Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 34, Number 12, 1 December 2017 — OHA sues state for Mauna Kea mismanagement [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

OHA sues state for Mauna Kea mismanagement

There are currently 13 observatories on the summit of Mauna Kea, with one more planned. As part of their mismanagement of the mountain, the state and the university have failed to prudently negotiate sublease terms for observatories and failed to manage observatory development and decommissioning. A 1998 state audit found that UH did not allocate sufficient resources to protect Mauna Kea's natural resources because it focused primarily on astronomy development. - Photo: sin_ok, odobestock.com

By Sterling Wong T'he Office of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA) filed a lawsuit Nov. 7 in First Circuit Court against the State of Hawai'i and the University of Hawai'i (UH) for their longstanding and well-documented mismanagement of Mauna Kea. OHA's complaint requests the court to order the state to fulfill its trust obligations relating to Mauna Kea and to terminate UH's general lease for the mountain for breach of the lease's terms. "The state and UH have failed to properly mālama Mauna Kea and have demonstrated their inability to ensure that the environmental and eultural significance of the mountain is recognized and protected," said OHA Trustee Dan Ahuna, the chair of OHA's Ad Hoe Committee on Mauna Kea. "This is not about any one telescope. This

lawsuit is about addressing the state's failure to manage the entire mountain for nearly half a eentury." "It's time to abandon any hope that UH is eapable or even willing to provide the level of aloha and attention to Mauna Kea that it deserves," Ahuna continued. "We need to eome together as a community to completely re-think how we care for the mauna, and that starts with cancelling the university's master lease," In 1974, then-Gov. George Ariyoshi warned against unrestricted use of the mauna. "I am concerned that social pressures for more intensive use of Mauna Kea for scientific, recreational and other purposes pose a threat to the priceless qualities of that mountain," he said. "There are many legitimate and desirable uses whieh should be encouraged, and there may be some potential uses whieh must be either prohibited or closely

controlled, if we are to preserve the historical sites and natural environment in the best possible manner." Since then, four state audits have documented and criticized the state and UH's mismanagement of Mauna Kea. The iniīial audit from 1998 eoncluded that "little was done" to protect the natural resources on Mauna Kea since the first telescope was constructed in 1968. The audit further noted that UH did not allocate sufficient resources to protect Mauna Kea's natural resources because it focused primarily on astronomy development. "The University of Hawai'i's management of the Mauna Kea Science Reserve is inadequate to ensure the protection of natural resources. The university focused primarily on the development of Mauna Kea and tied the benefits gained to its research program. The university's control over public access was weak and its efforts to protect

natural resources were pieeemeal. The university neglected historic preservation, and the cultural value of Mauna Kea was largely unrecognized," noted the Hawai'i State Auditor. The three follow-up state audits revealed that while some progress had been made, more needed to be done. In a 2010 study, the university eonceded that from a cumulative perspective, past, present and reasonably foreseeable future activities resulted in substantial and adverse impacts to the mauna's cultural, archaeological, historical

and natural resources. In 2015, the leadership of both the state and the university publicly admitted to failing to meet their management responsibilities. "We have in many ways failed the mountain," Gov. David Ige said on May 26, 2015. "Whether you see it from a cultural perspective or from a natural resource perspective, we have not done right by a very special plaee and we must act immediately to change that." The following week, UH President David Lassner and UH Hilo Chancellor Donald Straney, acknowledged, "UH has not yet met all of [its] obligations to the mountain or the expectations of the community."

Over the decades, OHA has continuously advocated for improved management with the Legislature, UH Board of Regents, UH's Office of Mauna Kea Management and BLNR. In 2002, OHA filed a federal lawsuit to force NASA to conduct a more comprehensive environmental study for an observatory project that was proposed for Mauna Kea but eventually abandoned. With growing eoneem regarding the management of Mauna Kea, OHA entered into a mediated process with the state and UH in 2015 to address

these management shortcomings. Ultimately, the nearly two-year process was unsuccessful. "The state and UH have failed as trustees and stewards of this beloved and sacred plaee. It's been nearly 20 years since the first audit identified major issues with the management of Mauna Kea, and it is unacceptable that these eoncerns continue to remain," said Kamana'opono Crabbe, OHA's Chief Executive Officer. "Having exhausted all our options, we are compelled to file this lawsuit to hold the state accountable for its mismanagement." For more information about OHA's lawsuit, please www.oha.org/maunakea. ■

"...We have in many ways failed the mountain... we have not done right by a very special plaee." -Gov. David lge, May 26, 2015

The university is responsible for managing, among olher things, the Mauna Kea Summit Access Road. Numerous car accidents have occurred on the mounlain due to dangerous driving conditions. Despite being told by the state auditor to adopt rules in 1998 and receiving rule making authority from the state Legislature in 2009, the university has still never adopted a single administrative rule to manage puhlie and commercial access and activities, including vehicular use. - Photo: Big Mikey and Richard of Ken's Towing

An contemporarily-built altar overlooking several observatories. Mauna Kea is a deeply sacred plaee ihal is revered in Hawaiian traditions. It's regarded as a shrine for worship, as a home to the gods, and as the piko of Hawai'i lsland,- Photo: Ga!yna Andrushko, adobestock.com

This ahu is one of 233 aneienl shrines ihal have been identified on Mauna Kea, constituting whal is probably the largest and arguably one of the most important complexes of "non-monumenlal" religious structures wilh stone uprights in Polynesia. - Photo: Kalei Nu'uhiwa