(Mark Pellin, Headline USA) A Hawaiian state official pushing a radical climate alarmist agenda is coming under heavy criticism for refusing to release water to fight the massively destructive wildfires that ravaged Maui and have reached a grim death toll of 111.
M. Kaleo Manuel, a Native Hawaiian cultural practitioner and deputy director for state water resource management, “initially balked” at a desperate plea from landowners who were requesting additional water “to help protect their property from fires,” the Honolulu Civil Beat reported. “The water standoff played out over much of the day and the water didn’t come until too late.”
According to several sources that the Civil Beat said had knowledge of the plight, “Manuel wanted West Maui Land to get permission from a taro, or kalo, farm located downstream from the company’s property. Manuel eventually released water but not until after the fire had spread. It was not clear on Monday how much damage the fire did in the interim or whether homes were damaged.”
Manuel declined Civil Beat’s offer to be interviewed.
“One thing that people need to understand especially those from far away is that there’s been a great deal of water conflict on Maui for many years,” Gov. Josh Green said at a press briefing earlier this week. “It’s important that we’re honest about this. People have been fighting against the release of water to fight fires. I’ll leave that to you to explore.”
Manuel can be counted among the frontline climate cultists who professes that water requires “true conversations about equity.”
Manuel explained in a video that his department’s charge was to “manage all water resources in the state” through a “holistic perspective” that included viewing water as an ancient god.
“We’ve become used to looking at water as, like, something we use, and not necessarily something that we revere as that thing that gives us life.”
The morbid irony of Manuel’s comments was blistered by critics who blamed the water director’s warped sense of priorities for accelerating the fires and exacerbating the tragedy.
“Doesn’t that make him in large part responsible for the deaths?” asked Elon Musk, to which another commentator answered with a question of their own, “Wow, how is this guy not in jail!”
There’s a dark but hard TRUTH to the Maui catastrophe that has led to over 110 tragic deaths. As wildfires raged, desperate residents petitioned state officials to send more water for firefighting & to help protect their properties from fire. That request went unanswered for…
— Vivek Ramaswamy (@VivekGRamaswamy) August 17, 2023
