodrigues, as well as Lori Buchanan and Hannah Springer once again. Governor Green named Mr. Rodrigues as his nominee over objections that he was too closely aligned with Peter Martin, the owner of one of west Maui’s largest private water diverters, Launiupoko Irrigation Company.

In January, Earthjustice filed suit against the Green administration for the unlawful appointment of Mr. Rodrigues in Hui Kānāwai ‘Oia‘i‘o vs. Goveror Green. Additionally, other community groups filed a complaint with the Ethics Commission, collected petition signatures, and urged senators to reject the nomination.

After Mr. Rodrigues withdrew his name from consideration earlier this month, the Green administration announced that a third nomination process would be conducted to produce yet another illegal list of nominees. Kalo farmers and other kia‘i wai practitioners from across the Hawaiian Islands called foul once again. The governor’s office received hundreds of phone calls, emails, and direct messages over various social media platforms demanding that the governor name someone from the original nomination list.

“The law does not allow a governor to repeat the nominating process over and over, like a Magic 8 Ball, until he receives a candidate to his liking,” explained Broyles. “This two-step nomination process is meant to ensure that management decisions are not influenced by the wants of the politically well-connected. Our water is sacred. It is not for sale. Decisions about how it is used must be made for the benefit of all people, the environment, and future generations, equally.”

Now that Governor Green has made a proper nomination, the Senate may fulfill its kuleana to “advise and consent” to the candidate at a public hearing that will be scheduled soon. The full Senate must vote on Ms. Springer’s nomination before April 30^th.