The state Commission on Water Resource Management reinstated First Deputy Kaleo Manuel on Monday, nearly two months after he was reassigned in a controversial move following the catastrophic Lahaina wildfire.
The news was welcomed
by Native Hawaiians and conservationists, who placed
considerable pressure on Gov. Josh Green and Board of Land and Natural Resources Chair Dawn Chang to reinstate the commission’s top staffer.
“The people, the water resource and the rule of law won today,” Earthjustice attorney Isaac Moriwake declared.
Maui Council member Keani Rawlins-Fernandez wrote a resolution asking for Manuel’s reinstatement and got the Council to approve the measure Friday. On Monday she wrote on social media, “Never underestimate the power of your leo (voice)‼️ Vindication for Deputy Kaleo Manuel.”
Chang, who serves as both BLNR chair and CWRM chair, said in a news release Monday that Manuel’s reinstatement was effective immediately.
“On Aug. 15, 2023, the Attorney General had requested that Manuel be deployed to another DLNR Division until her investigation of certain personnel events related
to the August 8, 2023, Maui wildfires was completed,” Chang said.
Chang went on to say, “I was informed today, that the Attorney General has completed her review of this isolated issue. I would like to thank Dean Uyeno for stepping in as the Acting Deputy Director of CWRM and appreciate his steady leadership of CWRM during this unprecedented time.”
Both the Department of Land and Natural Resources and the Attorney General’s Office on Monday declined to elaborate on what led to the reassignment as well as the specific subject and outcome of the investigation. Both offices said they couldn’t discuss the matter because it was a personnel matter.
The removal of Manuel as the Water Commission’s top staffer had angered Native Hawaiians and conservationists across the state. There were rallies in his support, harsh criticism leveled at public meetings and a lawsuit seeking his
reinstatement.
Manuel was transferred
to the state Historic Preservation Division by Chang a week after a wind-driven inferno swept across Lahaina town, killing at least 98 people, destroying more than 2,200 structures and causing an estimated $5.5 billion in damage.
Manuel’s transfer came after a letter was sent to him — and copied to Chang and the governor — from Glenn Tremble of the West Maui Land Co., who said his request to fill the company’s reservoirs with stream water on the day of the fire was delayed by Manuel by about five hours, which was too late to contribute to the firefight.
Many have pointed out since then that any action to fill reservoirs on that day likely wouldn’t have helped much as none of the streams are connected to fire hydrants, and winds of 60 mph or more were too strong for helicopters to make water drops that day.
When Manuel’s new assignment was announced Aug. 16, Chang said the “deployment does not suggest that First Deputy Manuel did anything wrong.”
Green didn’t talk about the controversy in public
directly, but he did tell the media that some people are fighting against the release of water for fighting fires.
He later suggested he could support the reversal of the designation of the West Maui water management area.
Green ended up temporarily suspending the State Water Code in an emergency proclamation, which led to
a suspension of interim in-stream flow standards in
the Lahaina Aquifer Sector Area water management area last summer.
Wayne Tanaka, director of the Sierra Club of Hawai‘i, said it’s clear Manuel shouldn’t have been targeted in the first place.
Manuel’s leadership at the Water Commission in implementing the State
Water Code over the past four-plus years has been “arguably unprecedented,” Tanaka said, but there’s still a lot of work to do.
“Kaleo’s leadership is critical now,” he said. “Let’s hope Kaleo and his staff
will be able to do their jobs without further political
interference.”
Moriwake, the Earthjustice attorney, said the public deserves an explanation for what happened and that Manuel deserves an apology, “especially for all the slander and scapegoating he had to suffer.”
The allegations about the delayed stream water blew up on social media, he said, with a lot of “kook jobs” on the mainland blaming Manuel and even the Native Hawaiian community and their “pagan Hawaiian culture” for the fire deaths.
“The administration has the kuleana to clear the record,” he said. “I’m glad they righted the wrong, but there’s still something that needs to be fixed.”
Moriwake said it will take a long time for the public to regain trust in the administration and to clear the air about this incident. “And I think the administration not sharing information about this isn’t going to help in the rebuilding process,” he said.
Maui attorney Lance Collins said Monday’s action by Chang “entirely vindicates what the people of West Maui are saying.”
Collins represents West Maui residents Kekai Keahi and Jen Kamaho‘i Mather in a suit against Chang and the Water Commission for actions Chang took in transferring Manuel.
Collins said even though Manuel got his job back, the suit will likely go forward because underlying issues remain.
“Can it happen again?” he said.
State law provides that the Water Commission is the only entity empowered to take personnel actions on the deputy and that those actions must occur during an open meeting and with prior notice to the public under the state’s Sunshine Law, according to the lawsuit.
In their suit, Keahi and
Mather ask that the transfer decision be voided and that the court instruct the Water Commission that it must comply with the Sunshine Law before taking any such action in the future — regarding transfer or delegating that authority to the chair.
The plaintiffs have also filed a separate complaint in an attempt to disqualify the deputy attorney general from representing both Chang and the Water Commission.
