SUZANNE D. CASE CHAIRPERSON DAVID Y. IGE BOARD OF LAND AND NATURAL RESOURCES GOVERNOR OF HAWAII COMMISSION ON WATER RESOURCE MANAGEMENT ROBERT K. MASUDA FIRST DEPUTY M. KALEO MANUEL DEPUTY DIRECTOR - WATER AQUATIC RESOURCES BOATING AND OCEAN RECREATION STATE OF HAWAII BUREAU OF CONVEYANCES DEPARTMENT OF LAND AND NATURAL RESOURCES COMMISSION ON WATER RESOURCE MANAGEMENT CONSERVATION AND COASTAL LANDS CONSERVATION AND RESOURCES ENFORCEMENT POST OFFICE BOX 621 ENGINEERING HONOLULU, HAWAII 96809 FORESTRY AND WILDLIFE HISTORIC PRESERVATION KAHOOLAWE ISLAND RESERVE COMMISSION LAND STATE PARKS Testimony of SUZANNE D. CASE Chairperson Before the Senate Committee on WATER AND LAND Wednesday, May 13, 2020 1:00 PM State Capitol, Conference Room 229 In consideration of GOVERNOR’S MESSAGE 583 SUBMITTING FOR CONSIDERATION AND CONFIRMATION TO THE BOARD OF LAND AND NATURAL RESOURCES CHRISTOPHER YUEN FOR A TERM TO EXPIRE ON JUNE 30, 2022 The Department of Land and Natural Resources (Department) strongly supports Governor’s Message 583 nominating Christopher Yuen to the Board of Land and Natural Resources for a term to expire on June 30, 2022. Mr. Yuen brings a wide breadth of experience to the Board of Land and Natural Resources. He is an organic farmer, supplying local markets with banana, lychee and rambutan. He has served as the Planning Director for the County of Hawaii, Deputy Counsel for the County of Hawaii and as an Interpretive Naturalist for the National Park Service at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. Mr. Yuen asks pertinent questions during board hearings and is seen as an important partner by his fellow board members. Mr. Yuen also brings a wealth of community service experience to the Board. He is a member of the Advisory Councils for both the Laupahoehoe and Pu’uwa’awa’a Experimental Tropical Forests. He has served on various Hawaii Island community groups organized to protect the Hawaii shoreline or forests, and in most cases these groups have been successful. Mr. Yuen graduated from the William S. Richardson School of Law, has a Master’s Degree from the State University of New York in Environmental Science, and a Bachelor’s Degree in Human Biology from Stanford University. He graduated from St. Joseph’s High School in Hilo. The Department notes that Mr. Yuen has served admirably on the Board since July 2014. Further, the Department notes that this is Mr. Yuen’s second stint on the Board, first having served from 1990-1998. Thank you for your consideration of the Department’s strong support of Governor’s Message 5 83, nominating Christopher Yuen to a seat on the Board of Land and Natural Resources. Department of Land and Natural Resources Aha Moku Advisory Committee State of Hawaii Post Office Box 621 Honolulu, Hawaii 96809 Testimony of Leimana DaMate, Executive Director Before the Senate Committee on Water and Land Wednesday, May 13, 2020 1:00 P.M. State Capitol, Conference Room 229 In SUPPORT of GM 583, Chris Yuen Relating to the Aha Moku Advisory Committee The Hawaii State Aha Moku Advisory Committee (AMAC) stands in strong support of Gubernatorial Nominee, GM Chris Yuen for consideration and confirmation to the Board of Land and Natural Resources (BLNR), for a term to expire on June 30, 2022. Mr. Yuen is a life-long resident of Hawaii Island, and is a farmer and practitioner of the protection of natural and cultural practices. With a strong belief in justice tempered with compassion and practicality, Mr. Yuen is successful in rendering fair decisions in the BLNR. He has great life experience that he puts to good use, as he was a long-time Planning Director of the Hawaii County and dealt with complex and often unusual contentious land issues. He works well with constituents and government. Mr. Yuen can, and often is successful in bridging the gap between issues and doing the right thing. Thank you for the opportunity to testify on this measure. We ask that you approve the nomination of Chris Yuen to the Board of Land and Natural Resources. Respectfully yours, Leimana DaMate, Executive Director Hawaii State Aha Moku Phone: 808-640-1214 Email: [email protected] Legislative Testimony GM583 SUBMITTING FOR CONSIDERATION AND CONFIRMATION TO THE BOARD OF LAND AND NATURAL RESOURCES, GUBERNATORIAL NOMINEE, CHRIS YUEN, FOR A TERM TO EXPIRE 6-30-2022 Senate Committee on Water and Land May 13, 2020 1:00 p.m. Room 229 The Administration of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA) will recommend to the Board of Trustees a position of COMMENT for GM583, which nominates Chris Yuen to continue his role as a member of the Board of Land and Natural Resources (BLNR). With jurisdiction over 1.3 million acres of public, “ceded,” and public land trust lands; 750 miles of coastline; and the entire conservation land use district, the BLNR plays a critical role in the stewardship, management, and disposition of lands, resources, and sites of immense importance to Native Hawaiians. BLNR decisions and other actions may have significant impacts, positive and negative, on the Native Hawaiian community, including on the rights of Native Hawaiian cultural practitioners, as well as on the lands and resources to which the culture, well-being, and identity of Native Hawaiians are intrinsically intertwined. Accordingly, the BLNR holds heightened responsibilities to consider and enforce the rights and interests of Native Hawaiians, as part of and in addition to its role as a fiduciary under the public trust. Given its critical mission, OHA appreciates the willingness of all BLNR members, including board member Yuen, to volunteer their time and expertise in furtherance of the BLNR’s work. OHA further appreciates that BLNR decisions over our lands and resources may require a careful and sometimes controversial balancing of various interests and perspectives. Nonetheless, OHA emphasizes that such decisionmaking must be consistent with the laws and fiduciary obligations of the State, and particularly with respect to the rights and interests of Native Hawaiians under the constitution and the public trust. Accordingly, while OHA again expresses its appreciation to Mr. Yuen for his willingness to continue serving on the BLNR, OHA does respectfully note that certain significant BLNR decisions in which Mr. Yuen participated in and, in some cases, led decisionmaking discussions on, failed to address substantial OHA concerns regarding the public trust doctrine, Native Hawaiian traditional and customary practices, and natural and cultural resource protection. As one example, OHA notes that over several consecutive years, Mr. Yuen led BLNR motions to continue water revocable permits for the diversion of streams in East Maui, without requiring the diverter to demonstrate its actual water needs and the planned actual use of diverted water; without requiring the installation of water meters or other mechanisms necessary to determine the actual amount of water diverted or the amount of water left in diverted streams; and without any conditions that would consider, much less balance and protect, the needs of native ecosystems and Native Hawaiian traditional and customary practices impacted by stream diversions, particularly for the numerous streams not subject to the interim instream flow standards eventually set by the Commission on Water Resource Management. OHA specifically and consistently highlighted in written and oral testimonies the above concerns as fundamental considerations under the public trust doctrine, with particular significance to Native Hawaiian rights and interests; however, for multiple consecutive years, Mr. Yuen did not address these fundamental considerations in his motions and leading of discussions resulting in the renewal of the subject revocable permits. As the BLNR member representing Hawai‘i Island, OHA further notes that Mr. Yuen may have had a particularly relevant and influential role in BLNR decisionmaking and discussions regarding state lands on Maunakea. However, Mr. Yuen’s decisions and discussion (or lack thereof) on highly sensitive issues relating to Maunakea have thus far failed to reflect an understanding of Native Hawaiian rights and concerns under the constitution and public trust, as highlighted by OHA in oral and written testimony. Specifically, Mr. Yuen’s vote in favor of adopting emergency rules for Maunakea in 2015 failed to consider OHA testimony regarding the need to assess the potential impacts of such rules on Native Hawaiian traditional and customary practices, and further failed to address numerous other technical and substantive legal deficiencies that could have resulted in an unnecessary infringement on the rights of Native Hawaiians as well as the general public; notably, the emergency rules adopted by the BLNR were immediately invalidated by a district court judge, on bases reflected in OHA’s testimony. Similarly, during the Office of Mauna Kea Management’s annual presentations to the BLNR, Mr. Yuen has not sought to address OHA concerns, originally raised in OHA testimony since 2015, regarding the lack of progress on the implementation of Comprehensive Management Plan action items of particular import to Native Hawaiian rights and the public trust. Much more attention and proactive discussion and decisionmaking regarding such concerns may be necessary for the BLNR to ensure that that management needs of Maunakea are met, consistent with its fiduciary and constitutional obligations. While OHA again commends and appreciates the willingness of Mr. Yuen to continue his service to the BLNR, the above examples illustrate ongoing concerns regarding his appreciation for and understanding of the BLNR’s and state’s legal obligations to Native Hawaiians, including with respect to constitutionally protected Native Hawaiian rights and under the public trust doctrine. OHA accordingly respectfully suggests tHat tHe Committee, in considering Mr. Yuen’s renomination to tHe BLNR, ask Mr. Yuen to reaffirm his commitment to carrying out his constitutional and public trust responsibilities to Native Hawaiians, including but not limited to re-attending the Native Hawaiian Law and Public Trust Training Course currently being scheduled for Fall 2020.