House Bill 499 would give the state Board of Land and Natural Resources and the state Department of Hawaiian Home Lands (who did not support the bill before the Legislature) power to authorize 105 year-long leases of unceded, public trust lands.

Former Gov. John Waihee recently criticized HB 499 as a “trust me” bill. That is, everyone is supposed to trust government agencies to use the power to determine who gets to use Hawaiian public trust lands, and how they can use it for multiple generations to come in the best interests of our community based on, most commonly, a single public hearing and comment period during the initial leasing process.

The Land Board, in particular, has not earned this trust. Public hearings and comments did not stop the board from approving leases for the largest wind turbines ever in Kahuku or a sublease for the Thirty Meter Telescope. This board also authorized $1 leases for 22,900 acres of Pohakuloa Training Area and for the Mauna Kea summit. These actions, carried out despite committed opposition, caused serious damage to beloved places and further eroded an already tenuous relationship with communities.

The Land Board’s failure to build trust with communities also calls into question the state’s role as a public trustee. The state, including the Land Board, is legally required to take initiative in considering, protecting and advancing public rights in natural resources at every stage of planning and decision-making. This must mean, at the very least, evaluating land uses at the end of their term, listening to public input, and assessing alternative lessees and uses of these lands.

The Legislature’s perverse rationale for passing HB 499 is that allowing 40-year extensions of 65-year leases for lessees who have let public trust lands fall into disrepair with “deteriorating” infrastructure will entice them to take better care of the lands. This rewards irresponsible, extractive behavior.

To live up to its trustee role, the state must take the initiative to ensure our public trust lands are cared for by lessees who grow our ability to feed ourselves and malama fragile ecosystems. HB 499 ignores this duty through a skewed and incorrect assumption that the state will make more money off of lessees by enticing them to invest more money in infrastructure on public lands. Those lessees generating the most income for the state, like those at Sand Island and the harbors, are not going to stop being lessees because their functions are already necessary or lucrative.

Also, contrary to Stanford Carr’s concern that HB 499 is needed for “[e]ssential public infrastructure” like airports, harbors and industrial parks (“Longer land leases enhance community,” Island Voices, Star- Advertiser, Jun. 6), the Land Board already has the power to extend leases for government lessees.

The Land Board has not demonstrated the ability to properly balance the public’s interest in healthy watersheds and protected sacred spaces against the commercial interests in extracting money from Hawaii’s resources. We know several high-profile public land leases will be up for renewal or issuance soon, from the general lease for Mauna Kea, to public land leases for East Maui and their streams, to military lands throughout the islands.

Allowing this bill to become law would mean a future where the situation will get worse, not better, because all public land leases are at risk of becoming “forever” leases, perpetually extended 40 years at a time.

KAHEA has been watching the state mismanage Hawaiian public trust lands by delivering them to private hands for more than 20 years. The state cannot be trusted with the power to do this for 105 years.

Bianca Isaki, Ph.D., a public-interest attorney and KAHEA’s director of Mauna Kea programming, submitted this on behalf of KAHEA: The Hawaiian-Environmental Alliance.