Moloka'i water plan struck down
By David Waite
Advertiser Courts Writer
The Hawai'i Supreme Court yesterday dealt a major setback to plans by Moloka'i Ranch to develop a new water source on ranch land above Kaunakakai and to pipe up to 1.25 million gallons of water per day to land the ranch owns on the arid west end of Moloka'i.
In a unanimous decision, the five high court justices ordered that the approval given in December 1998 by the state Water Resource Management Commission for the Moloka'i water project be vacated and that the issue be referred back to the commission for further consideration.
The use of Moloka'i's limited fresh water resources has been a controversial topic on the island for the past two decades.
The ability to create a potable water source of its own was at the heart of a Moloka'i Ranch development plan that set out how the ranch hoped to use its extensive land holdings over the next 30 years. The company owns about one-third of the island's land, according to the Supreme Court decision.
Walter Ritte, community and Hawaiian rights activist, termed the ruling a "huge victory" for opponents of the water development plan.
Ritte and others criticized the ranch development plan in the past, claiming it amounts to a two-page spreadsheet lacking in specific details.
They contend the plan amounted to a "back-of the envelope" effort without any community input or an overall business plan, according to a footnote in the Supreme Court decision.
According to the decision, the ranch created the plan in hopes of revitalizing Moloka'i's lagging economy by capitalizing on Moloka'i's rural character, diversifying economic opportunities for Moloka'i residents through agriculture and tourism, as well as light industry, and by protecting and promoting the island's physical and cultural environment.
The high court found, however, that in approving the ranch's water source development request, the Water Commission violated Department of Hawaiian Home Lands reservation rights pertaining to DHHL's own groundwater needs. The commission also failed to adequately protect Native Hawaiian traditional gathering rights and improperly approved a water use plan spanning 30 years, the court said.
Under state law, a "use-it or lose-it" provision requires that new water allocations approved by the commission be used within four years of permit approval.
The commission was also faulted by the high court for approving a proposal that would have allowed Moloka'i Ranch to transport the newly developed water "outside of the aquifer of origin" and for granting an "interim" permit for a "new" water use.
Attorneys for the Water Commission and Moloka'i Ranch could not be reached last night to comment on the decision.
Ritte said Moloka'i residents are currently meeting with ranch officials in hopes of drafting a development plan that will accommodate the interests of the ranch as well as people who live on the island.
He said that he and other residents who appealed the Water Commission ruling were particularly concerned that development of the ranch's proposed well at Kamiloloa would cause aquifer levels to drop, reducing the spring water that flows into the coral reefs along the leeward coast of Moloka'i.
Those reefs are a traditional source of food for Moloka'i residents, Ritte said.
Reach David Waite at dwaite@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8030.
