Act 126, albeit passed in favor of Alexander & Baldwin, gave the state Department of Land and Natural Resources three more years to figure out how to provide leases to water diverters.

Ideally, this process would provide checks and balances on diverters, requiring protection of stream ecosystems, reports on how much water is being diverted, and diversion impacts on the environment and downstream users.

However, DLNR has made very little progress. Out of dozens of diverters, only one entity is close to completing the process to obtain a long-term lease. Now, DLNR is stirring up panic among small water diverters because it failed to do its job. It’s not the Legislature’s responsibility to fix this problem — it’s up to DLNR to stand up and do what is right.

Its job is to interpret the law correctly: Give small farmers their revocable permits, and require large diverters to actually go through with their lease applications.

Robert Culbertson

Paauilo, Hawaii island

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