Kali Watson Keeps Moving the Geothermal Meetings — It’s Time for Governor Green to Move Him

DHHL keeps moving the dates, times, and locations of its “informational” geothermal meetings, and Chair Kali Watson owes our ʻohana answers, not confusion.

Ike Pono Hawaiʻi has been tracking the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands’ so-called geothermal “informational briefings.” Here is what we keep finding: a moving target. The schedule has been changed, revised, and changed again, leaving the kānaka who are supposed to show up and be heard guessing.

How many times can one meeting move?

Look at the proof in the pudding. One DHHL notice circulated to beneficiaries listed the Honolulu briefing for Saturday, June 13, at the Neal S. Blaisdell Center on Ward Avenue. DHHL’s own website listed that same Saturday meeting at a different building entirely, the Hawaiʻi Convention Center on Kalākaua Avenue, more than a mile away.

The Waimānalo briefing? One notice put it on Monday, June 15. DHHL’s flyer and website moved it to Monday, June 22.

Even the fine print fights itself: a Zoom link in one notice doesn’t match the meeting ID printed right beneath it. The department’s own flyer is stamped “REVISED,” and the email to beneficiaries says it out loud: the dates and times changed “AGAIN.”

This is not a typo. This is a pattern.

What doesn’t Kali Watson want our ʻohana to know?

Remember what is actually on the table. DHHL wants to study geothermal drilling at up to 12 sites across four islands, on Hawaiian home lands, the ʻāina set aside for Kānaka Maoli, and asked state lawmakers for roughly $15 million to do it, even as critics said they had been blindsided (Hawaii News Now, Feb. & May 2026).

And before facing the public, DHHL ran at least two “mock meetings” to rehearse and “fine-tune its message” (Hawaii News Now, May 6, 2026). Rehearsed messaging. Shifting dates. A calendar nobody can pin down. When kānaka cannot tell where or when to show up, fewer kānaka show up, and a sparse room is an easier room to manage.

Chair Watson says the resistance comes from a “lack of understanding,” and points to “the energy from Pele” as an asset for beneficiaries (Hawaii News Now). With respect, our kūpuna understand geothermal on Hawaiian land perfectly well. The opposition is not confusion. It is conviction.

“Informational” or just checking a box?

Here is the part DHHL admits in writing. Its website states these briefings “do not take the place of formal beneficiary consultation.” In other words, by the department’s own words, these meetings decide nothing. They are not the binding consultation the law requires before any geothermal land disposition. They are a box to be checked, and a box is far easier to check when the public can’t find the room.

The election excuse is gone. The “we’re still planning” excuse is gone. The only thing DHHL has delivered on time is confusion.

Kali Watson was appointed by Governor Josh Green. And Governor Green can appoint someone better. Hawaiian families deserve a DHHL chair who opens the door, not one who keeps moving it.

Call to Action: Make Your Voice Count Before July 31

The public comment period closes July 31, 2026. Do not let a shuffled calendar silence you. Submit your manaʻo to DHHL today through the official comment form and tell them plainly:

•    NO to geothermal drilling and exploration on Hawaiian home lands.

•    NO to circumventing environmental review for geothermal drilling or exploration.

•    NO to disingenuous “informational” meetings staged only to check a box.

Then go one step further: contact Governor Josh Green’s office and ask why Kali Watson still leads DHHL.

The dates can keep changing. Our kuleana does not. The people are watching — and we are done being shuffled aside.