Gov. Green Faces Lawsuit Over Water Commission Appointment

Earthjustice News Release

On Jan. 27, a coalition of citizens from across the Hawaiian Islands filed a lawsuit in state environmental court against the Green administration for its unlawful nomination process for the loea, or cultural expert, seat on the Commission on Water Resource Management. The suit, brought by the environmental law firm Earthjustice on behalf of community group Hui Kanawai ‘Oia‘i‘o, challenges Governor Green’s refusal to select one of the highly qualified and respected candidates recommended by a nominating committee in February 2024. Instead, his administration arranged a redo of the nomination process, forming a new nominating committee to produce a new list with his preferred candidate, Vincent Hinano Rodrigues.

The loea seat was created by law to ensure representation of Native Hawaiian water management principles in commission decisions. But it has become a focus of controversy over the last year, as the Green administration first stalled selecting from the nominee list for months, then orchestrated a do-over of the list—all the while resisting calls from the public and Native Hawaiian community to put politics aside, follow the law, and select a nominee from the original list whom the community can trust and support.

“The loea is the designated voice on the commission for Hawaiian rights and expertise in restoring our water,” said Lahaina community leader Kekai Keahi. “The governor’s attempt to manipulate the nomination process for this key position is an insult to the law and to everyone who has worked with the commission for years to ensure it respects Hawaiian rights and values.”

The Hui’s suit, directed at Governor Josh Green, the water commission, nominating committee member James Kimo Falconer, and commissioner nominee Rodrigues as defendants, seeks a legal ruling from the court that the second nominating committee process was unlawful and invalid, and that the governor is legally required to select a nominee from the original list. The Hui also challenges Rodrigues’s nomination as invalid.

In defending his choice, Governor Green revealed his motives against the two qualified candidates recommended by the original nominating committee, Lori Buchanan and Hannah Springer. In statements to local news, the governor claimed the two candidates “brought an ideological perspective that was going to cause chaos,” and he needed people who will “compromise on restoring water to the streams and building housing.”

But the governor’s likes and dislikes do not justify him disregarding the legally mandated process and making up his own rules, explained Earthjustice attorney Harley Broyles. “The legislature intentionally established this process for commission nominations as a check on partisanship by the governor,” she said. “The law does not allow the governor to scrap the committee’s recommendations because they do not suit his political agenda.”

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