XPost: hawaii.politics, alt.wildland.firefighting, talk.politics.guns
XPost: sac.politics

According to the Hawaii official who delayed access to water during the
Maui wildfires, "true conversations about equity" are required for such
access.

M. Kaleo Manuel, former deputy director of the Hawaii Commission on Water Resource Management, described water as a sacred god in a livestream
debate hosted by the University of Hawaii last year.

"Let water connect us and not divide us," Manuel said, referring to water distribution on the island. "We can share it, but it requires true conversations about equity. ... How do we coexist with the resources that
we have?"

Manuel waited for more than five hours to release water during the
wildfires that killed at least 110 people and devastated Maui last week, according to published reports.

In an Aug. 10 letter to Manuel obtained by Honolulu Civil Beat, West Maui
Land Co. said that his commission denied its request to divert water from streams to fill landowners' reservoirs for firefighters' use in the
Lahaina area until the wildfires raged out of control.

West Maui Land Co. manages three of West Maui's water providers, according
to Newsweek.

"We watched the devastation around us without the ability to help," West
Maui Land Co. executive Glenn Tremble wrote. "We anxiously awaited the
morning knowing that we could have made more water available to MFD [Maui
Fire Department] if our request had been immediately approved."

Sources told the Honolulu Civil Beat that Manuel had asked the company to inquire with a local farmer first to check how a diversion of the water
supply would affect him.

The Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) defended Manuel
in a statement on Wednesday and said he was being transferred to another position within the department.

"The purpose of this deployment is to permit CWRM [Commission on Water
Resource Management] and the Department to focus on the necessary work to assist the people of Maui recover from the devastation of wildfires," the statement said. "This deployment does not suggest that First Deputy Manuel
did anything wrong. DLNR encourages the media and the public to avoid
making judgments until all the facts are known."

Hawaii reportedly has a long history of conflict between local Native
Hawaiian communities and landowners over water, which Gov. Josh Green
brought up after the fires.

"One thing that people need to understand, especially those from far away,
is that there's been a great deal of water conflict on Maui for many
years," Green said during a press conference on Monday. "It's important
that we're honest about this. People have been fighting against the
release of water to fight fires. I'll leave that to you to explore.

"We have a difficult time on Maui and other rural areas getting enough
water for houses, for our people, for any response," he continued. "But
it's important we start being honest. There are currently people still
fighting in our state giving us water access to fight and prepare for
fires even as more storms arise."

https://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/hawaii-maui-
wildfires/2023/08/19/id/1131334/

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)