Hawaii farmers, ranchers urge state lawmakers to extend their water leases

About 30 farmers and ranchers from throughout the state showed up Friday at the state Capitol to urge Gov. David Ige and state lawmakers to resurrect contentious legislation that would extend a deadline for them to obtain long-term water leases.

For years, the state has allowed an assortment of agricultural operations, electrical utilities and others to use public water resources under one-year revocable permits that let them sidestep environmental reviews, watershed management plans, cost appraisals for the water and competitive bidding, among other requirements that come with obtaining a long-term lease.

But the state said the permits would not be renewed after they expire toward the end of this year, eliciting alarm among the farmers and ranchers who depend on the water and don’t think they can meet the deadline for obtaining leases.

They’re hoping the Legislature will revive House Bill 1326, which was shelved earlier this month after Senate committees couldn’t agree on amendments that would have effectively excluded former sugar plantation owner Alexander &Baldwin, which holds four water permits on Maui, from a seven-year extension to obtain water leases.

Hundreds of farmers and ranchers would be affected on Hawaii island, Kauai and Maui if the revocable water permits cannot be extended, according to the Hawaii Farm Bureau.

“We can farm in all kinds of climates, and we do,” Kauai farmer Jerry Ornellas told the Hono­lulu Star-Advertiser outside the governor’s office Friday. “We are a good cross section here. We farm from sea level all the way up to several thousand feet. But we cannot farm in the climate of uncertainty. And that is what we are facing today.

“Farming is a long-term proposition. We need assurance that the water is going to be there.”

Ornellas is among 20 to 30 farmers who are members of the East Kauai Water Users Coop, which has held a state revocable permit since 2002 for use of irrigation water.

He said small farmers and ranchers are struggling with the cost and complexity of working through the regulatory requirements. The cost of an environmental assessment alone could be as much as $450,000, Ornellas said.

The state Department of Land and Natural Resources also must finalize criteria for completing watershed management plans, appraise the water and administer public lease auctions.

The Hawaii Farm Bureau estimates that about 75 farmers and ranchers on Hawaii island and 100 on Maui are at risk of losing water.

Bill and Lani Petrie of Kapapala Ranch and Maui ranchers Kyle Caires and Randy Cabral also appeared at the Capitol on Friday along with Richard Ha, who until recent years operated a farm in Hamakua. After meeting with the governor in the morning, the cohort made the rounds to senators’ offices to plead their case.

They also pushed back against arguments by opponents of House Bill 1326 that the measure was really all about A&B, which stands to lose as much as $62 million if a certain amount of water isn’t delivered in the coming years to Mahi Pono, a company that recently purchased its vast land holdings in Central Maui for diversified agriculture. Those farming plans are still in the works.

In 2016 an Oahu Circuit judge invalidated A&B’s permits that allowed the company to divert East Maui stream water, saying the temporary permits shouldn’t have been renewed for years. The ruling, which is under appeal, applied only to A&B but highlighted problems with all of DLNR’s water permits.

In response to the court ruling, A&B and other water users successfully lobbied legislators to pass Act 126 in 2016, which gave them three years to convert their water permits into leases.

If an appeals court upholds the ruling, the state has said it would set a precedent for the other water users. Regardless of the court case, the state’s position has been that under Hawaii law, revocable water permits aren’t supposed to be extended beyond a year.

Opponents of HB 1326, including the Hawaii Sierra Club and Native Hawaiian Legal Corp., have taken an opposing view, arguing there is no reason why farmers and ranchers can’t continue using water.

“We feel that A&B has ginned up the concern of small water users as a way to obscure the financial benefit A&B would enjoy if (HB 1326) passed,” said Hawaii Sierra Club Director Marti Townsend by text message Friday. “Reality is the Ige administration has all of the tools it needs right now to craft rules that respect the Circuit Court’s ruling against A&B, while providing for the needs of small water users and protecting Hawaii’s native stream ecosystems.”

Cabral, who is also president of the Hawaii Farm Bureau, rejected the position that only A&B would be affected.

“I think the attorney general has made that very clear. The governor has made that very clear. Ford Fuchigami (the governor’s administrative director) made it very clear, and the attorneys we talked to made it very clear to us.”