On July 21, 2026, the Environmental Court again reversed the State’s approval of continued water diversions from East Maui, reaffirming important constitutional and public trust protections for Native Hawaiian practices and East Maui communities that rely on the streams.

For decades, the Board of Land and Natural Resources (“BLNR”) has annually renewed temporary permits allowing millions of gallons of water to be diverted from East Maui streams for commercial use. In January, Nā Moku Aupuni o Koʻolau Hui (“Nā Moku”) challenged BLNR’s issuance of the 2026 permit and BLNR’s refusal to hold the contested case hearing Nā Moku requested to oppose the permit. The permit authorized the diversion of 41.72 million gallons a day from East Maui streams—nearly twice the amount actually diverted in 2025—to Mahi Pono, the successor-in-interest to Alexander & Baldwin’s central Maui sugar lands.

The environmental court ruled that BLNR violated Nā Moku’s due process rights by approving the permit without first providing the requested hearing and failed to satisfy its constitutional kuleana to protect Native Hawaiian traditional and customary practices and the public’s interest in East Maui’s streams.

The decision, together with the court’s recent opinion in the companion case, Sierra Club v. Board of Land and Natural Resources, ensures that Native Hawaiian farmers, gathering practitioners, and communities will have a meaningful opportunity to be heard. BLNR must also independently evaluate the impacts of the diversions on cultural practices and cannot simply rubber-stamp prior agency analyses.

“The court has made clear that BLNR’s practice of using timing as a tool to avoid contested case hearings ends today,” said NHLC Senior Staff Attorney Ashley Obrey. “BLNR has a kuleana to protect these streams, and it must fulfill that obligation, not find new ways around it.”

Based on the court’s decision BLNR is obligated to hold a hearing covering the East Maui stream diversion permit for both 2026 and the anticipated 2027 permit as soon as possible, with benchmarks to ensure the hearing process proceeds without delay. Until BLNR conducts the hearing and renders a decision, the court has set a limit on surface water diversions to 31.5 million gallons of water per day (approximately 25% less than what BLNR authorized under the 2026 permit), which includes 6.5 million gallons of water per day to Maui County for Upcountry domestic water needs and the Kula Agricultural Park.

“This is not just about water. This is about who we are and where we come from,” said Nā Moku president Jerome “Junior” Kekiwi. “Our kūpuna fought for these streams and we are still fighting. Today’s decision means our voices must be heard before anyone takes this water.”

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Nā Moku Aupuni O Koʻolau Hui is an organization of Native Hawaiian descendants of the Keʻanae-Wailuanui Ahupuaʻa in the Koʻolau District of East Maui, whose members have exercised traditional and customary practices—including farming kalo, fishing for ʻoʻopu, gathering ʻōpae and hīhīwai, and other cultural and subsistence activities—in East Maui streams for generations.

Serving the lāhui since 1974, the Native Hawaiian Legal Corporation is a nonprofit legal services provider and the only law firm in the world wholly dedicated to Native Hawaiian rights.

The Court’s opinion can be read here: Nā Moku Aupuni o Koʻolau Hui v. Kanakaʻole, No. 1CCV-26-0011 (Haw. Cir. Ct. July 21, 2026).

The press may contact Native Hawaiian Legal Corporation at (808) 521-2302 or info@nhlchi.org.