A couple of days ago we had a story about how Deputy Director M. Kaleo Manuel of the Hawaii Commission on Water Resource Management had a delayed response to a request for water to be used to put out Maui wildfires that were rapidly growing out of control.
The Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported:
On the day after the fire, the West Maui Land Co. Inc. sent a letter to Deputy Director M. Kaleo Manuel of the Hawaii Commission on Water Resource Management, or CWRM, describing the events and communication problems that resulted in delaying the diversion of streams to fill reservoirs with water being made available to fight the fire….
According to the letter, although the initial fire was contained at 9 a.m., there were reports of fallen power lines, fierce winds, outages and low reservoir levels, prompting the company to reach out to the commission to request approval to divert more water from streams so it could store as much water as possible for fire control.
Instead of approving the request, CWRM asked the company whether the Maui Fire Department had requested permission to dip into the reservoirs and directed it to first inquire with the downstream user to ensure that his loi and other uses would not be impacted by a temporary reduction of water supply.
The New York Post is among those reporting that the delay in responding to the request for water was more than five hours.
The reason? Reportedly, a concern about "equity":
Hawaii official concerned with ‘equity’ delayed releasing water for more than 5 hours as wildfires raged: report https://t.co/Ar2BCeqn0i pic.twitter.com/HucejVHNTg
— New York Post (@nypost) August 19, 2023
The result of that concern about "equity" was horrific.
This story is crazy.
— Matt Whitlock (@mattdizwhitlock) August 19, 2023
So in addition to diverting resources from wildfire prevention to clean energy production to “fight climate change”…
Hawaii officials held back water needed to put out a fire that was burning people alive because they were worried about “equity.” https://t.co/vQOG0ZGeTM
From the New York Post:
Access to water should be predicated on “conversations about equity,” according to the Hawaii official under fire for delaying access to water during the Maui wildfires.
M. Kaleo Manuel, former deputy director of the Hawaii Commission on Water Resource Management, waited for more than five hours to release water during the wildfires that devastated Maui, according to reports.
Nobody who makes "equity" a priority should ever be in charge of anything... ever.
These idiots need to go to jail.
— Buzz Patterson (@BuzzPatterson) August 19, 2023
Meanwhile many on the Left and in the media will continue to try and at least partly blame "climate change." Ironically the progressive approach to "solving" that problem might have contributed to making this wildfire tragedy far worse.
This is why they want to claim climate change caused this
— Comfortably Smug (@ComfortablySmug) August 19, 2023
Because their own stupid policies are to blame for human sufferinghttps://t.co/XPXoBxeFgQ
The Left has "solutions" to invented problems that end up causing catastrophes they blame on the invented problem, then call for more of their "solutions." It's a self-perpetuating circle of insanity and must be stopped.
And that would be why the press is protecting Biden over this. https://t.co/juZapwA8gF
— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) August 19, 2023
Biden is currently at the Lake Tahoe home of billionaire Dem donor and climate change alarmist Tom Steyer, so you see where this is going.
They withheld water and warnings because of equity. They should straight up be charged with murder. https://t.co/DrherA7l86
— The Dank Knight 🦇 (@capeandcowell) August 19, 2023
You empower people like this at your own risk. The gross negligence from officials there during and in the wake of the disaster needs to be thoroughly investigated, and there has to be real accountability. https://t.co/XByp1xwYxT
— Boris Ryvkin (@BRyvkin) August 19, 2023
Will anybody be held accountable, or will the political Left be too afraid of where that could lead?
“Equity” killed a whole bunch of innocent Hawaiians. https://t.co/cZG29gUWPb
— Amy (@TheLimeSorbet) August 19, 2023
The "punishment" was, at least initially, getting transferred:
Don't miss this part of the story -- when his actions became public, he was transferred to a different position.
— Shipwreckedcrew (@shipwreckedcrew) August 19, 2023
"The state Department of Land and Natural Resources said late Wednesday that a top deputy on the water commission has been transferred to another position following… https://t.co/NUVvUKuRoj
Just... wow.
This is also worth noting:
A former Obama Foundation leader -- part of a program by the former President’s non-profit to help participants with coaching and “practical skill building for social change” — Manuel said he considered water an important tool for social justice.
Why are we not surprised?
To create a country where the "equity" crowd doesn't end up in positions of authority, first people have to stop voting for the politicians who put them in those positions.
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