In a seemingly abrupt about-face after the first major controversy of his administration, Gov. David Ige nominated longtime conservationist Suzanne Case on Tuesday as the new chairwoman of the state Board of Land and Natural Resources — a selection that quickly won praise from members of the state’s environmental community.
Case, 59, has served as executive director of The Nature Conservancy of Hawai‘i for the past 14 years, a position that put her at the helm of a program that has grown to include 16 land preserves totaling 53,000 acres. She also oversees the Palmyra Atoll nature preserve and research station.
Case’s nomination must still be approved by the state Senate and comes just 20 days after Ige withdrew his nomination of Carleton Ching to the same post when it became clear there were not enough votes in the Senate to confirm Ching.
Ching is vice president of community relations for Castle & Cooke Hawaii, one of the state’s largest developers, and his nomination triggered an uproar among environmental groups. Critics said Ching did not have the background in resource management or the appropriate experience to manage a department that oversees 1.3 million acres of state land as well as an array of other cultural and natural resources.
News of the nomination of Case to run the Department of Land and Natural Resources was welcomed by some of the same environmentalists who were sharply critical of Ching.
"Suzanne Case is very familiar with the issues, very smart and very experienced," said David Kimo Frankel, chairman of the Sierra Club Hawaii Chapter. "She certainly stands in contrast to the Carleton Ching nomination."
Marti Townsend, executive director of The Outdoor Circle, described Case as "very well qualified for the job. I’m grateful that the administration has reflected on the role of the DLNR director and come up with a candidate that has both the expertise in natural resource management and the skill set in managing a large organization."
"She has a very good reputation amongst advocates for environmental protection, and I also know there are business leaders who have also worked very closely with The Nature Conservancy and Suzanne Case specifically, so she seems like a good candidate to sort of walk in both communities," Townsend said.
Ige said he is "excited about the fact that we were able to find an experienced leader" to run a department of almost 900 employees with a wide range or responsibilities.
DLNR manages the leases of state lands to private citizens and government agencies; runs small boat harbors across the state; operates the Bureau of Conveyances, which records land transactions; and is responsible for enforcing conservation laws, among other duties. It also includes the State Historic Preservation Division, which is responsible for protecting Hawaii’s culturally significant and historic sites.
Case "is a collaborative leader who shares many of the same values that I was looking for," Ige said in announcing the nomination.
"She has created partnerships with business, private entities and communities to conserve and manage our natural resources," Ige said. "She shares my desire to restore trust in government and reshape the way that the state conducts its work, being focused community engagement and involvement" in the activities of the department.
Case, who is the younger sister of former U.S. Rep. Ed Case, graduated from Stanford University with a bachelor’s degree in history and has a law degree from Hastings College of the Law at University of California, San Francisco. She said she was asked to apply for the DLNR job and did not seek the position on her own.
"I share fully Gov. Ige’s vision for wise stewardship of Hawaii’s public and conservation lands and waters, and for excellence in government to make the most of our limited resources, and for collaboration and inclusion in carrying out all those many responsibilities of the DLNR and the state of Hawaii for everyone’s benefit," Case said.
She said she plans to meet with state senators "to hear their own thoughts on the work of the DLNR," and to meet with department staff to learn their priorities and challenges.
Jerry Burris, longtime Hawaii political observer and former newspaper columnist, said Case has a "pristine record as an environmentalist, and it’s kind of interesting that they went from someone who is highly qualified as a developer to someone who is highly qualified as an environmentalist."
Burris said he thinks Ige selected Ching because he is competent and never expected the backlash that prompted 1,120 individuals or groups to submit letters or testify against Ching’s appointment. Burris said he believes Ige was looking for a capable manager in Ching, and sought the same qualifications when he selected Case.
The environmental community will be "more than pleased" with Case’s nomination, but they cannot expect "that she is just simply going to wear the environmentalist hat," Burris said.
"Dealing with government bureaucracies and dealing with the environmental laws for all these years, she has learned what can be done and can’t be done," Burris said. "She is not going in there as a wild-eyed idealist. She’s going to be practical, but with a strong environmentalist background."
Observers in the environmental community, meanwhile, might continue to monitor Ige’s appointments before deciding whether the governor has changed course.
Frankel said there are still a number of other slots Ige must fill that are important to environmentalists, including openings on the state Land Use Commission, on the Commission of Water Resource Management, in the Office of Planning, and the state Department of Health’s deputy director for environmental health administration.
