About 70 Hawaii environmental and Hawaiian cultural organizations are raising concerns over how Gov. Josh Green is going about filling a vacancy on the state water commission reserved for a traditional Native Hawaiian water management expert.

In a letter hand-­delivered to Green’s office at the state Capitol on Monday, the organizations ask for a “timely and appropriate” appointment to fill a seat on the seven-member Commission on Water Resource Management vacant since June 30.

The Sierra Club of Hawaii, one of the organizations, is urging Green to immediately fill the vacancy from two remaining candidates on a list of four people recommended to him in February by a nominating committee instead of obtaining new recommendations from a new nominating committee.

”The legally mandated seat has been vacant since June, and the Governor has now indicated his intent to do-over a nominating committee recommendation process originally completed in February,” the Sierra Club said in a news release.

Leina‘ala Ley, an attorney with Earthjustice, said passing over recommended candidates Hannah Kihalani Springer and Lori Buchanan in order to pursue a new slate of recommendations from a new committee would be highly irregular.

“The law does not authorize the Governor to ignore a properly promulgated list and just convene a new nominating committee,” Ley said in a statement. “There are two highly qualified candidates on the existing list, he must choose one of them.”

A response from Green to the letter and claims made by stakeholders over the issue was requested Tuesday by the Honolulu Star-­Advertiser but not received.

The commission announced in September that it is accepting applications to fill the vacancy so that a new nominating committee can produce new recommendations for Green. The deadline to apply is Oct. 11.

Katie Roth, commission planning branch manager, said during a Sept. 17 meeting that the governor did not select anyone from the prior list in part because two candidates dropped out and the governor needs to make a selection from a list of at least three candidates.

The commission governs the state water code, which can include determining how the public-trust resource is divided by competing interests such as developers, industrial agriculture, small farmers and natural ecosystems.

Under state law the governor appoints five of the commission’s members, who are subject to confirmation by the state Senate and serve four-year terms. The other two members are the director of the state Department of Land and Natural Resources, who serves as chair, and the director of the state Department of Health or that person’s designee.

For each open position for the five appointed member slots, a committee of four people — two of whom are picked by the governor and one each by the leader of the Senate and House of Representatives — solicits applications and sends the governor a list of at least three candidates.

All five members must have substantial experience with water resource management, and one must have substantial experience or expertise in traditional Hawaiian water resource management techniques including riparian use.

Neil Hannahs, a longtime Kamehameha Schools land manager, most recently filled this seat for eight years and was celebrated by the Sierra Club. His last term ended June 30.

In preparation to fill the seat then held by Hannahs, sometimes referred to as the loea, or expert, seat, the commission’s nominating committee interviewed 13 candidates in January and February before sending four recommendations to Green.

Organizations now urging timely and appropriate action by Green to fill the vacancy include the the Native Hawaiian Legal Corp., the Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement, the Environmental Caucus of the Democratic Party of Hawai‘i, Lahaina Strong, Maui Tomorrow Foundation, ACLU Hawai‘i, Surfrider Foundation, Malama Makua, Life of the Land and the Hawai‘i Forest Institute.

The state Office of Hawaiian Affairs and Department of Hawaiian Home Lands as well as a few individuals also backed the letter.

As a group, the letter authors said they want the governor to pick from one of the two remaining recommendations or form a new nominating committee made up of members with sufficient knowledge of Native Hawaiian water use while also soliciting advice from community leaders and organizations to ensure that potential appointees can fulfill their responsibilities.

Some stakeholders, like Ley at Earthjustice, want Springer or Buchanan selected for the seat.

“We need this seat filled now,” Kekai Keahi, a taro farmer and stream advocate from Lahaina, said in a statement. “We cannot wait another three months for a loea to be chosen. We got water permits in West Maui that need urgent review, more action in Na Wai ‘Eha (Maui’s “Four Great Waters”), and stream restoration work across the islands — all these pressing issues need a loea perspective on the Commission to protect our ecosystems, our Hawaiian water rights, our food and water security.”

Seiji Yamada, a physician, said the governor has two highly qualified candidates to choose from. “There is no reason to delay this decision any longer,” he said in a statement.

Work by the commission has come under extra public scrutiny since the Aug. 8, 2023, Lahaina wildfire.

After the fire, which killed 102 people and destroyed most of the historic West Maui town, a West Maui Land Co. executive complained to Green in a letter that the commission’s administrator at the time, Kaleo Manuel, delayed by about five hours a request on the day of the fire to fill company reservoirs with stream water in a move that could affect a downstream taro farmer.

The state Attorney General’s Office began investigating, and on Aug. 15, 2023, requested that Manuel be reassigned from the commission, which is attached to DLNR, to another DLNR division pending the investigation. Manuel was reassigned a day later.

Supporters of Manuel contended that he was unfairly being blamed for doing his job to protect stream water users and that reservoir water was of no use for firefighting during the disaster because gale-force winds that drove flames across Lahaina prevented helicopter air drops.

On Oct. 9, Manuel was reinstated after the Attorney General’s Office’s review, which did not include findings disclosed to the public because a personnel matter was involved. Manuel left the job in January.

Since then Dean Uyeno, the commission’s hydrologic program manager for the stream protection and management branch, has been acting administrator.

A little over a month ago, Green appointed Ciara Kahahane, a state attorney working on complex litigation who also is a graduate of Kamehameha Schools Maui, to be the commission’s next administrator, subject to approval by commission members.

The organizations urging Green to act on the commission vacancy said they appreciate his pick of Kaha­hane to lead the commission.