Rodrigues’ Appointment to CWRM Raises Concerns

After mounting pressure from Native Hawaiian and environmental groups to fill the “loea” (traditional expert) seat on the Commission on Water Resource Management (CWRM) that has been vacant since July 1, in late October Gov. Josh Green announced his appointment of Hinano Rodrigues.

The CWRM is the primary governing body responsible for implementing the State of Hawaiʻi Water Code, specifically managing water resources (supply and conservation) in Hawaiʻi to include permitting processes for water use, allocation of water rights and jurisdiction over water quality.

Hawaiʻi Revised Statutes 174 (HRS 174), section C-7 stipulates that at least one member of the seven-member commission “shall have substantial experience or expertise in traditional Hawaiian water resource management techniques and in traditional Hawaiian riparian usage.”

This seat has been held since 2016 by Neil Hannahs, CEO of Kahoʻokele Strategies and the former director of the Kamehameha Schools Land Assets Division, who served two consecutive four-year terms (the maximum allowed). Hannahs’ second term expired on June 30, 2024.

In an October 29 press release, Green cited as the basis for his selection Rodrigues’ 20+ years of service in “cultural preservation and community engagement, and extensive knowledge related to Hawaiʻi’s environment and cultural heritage.” For more than 10 years, Rodrigues, a kupa of Olowalu, Maui, served as a History and Culture Branch chief with the State Historic Preservation Division of the Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR).

Anticipating Hannahs’ departure from CWRM, a nominating committee interviewed 14 candidates to fill the loea vacancy in meetings on January 29 and February 23, forwarding four finalists in late February for Green’s consideration and selection.

But Green sat on the decision for months, failing to appoint a new loea to CWRM prior to Hannahs’ departure.

Many in the Native Hawaiian and conservation communities questioned Green’s failure to act on the nominations, expressing concern that, following Hannahs’ departure, CWRM continued to meet without considering a Native Hawaiian cultural perspective in decision-making.

In an August 2 article questioning the governor’s delay in filling the vacancy, Civil Beat reported that the four finalists submitted to the governor in February were University of Hawaiʻi Molokaʻi/Maui Invasive Species Committee Coordinator and Molokaʻi Planning Commission member Lori Buchanan; UH Mānoa Ka Papa Loʻi ʻo Kānewai Director Makahiapo Cashman; Lahaina’s MauiGrown Coffee Distributors President Kimo Falconer; and noted scholar/environmentalist, Kuaʻāina Ulu ʻAuamo council member and former Office of Hawaiian Affairs trustee Hannah Springer.

Then on August 22, CWRM Acting Deputy Director Dean Uyeno announced that the loea selection process was going to be restarted, noting that HRS 174 requires that a minimum of three finalists are forwarded to the governor, and that two of the four finalists had withdrawn their names from consideration. Uyeno did not indicate when or why the two finalists had withdrawn. A new application deadline of October 11 was set.

On September 30, a letter signed by about 70 Native Hawaiian and supporting organizations was delivered to Green expressing concern about the “ongoing absence of a practitioner in this vital seat on the Commission.”

The groups urged the governor to nominate one of the two remaining “highly qualified applicants presented by the nominating committee in February,” but added as a caveat that “if the nominating process must be restarted [to] ensure that members of the nominating committee themselves possess sufficient knowledge of Native Hawaiian water rights and practices.”

That same day a Honolulu Star-Advertiser article on the topic quoted the governor’s office as saying in response that, “The governor welcomes Native Hawaiian water rights advocates to apply for the practitioner seat on the water commission,” but noted that the governor’s office did not respond to questions about why the appointment was delayed in the first place.

Then on October 29, Green announced Rodrigues’ appointment.

Six days after Green’s announcement, an ethics complaint against Rodrigues’ appointment was filed on behalf of a coalition of 15 Native Hawaiian organizations representing burial protectors and cultural practitioners.

According to a statement issued by Mālama Kakanilua, one of the 15 organizations, their complaint raises “serious concerns” about Rodrigues’s conduct while serving as the History and Culture Branch Chief at SHPD, specifically regarding alleged mishandling of Hawaiian burial cases.

The statement also expressed concern about Rodrigues’ alleged connection to developer Peter Martin and “a troubling pattern of prioritizing development interests – specifically Peter Martin controlled commercial entities – over cultural and environmental protections.”

Regarding the ethics complaint, the Office of the Governor offered the following: “While it is unclear with which body this ethics complaint was filed, DLNR and the governor have no comment until such time as the State Ethics Commission or another appropriate body investigates and renders a decision on the complaint – which at this point are allegations.

“As a member of the Commission on Water Resource Management, like any member serving on a state board commission, Mr. Rodrigues will follow the ethics code appropriately and identify conflicts of interests and must recuse himself from any decision making when such conflicts arise.”

Per the process outlined in HRS 174, Rodrigues will serve in an interim capacity subject to confirmation by the Hawaiʻi State Senate during the 2025 legislative session.