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Commission defers decision after split vote over Maui Land & Pine’s diversion fixes and petition for public hearing
Summary
After public testimony from farmers and petitioners alleging years of noncompliance, the Water Resource Management Commission declined to adopt staff’s proposed amendment and instead voted to defer action on whether to schedule a contested public hearing on Maui Land & Pine Company’s compliance at diversion 770.
The Water Resource Management Commission on May 2026 debated whether to treat as moot a petition seeking a contested public hearing into Maui Land & Pine Company’s (MLP) alleged long-running failures to meet prior orders to upgrade diversion 770. After more than two hours of staff presentations, technical testimony from system operators and extensive public comment from farmers and community groups, the commission did not adopt the staff recommendation and instead deferred the matter for further legal and factual briefing.
Staff from the commission’s Stream Protection and Management Branch told commissioners that MLP has completed a remotely operated intake and related improvements at diversion 770 and that those upgrades — plus restrictor plates and a redundant return at the so‑called taro gate — meet the spirit of the commission’s 2019 and 2021 orders and support continued monitoring and enforcement. “The…
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