Aloha kākou,
Please take a few moments to help prevent East Maui’s streams from being leased out for the next 30 years to a Canada-based pension fund (see sample testimony below).
Next Friday, staff from the Department of Land and Natural Resources’ Land Division will ask the Land Board for approval to begin the process of issuing a long-term lease of East Maui stream water to Pomona Farming LLC and PSP Investments, doing business as Mahi Pono.
This proposal directly contradicts both the needs of the East Maui community and the will of Maui County voters, who in 2022 established the community-based East Maui Community Water Authority (ʻAha Wai o Maui Hikina) to manage East Maui’s water resources—not a foreign corporation.
It’s been three years since the Water Commission ordered stream flow to be restored to East Maui, yet many streams remain severely dewatered. Every day, millions of gallons continue to be lost due to Mahi Pono’s ongoing use of unlined reservoirs. Meanwhile, DLNR has failed to initiate the court-ordered evidentiary hearing on the immediate impacts of the short-term, one-year revocable permit that allows PSP Investments/Mahi Pono to continue diverting water through 2026.
Moving forward with a long-term private lease while these serious issues remain unresolved prioritizes corporate interests over ecosystem health, Hawaiian rights, local water and food security, and the principle of county home rule.
Please help by sharing this message, submitting written testimony to the Land Board (sample below), and—if possible—testifying in person or via Zoom this Friday, November 14, at the Kalanimoku Building, Room 132, 1151 Punchbowl St., Honolulu, HI 96813.
If you’d like to get more involved, please feel free to submit testimony, show up Friday at Kalanimoku Bldg, or Donate.
Mahalo nui,
Kamalani
SAMPLE TESTIMONY BELOW
Mai Poina:
This Friday, November 14, 2025, the Board of Land and Natural Resources (BLNR) will consider Agenda Item D-10, where DLNR Land Division staff are seeking approval to begin a long-term (30year) lease of East Maui stream water to Pomona Farming LLC and PSP Investments (Mahi Pono). PSP/Mahi Pono are now sole owners of EMI - East Maui Irrigation.
This proposal goes against the will of Maui voters and the intent of the ʻAha Wai o Maui Hikina (East Maui Community Water Authority)—created to ensure community-based management of East Maui’s water resources, not foreign corporate control. Against our Mayor's wishes, BLNR is seeking to hold a contested case regarding the lease, which will eliminate communication, and collaboration between the STATE and the COUNTY officials to work together in the near future regarding EMI management under County control. A contested case hearing for this water license is unnecessary because the facts and issues surrounding East Maui’s stream diversions have already been extensively documented and litigated over decades. The impacts to stream flow, ecosystems, and Native Hawaiian rights are well-established, and further delay through another contested case only prolongs corporate control to East Maui resources and our overall watershed.
Instead of reopening settled issues, the Board should focus on enforcing existing orders, restoring stream flow, and supporting community-based management under the ʻAha Wai o Maui Hikina, as intended by Maui County voters.
Sample Testimony:
To: blnr.testimony@hawaii.gov
Subject: Testimony on Agenda Item D-10
Message (be sure to include a request to testify via Zoom, if you wish to testify verbally as well):
Dear Chair Case and Members of the Land Board,
My name is [your name] and I urge you to NOT accept the staff recommendation to move forward with any process that contemplates giving Mahi Pono, a.k.a. PSP Investments, a long-term lease for East Maui's streams, for the following reasons:
1. This violates the wishes of Maui County voters. In the 2022 elections, Maui's voters established a community-based East Maui Community Water Authority to take over the long-term administration of East Maui streams. This Authority and its staff have been diligently preparing to accept this kuleana, with the full support of the county administration. DLNR staff should be assisting and working toward a set-aside of East Maui diversion infrastructure to the Authority - not spending time and resources on creating a path for a foreign entity to continue the corporate control of Maui's public trust resources.
2. This ignores pressing matters central to your mission. The Land Board is the primary agency tasked with upholding the public trust in our natural and cultural resources. Yet, there are still long-standing violations of the public trust in East Maui's streams that must be addressed, before any contemplation of leasing them to a private entity, including: the non-implementation of Water Commission stream restoration orders for streams that continue to be drained dry; the continued, decades-long loss of millions of gallons of water per day through unlined reservoirs that Mahi Pono/PSP Investments still refuses to line; and the need to hold a court-ordered contested case hearing to address the immediate impacts to watershed health, native species, and Hawaiian rights (among other pressing issues) of the upcoming 2026 revocable permit for Mahi Pono/PSP Investments' stream diversions. There should be no time or energy spent on trying to meet the desire of a foreign corporation to control East Maui's streams for the next 30 years, when so many mission-critical issues in these streams continue to remain unaddressed.
3. This perpetuates drought denial. As you likely know, over the last five years, East Maui and the rest of Hawaiʻi have been undergoing a drought that has worsened far, far more quickly than anticipated. There is no indication that conditions will stabilize in the near future. To contemplate a long term disposition of water when we have no idea how much water will be available in the next 5 years, much less 30, with a corporation whose farm plans are completely out of touch with this climate reality, is nonsensical, wasteful, and dangerous.
Please do not waste your limited staff and financial resources on a misguided attempt to appease a foreign corporation's interests over that of the public, Native Hawaiian communities, and all who have a stake in our islands' environmental integrity, democracy, and dignity. Please reject the staff proposal to move forward with the process for a long-term lease to PSP Investments/Mahi Pono, and please instead ask your staff to work with the East Maui Community Water Authority/ʻAha Wai o Maui Hikina, to facilitate their administration of East Maui's diversion infrastructure via a set-aside or similar disposition.
Mahalo nui,
[your name]
Maui’s People Have Made their Choice - The Newly formed
East Maui Water Authority
Maui County is seeking the Water License for Nahiku, Keanae, Honomanu, and Huelo. If Gratned by BLNR, Maui County (instead of the State) would oversee the lease process for our water. A Community Advisory Board – fairly representing water stakeholders in Maui – would make decisions about how our water is used.
EMI - East Maui Irrigation Co. is curly solely owned by a Canada Corporation, PSP.
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Who is Public Sector Pension/Mahi Pono?
Public Sector Pension manages the pension funds of the Canadian federal Public Service, the Canadian Forces, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the Reserve Force. In late 2018, PSP Investments and a California-based agricultural company (Pomona Farming LLC) jointly bought 41,000 acres of Maui agricultural lands from the former plantation owners (A&B/HC&S). Their new venture has been named Mahi Pono. While that’s the local entity we know, Mahi Pono is fully owned and controlled by PSP and Pomona Farming LLC. Maui people should regard Mahi Pono as a foreign corporation, not a local company.
PSP Investments’s mandate is not to employ local people or support sustainable agriculture. Instead, the fund is legally bound to maximize returns on its investments. Read the full story on PSP/Mahi Pono.
East Maui Irrigation Company (EMI) was originally established over a century ago by plantation interests to divert water from East Maui streams to Central Maui for large-scale agriculture. EMI is now owned and operated by Mahi Pono, which is controlled by PSP Investments, a Canada-based public pension fund.
Today, EMI continues to manage the diversion system that channels millions of gallons of water daily from East Maui’s streams to private agricultural lands, much of which are under Mahi Pono’s control.
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PSP/Mahi Pono wants a 30-year-lease to secure water rights at a very cheap price for a very long time (a generation and a half!). Cheap water will increase the investment return for their pension holders and give them control over Maui’s largest public water source. This gives them an immense amount of power.
Based on Mahi Pono’s water consumption for the last 3 years, they want much more water than they need. We are not opposed to Mahi Pono getting the water they need for daily operations; however, we expect them to prove that need and maintain accountability over their resource consumption.
At the most core level, a 30-year-lease is bad because it gives a foreign corporation control of our largest public water source (East Maui streams), which is a violation of the Public Trust Doctrine (explained below). A 30-year-lease privatizes water that has been legally defined as a public resource.
Additionally, locals have been hindered in accessing their kuleana water rights for 150 years, an injustice of epic proportions. Lastly, as you’ve probably noticed, Hawai’i is getting dryer. In 10 of the last 15 years, we’ve seen less than average rainfall during the wet season. Now is not a time to give a foreign corporation 85 million gallons per day until 2052.
Read more about PSP’s suspicious activities in other countries and areas of business
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Maui County controlling the water leases would immediately halt the 30-year-lease process and prevent foreign control of our largest public water source.
With a Community Advisory Board controlling how our water is actually used, PSP/Mahi Pono would have to apply only for what they need and pay fair prices (they currently pay far under market value). This would be a first step in maintaining what should be an equitable system with usage priority based on the Public Trust Doctrine.
