Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 20, Number 8, 1 August 2003 — Federal judge rules on OHA's suit against UH, NASA: Mauna Kea telescopes expansion delayed [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Federal judge rules on OHA's suit against UH, NASA: Mauna Kea telescopes expansion delayed

By Sterling Kini Wong Following the decision of a U.S. district judge, the National Aeronautical and Space Administration (NASA) and the University of Hawai'i Institute of Astronomy must now complete a management plan and an environmental assessment in order to develop six new telescopes atop Mauna Kea. U.S. District Judge Susan Oki Mollway ruled that NASA's environmental assessment for the construction the telescopes was inadequate. Judge Mollway, in her July 15th decision in OHA v. NASA, ordered NASA to prepare a new environmental assessment, whieh NASA estimated would take 6-12 months to complete. NASA is seeking to develop the $50 million outrigger telescope project as an addition to the W.M. Keek Observatory. The six proposed telescopes would be housed in 30-foot-diameter domes and surround two existing 121-foot-diam-eter domed telescopes, whieh are the largest telescopes in the world. Mauna Kea is currently the home of 13 operating observatories. Mollway's decision does not directly affect the University of Hawai'i Institute of Astronomy's application process for a conservation district use permit to further develop Mauna Kea's summit, although the University's permit application relied on NASA's environmental assessment for information on the environmental impact development would have on the summit. Mollway said in her decision that it is up to the state Board of Land and Natural Resources (BLNR) to assess the evidence submitted in its contested court hearings on the University's permit application. Mollway said that the environmental assessment was inadequate because the cumulative

impact section, whieh represented three pages of the 125-page statement, failed to discuss and evaluate past and foreseeable future actions impact on the summit. On June 6, attorney Miehael Gibson, serving as the hearing officer for the state BLNR in the contested court hearings, recommended the BLNR to defer approval of the University's permit application to no later than Dec. 31, 2003. On June 26, the BLNR concluded its hearings on the application and as KWO went to print, the BLNR had yet to take action on Gibson's recommendations. Lea Hong, the attorney for OHA in its civil suit against NASA, said she hopes the BLNR, when assessing its approval of the University's permit application, takes into consideration that a significant segment of the application was ruled inadequate by a federal judge. "I don't understand how you ean conditionally

approve development when you don't understand the overall cumulative environmental and cultural affect development will have on the summit," Hong said. Gibson said that the University of Hawai'i Institute of Astronomy's conservation district use application (CDUA) meets the criteria for a permit but deferred the application's approval because the University's three-page management plan was not acceptable. Because the summit of Mauna Kea is a conservation district, the University, as the administrator of the telescopes, must receive approval from the BLNR to further develop the area. "It would be wasteful and inefficient if the Board were to deny the CDUA at this time for laek of an approved management plan," Gibson said. According to administrative rules, the conservation district use permit may not be approved prior to the acceptance of the management plan. The Sierra Club and Native Hawaiian organizations oppose the telescope projects arguing that they severely impact the habitat of the rare creatures such as the Wēkiu bug, whieh has been a candidate to be listed as an endangered species since 1999. Native Hawaiians hold Mauna Kea as a culturally sacred plaee, home of Hawaiian deities. Gibson acknowledged that Mauna Kea is extremely important to astronomers, environmentalists and Native Hawaiians and to achieve compatibility these three viewpoints need an understanding of and respect for the other's values and beliefs. According to Gibson's recommendation, if a management plan is not approved before Dec. 31, 2003, the BLNR should deny the University's conservation district use application. ■

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The six proposed outrigger telescopes would be located as smaller round 'satellites' linked to the main telescopes at the Keek Observatory, in this computer graphics-enhanced photo provided courtesy of the lnstitute for Astronomy at UH and the Califomia Assoc. for Research in Astronomy.