The state Board of Land and Natural Resources has approved an environmental study for a potential long-term water lease that would affect agricultural and domestic users on Maui.

A hotly debated final environmental impact statement submitted by Alexander & Baldwin and its subsidiary East Maui Irrigation was unanimously approved Friday by the BLNR — a step toward the board issuing the companies a 30-year water lease so they can continue diverting water from Maui streams.

Stream water is collected by the companies’ aqueduct system from about 50,000 acres of land — 33,000 of which are state-owned and include the Nahiku, Keanae, Honomanu and Huelo areas. The water is used primarily for agriculture but also for residential, firefighting and commercial purposes.

The board members appeared to be swayed by the idea of improving Hawaii’s local agriculture, which supporters of the water lease say would benefit from a long-term lease.

“My biggest fear is seeing our lands turn into development if (agriculture) fails,” board member Doreen Canto said after a four-hour meeting of presentations, testimony and questions. “No doubt, we are divided on the FEIS, and as we agree to disagree, we can no longer fall back on tourism to drive our economy, which brings us where we are today.”

Mahi Pono, a Central Maui farm, would benefit the most from the long-term lease. It would receive about 66 million gallons of the 92 million gallons of stream water that would be diverted per day under the proposed water lease in the FEIS.

In 2020 the BLNR allowed 45 million gallons to be diverted per day, but that was reduced to 25 million gallons following a decision by an environmental court judge in July.

Dozens testified prior to the Land Board’s decision to accept the FEIS.

Opponents included Maui County Councilman Shane Sinenci, who represents East Maui. He said in testimony that the FEIS does not properly disclose the system’s environmental impacts or how A&B plans on mitigating them.

The Hawaii Sierra Club also testified that more than half the water — and as much as 83% — diverted from streams was “wasted” due to seepage or evaporation from poorly maintained reservoirs and pipes in the system for all but two months from January 2020 through June.

Both Canto and BLNR member Kaiwi Yoon echoed those concerns, and A&B representatives said those “system losses” could have been a misrepresentation or misunderstanding of reported numbers.

Ultimately, all board members voted to accept the FEIS, although on multiple occasions mentioned that Friday’s hearing was an information-gathering session and that no decisions about a water lease itself have been made.

“Many of the comments today will give us some wisdom on how to tailor a water lease,” BLNR member Vernon Char said after the meeting. “I think we need to move ahead and we need to continue the process, rather than just stop.”