mauna kea - thirty-meter telescope (tmt) - bridging science and culture
TRANSCRIPT
Clifton M. Hasegawa
President and CEO
Clifton M. Hasegawa & Associates, LLC
1322 Lower Main Street A5
Wailuku, Hawaii 96793 Telephone: (808) 244-5425
Email: [email protected] LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/cliftonhasegawa
August 30, 2016
The Honorable John Culberson
Seventh Congressional District of Texas
2372 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
Re: National Science Foundation; Thirty-Meter Telescope, Mauna Kea
Dear Congressman Culbertson:
Our correspondence seeks your consideration and continued support
for the Thirty-Meter Telescope (“TMT”).
To begin our discussion we refer to the article published in
ScienceInsider, May 14, 20151 and your comments. Specifically,
Representative John Culberson (R–TX) says he’s not butting in.
But he wants the National Science Foundation (NSF) to pay a
significant share of the $1.55 billion cost of a massive telescope
to be built in Hawaii.
1 Mervis, J. and Cho, A. NSF should help build massive telescope in Hawaii, says senior
appropriator. ScienceInsider. May. 14, 2015. http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2015/05/nsf-shouldhelp-
build-massive-telescope-hawaii-says-senior-appropriator
Asked whether his intervention meant he was dissatisfied with
the current process, Culberson demurred. “I haven’t
intervened,” he said. “I think they’re working it out right now,
and I don’t want to get in the middle of that other than to
encourage them to do so. NSF needs to play a role.
After all … using revolutionary technology.”
Culberson, who chairs NSF’s spending panel in the U.S. House
of Representatives, would like to speed up that timetable. “NSF
is not yet a partner, and they should be,” he told ScienceInsider
today after his panel marked up a bill that would set NSF’s 2016
budget.
Your Congressional Biography is insightful,
“Congressman John Culberson is committed to Thomas
Jefferson’s vision of limited government, individual liberty,
and states’ rights. Simply put, John Culberson believes in
“Letting Texans Run Texas.”
Senator Daniel K. Inouye was Hawaii’s Leader, a One-Person Band,
who provided for our well-being.2 The siting of the TMT was
deliberated and Mauna Kea was selected. Provisioning for the TMT
by the National Science Foundation was initiated. In the 2016
markup there is no provision for the TMT. We believe that including
provisioning for the TMT is a high priority and recommend inclusion.
In 2015, Native Hawaiian protesters blocked the road to the TMT
construction site. “Culberson doesn’t expect those protests to pose a
significant obstacle. “I’m confident that NSF and the local authorities
will work things out,” he says.”3
2 Please Refer to Enclosure Senator Daniel K. Inouye The Leader Of The Band 3 Please refer to Footnote 1.
The Office of Hawaiian Affairs (“OHA”) withdrew their support for
the TMT given the voices of the Native Hawaiian people. Having
attended the plenary sessions that led eventually to the decision by
OHA and continued correspondence with Native Hawaii groups, the
University of Hawaii, Institute for Astronomy and members of the
public I would like to share my observations.
First, the voices of Save Mauna Kea came from individuals who for
the first time said, “We have had enough!” In the past we were quiet
and accepting in silence. Hawaii’s foundation is its cultural heritage.
Having made many concessions over time for the sake of maintaining
a peaceful and harmonious co-existence the time came where giving
more was not acceptable and responsible. The response from local
government was to bar the presence of protesters on Mauna Kea, then
verbal warning, then written warnings and thereafter physical arrests
and jail. The Judiciary has freed these peaceful protesters. This
breakdown is on the mend thanks to the University of Hawaii and the
Institute for Astronomy.4
Second, through the process of open and forthright discussions there
has evolved a mutual understanding, acceptance and blending of
Native Hawaiian Culture and Science.
Third, the passage of time and advancements in technology has been
benefited the TMT. The Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope (“DKST”)
formerly the Advanced Technology Solar Telescope (“ATST”) was
intended to complement solar exploration and research being
conducted atop Mauna Kea. The inclusion of Thermal InfraRed
Instrument Concept for TMT (“MICHI”) will further advance space
exploration and research.
4 Source: TMT. 8.3.2016 http://www.tmt.org/news-center/latest-poll-hawaii-island-shows-2-1-margin-support-tmt-construction
The thermal IR high resolution imager/spectrograph combined
with a mid-IR adaptive optics system will afford 15 times higher
sensitivity and four times higher spatial resolution than
current-generation eight-meter class telescopes. This will
enable many new frontier science applications, including
enabling studies of the physical properties of star formation in
regions deeply hidden in dust, at spectral and spatial
resolutions unattainable by NASA’s James Webb Space
Telescope (JWST), or today’s ground-based facilities.5
Fourth, the TMT has evolved and has a greater international and
global presence by and through a consortium of universities,
institutions and governments from the United States, Canada, Japan,
China, and India.6
To conclude, the young people from Hawaii and all parts of the
World, shepherded, stewarded and mentored by the elders, Native
Hawaiian and multi-cultural practitioners are the voices of change.
Changing the landscape, politically and infusing cultural heritages is
difficult and complex. This change is directed to enhance and
empower the achievement of excellence. Many have risked and made
personal sacrifices to evolve for the future. We are “Idle no more”.
The journey and path for the future is clearly before us.
Let us join together and make all possible.
5 Source: TMT. 7.12.2016 http://www.tmt.org/news-center/around-world-japan-discussions-future-tmt 6 Source: TMT. 8.10.2016 http://www.tmt.org/news-center/dynamic-structures-awarded-10-million-contract-award-final-design-phase-thirty-meter-tel
Thank you very much
Aloha
V/R
Copies provided to:
Senator Maize Hirono
Senator Brian Schatz
Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard
Governor David Y. Ige
Lieutenant Governor Shan S. Tsutsui
Senate President Ronald Kouchi
House Speaker Joseph M. Souki
Members of the Hawaii Legislature
Office of the Hawaiian Affairs
University of Hawaii, Institute for Astronomy
Maui Mayor Alan Arakawa
Members of the Maui County Council
Maui Now
Maui Tomorrow
The Sierra Club
The Maui Time
Maui Causes
Save Mauna Kea
SENATOR DANIEL K. INOUYE
THE LEADER OF THE BAND
THE CODE OF BUSHIDO
Senator Daniel K. Inouye was a one-person band. He delivered on his
vision. Senator Inouye ensured what he started was completed.
Alas Senator Inouye is not here to see his “Little Trolley” completed.
Alas Senator Inouye is not here to see the Thirty-Meter Telescope (TMT)
completed.
Alas Senator Inouye is not here to see the Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope
(DKIST), formerly the Advanced Technology Solar Telescope (ATST) built.
Senator Inouye’s life follows the principles of the Code of Bushido.
The DKIST is funded. Source: National Science Foundation. FY 2017
https://www.nsf.gov/about/budget/fy2017/pdf/27_fy2017.pdf
The Rail struggles, awash in funding difficulties. Additional funding at the
Federal level is conditional.
The TMT continues to struggle for lack of leadership, stewardship and
sponsorship from the Hawaii Congressional Delegation. Please see: NSF
should help build massive telescope in Hawaii, says senior appropriator.
Throughout the processes Senator Inouye’s sensitivity to Native Hawaiians
and for Native Hawaiian culture were questioned.
When asked in recent days how he wanted to be
remembered, Senator Inouye said, very simply,
“I represented the people of Hawaii and this nation
honestly and to the best of my ability. I think I did
OK.”
His last words were “Aloha.”
Please review the following enclosures.
Decide how best we can move Hawaii forward for your future.
ALOHA
The Bushido Code
The Eight Virtues of the Samurai
RECTITUDE is the bone that gives firmness and stature. Without bones the head cannot rest
on top of the spine, nor hands move nor feet stand. So without Rectitude neither talent nor
learning can make the human frame into a samurai.
COURAGE is doing what is right.
BENEVOLENCE AND MERCY. A man invested with the power to command and the power
to kill was expected to demonstrate equally extraordinary powers of benevolence and mercy:
Love, magnanimity, affection for others, sympathy and pity, are traits of Benevolence, the
highest attribute of the human soul. Both Confucius and Mencius often said the highest
requirement of a ruler of men is Benevolence.
POLITENESS. Politeness should be the expression of a benevolent regard for the feelings of
others; it’s a poor virtue if it’s motivated only by a fear of offending good taste. In its highest
form Politeness approaches love.
HONESTY AND SINCERITY. True samurai disdained money, believing that “men must
grudge money, for riches hinder wisdom.” Thus children of high-ranking samurai were raised to
believe that talking about money showed poor taste, and that ignorance of the value of different
coins showed good breeding: Bushido encouraged thrift, not for economical reasons so much as
for the exercise of abstinence. Luxury was thought the greatest menace to manhood, and severe
simplicity was required of the warrior class … the counting machine and abacus were abhorred.
HONOR. Though Bushido deals with the profession of soldiering, it is equally concerned with
non-martial behavior: The sense of Honor, a vivid consciousness of personal dignity and worth,
characterized the samurai. He was born and bred to value the duties and privileges of his
profession. Fear of disgrace hung like a sword over the head of every samurai … To take offense
at slight provocation was ridiculed as ‘short-tempered.’ As the popular adage put it: ‘True
patience means bearing the unbearable.’
LOYALTY. Economic reality has dealt a blow to organizational loyalty around the world.
Nonetheless, true men remain loyal to those to whom they are indebted: Loyalty to a superior
was the most distinctive virtue of the feudal era. Personal fidelity exists among all sorts of men: a
gang of pickpockets swears allegiance to its leader. But only in the code of chivalrous Honor
does Loyalty assume paramount importance.
CHARACTER AND SELF-CONTROL. Bushido teaches that men should behave according
to an absolute moral standard, one that transcends logic. What’s right is right, and what’s wrong
is wrong. The difference between good and bad and between right and wrong are givens, not
arguments subject to discussion or justification, and a man should know the difference. Finally, it
is a man’s obligation to teach his children moral standards through the model of his own
behavior: The first objective of samurai education was to build up Character. The subtler
faculties of prudence, intelligence, and dialectics were less important. Intellectual superiority was
esteemed, but a samurai was essentially a man of action. No historian would argue that
Hideyoshi personified the Eight Virtues of Bushido throughout his life. Like many great men,
deep faults paralleled his towering gifts. Yet by choosing compassion over confrontation and
benevolence over belligerence, he demonstrated ageless qualities of manliness. Today his lessons
could not be more timely.
Source: Clark, T. and Cunningham, M. A Man's Life, On Virtue - The Bushido Code: The
Eight Virtues of the Samurai. A Man's Life. September 14, 2008.
http://www.artofmanliness.com/2008/09/14/the-bushido-code-the-eight-virtues-of-the-samurai/
ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY SOLAR TELESCOPE (ATST)
HALEAKALA, MAUI
CONTRIBUTIONS
* ATST Contribution for Overall Public Benefit: Jobs and scientific recognition for Hawai`i.
* ATST Contribution to Science: Complements Hawaii observatories.
* ATST Contribution to Education: Beneficial from educational institution to mentor young
people to respect cultural practices –to preserve, to protect, to maintain and to restore Native
Hawaiian culture for today, tomorrow and for future generations.
ECONOMIC
Advanced Technology Solar Telescope (ATST) – Project cost: $10 M.
Source: <http://www.nsf.gov/about/budget/fy2012/pdf/28_fy2012.pdf>
SCIENTIFIC
ATST future home is now referred to as “Science City” or "Haleakala Observatory." This
astrophysical complex is operated by the University of Hawaii, Institute for Astronomy with
partners from the National Science Foundation, NASA, the Pan-STARRS consortium, Space
Telescope Science Institute, Tohoku University in Japan, the Air Force and others.
Source: http://www.ifa.hawaii.edu/haleakalanew/index.shtml
EDUCATIONAL
“U.S. Sen. Daniel K. Inouye (D—Hawaii) announced at the UH Maui College (UHMC) “Launch
Celebration” last Friday that the college will receive a $20 million mitigation grant as part of the
Advanced Technology Solar Telescope (ATST) project. The grant is targeted at integrating
Native Hawaiians into science and technology education programs. Ironically, the telescope is
the latest in developments at Haleakala that have been in direct conflict with the practices and
concerns of Native Hawaiian cultural practitioners.”
Source: http://hawaiiindependent.net/story/grant-aimed-ties-native-hawaiian-education-
opportunities-with-supporting-ha
NSF should help build massive telescope in
Hawaii, says senior appropriator
Representative John Culberson (R–TX) says he’s not butting in. But he wants the National
Science Foundation (NSF) to pay a significant share of the $1.55 billion cost of a massive
telescope to be built in Hawaii. [Emphasis Supplied]
The Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) is the dream of a consortium of universities, foundations,
and national observatories in the United States, Canada, China, India, and Japan. It would be one
of the world’s largest optical telescopes. The consortium has raised between 75% and 80% of
what’s needed and has long hoped NSF would be a major backer. But the agency has yet to
commit. In 2013, it gave the TMT consortium a 5-year, $1.25 million grant to study how the
agency might participate in the international project, an effort that could lead to a formal
proposal to the agency in 2017.
NSF created new rules for vetting proposed large new facilities in the 1990s after scientists
complained that the agency’s existing approach was not transparent and didn’t make clear what
was expected of them. However, the process, which includes meeting several interim deadlines,
can take many years from start to finish.
Culberson, who chairs NSF’s spending panel in the U.S. House of Representatives, would
like to speed up that timetable. “NSF is not yet a partner, and they should be,” he told
ScienceInsider today after his panel marked up a bill that would set NSF’s 2016 budget. “I intend
to talk to Dr. [France] Córdova about it.” (Córdova is NSF’s director.)
Asked whether his intervention meant he was dissatisfied with the current process, Culberson
demurred. “I haven’t intervened,” he said. “I think they’re working it out right now, and I don’t
want to get in the middle of that other than to encourage them to do so. NSF needs to play a role.
After all … using revolutionary technology.”
Culberson's comments were welcomed by Gary Sanders, TMT project manager at the California
Institute of Technology in Pasadena. "I'm delighted," Sanders says. "I think TMT is a wonderful
opportunity for the U.S. astronomy community."
That community is already solidly behind the project, which would sit atop Mauna Kea on
Hawaii’s Big Island. A 2011 decadal survey of the field by the National Research Council of the
U.S. National Academies ranked a giant segmented-mirror telescope as one of its top three
priorities for ground-based optical and infrared astronomy.
The report recommended the United States pay for 25% of construction of either TMT or its
competitor, the Giant Magellan Telescope, which would sit atop Cerro Las Campanas in Chile.
The panel also recommended NSF eventually spend a similar amount in equipping or operating
the second telescope.
Researchers hope to start construction of TMT soon and have it completed by 2024. The work is
now on hold, as Native Hawaiian protesters have blocked the road to the construction site.
Culberson doesn’t expect those protests to pose a significant obstacle. “I’m confident that NSF
and the local authorities will work things out,” he says.
*Correction, 15 May, 2:36 p.m.: The priority ranking given to a giant segemented-mirror
telescope by the 2011 decadal survey has been corrected. It was given third priority, not first,
primarily because other projects were more "mature."
Source: Mervis, J. and Cho, A. NSF should help build massive telescope in Hawaii, says senior
appropriator. Science. May. 14, 2015. http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2015/05/nsf-should-
help-build-massive-telescope-hawaii-says-senior-appropriator
Giant telescope eyes site on Mauna Kea
HILO, Hawai'i — U.S. Sen. Daniel K. Inouye is pressing to have a huge new telescope project
built on Mauna Kea that is almost certain to be controversial among Native Hawaiians. But he is
also proposing steps such as scholarships for Hawaiian students as part of an initiative to garner
public support for the project.
The proposed $1 billion Thirty-Meter Telescope is considered by some to be critical to
maintaining Hawai'i's status as a world-class hub for high-tech research and development in
astronomy. Inouye echoed that view in a May 8 letter to University of Hawai'i President David
McClain.
The loss of the TMT project to a competing site in Chile "would not bode well for us as a nation,
and could very well signal an end to any major astronomy investment on American soil," Inouye
wrote in the letter.
TMT Observatory Corp. — a partnership between the University of California, California
Institute of Technology and an organization of Canadian universities — selected Mauna Kea and
Cerro Armazones in Chile as the two potential locations for the telescope it hopes to build by
2018.
A consultant report last year on the risks of building TMT on Mauna Kea warned the project
"must run a gauntlet" of possible challenges, including some that would be "potential
showstoppers." That report by The Keystone Center also noted that "it would seem likely that
TMT will be a magnet for litigation" if the Hawai'i site is selected.
Mauna Kea is regarded as sacred to Hawaiians, and legal challenges by environmental and
Hawaiian groups helped scuttle plans last year for a $50 million addition to the W.M. Keck
Observatory, known as the Outriggers project. A lawsuit in connection with Outriggers is still
being fought on appeal a year after NASA withdrew funding for the project.
The TMT is far larger and more ambitious than the Outriggers project. Critics contend the next-
generation telescope will be larger than all of the other telescopes on Mauna Kea combined,
although TMT board of directors member Michael Bolte said that is incorrect.
A report in Wired technology magazine in 2005 said the new telescope would be housed in a
structure the size of a football stadium. Sandra Dawson, site manager for the TMT, said the
actual footprint of the structure to house the telescope and support buildings would be about two
acres on the northern plateau below the summit, making it most visible from Waimea.
INITIAL DISCUSSIONS
In his letter to McClain, Inouye explained he has met with the chairman and vice chairman of the
committee that will decide whether the TMT will be built on Mauna Kea or at an alternative site
in Chile. Inouye said the committee members "expressed their commitment to work with the Big
Island community to hopefully enhance educational opportunities."
Inouye said that meeting included UH-Hilo Chancellor Rose Tseng and Hawai'i Community
College Chancellor Rockne Freitas, and "as I understand it, preliminary discussions about a
possible mitigation measure are under way involving both the Native Hawaiian languages
leadership at the University of Hawai'i at Hilo and the Hawai'i Community College."
"A simple over-arching mitigation measure could be that Native Hawaiians be provided
scholarships to attend school at either campus," Inouye wrote.
Kealoha Pisciotta, president of an organization of cultural practitioners on Mauna Kea called
Mauna Kea Anaina Hou, said she supports more scholarships for all students, but said
scholarships won't change the impact the project would have on Mauna Kea.
The 13,796-foot summit of Mauna Kea is considered sacred to Hawaiians, and according to
Hawaiian legend is the meeting place of the sky god Wakea and the Earth mother Papa, the
parents of the first ancestor of the Hawaiian people. Pisciotta and other Hawaiians contend
further development on Mauna Kea amounts to desecration of sacred land.
"The problem is in this case it is being directed for Hawaiian students and Hawaiian programs,"
Pisciotta said of Inouye's scholarship proposal. "I don't know a word for it, but essentially
pressuring people who are in need, such as the Hawaiian language program or the Hawaiian
studies program, is really unsavory.
"They're forcing them to make a decision between education and desecration, and that's not
proper."
SCHOLARSHIP OFFERS
Jennifer Sabas, Inouye's Hawai'i chief of staff, said the proposal for scholarships for Hawaiians
for both Hawaiian studies and study in other fields was based on Inouye's idea that something
positive for local families should flow from the project. It was aimed at Hawaiians because of the
large Hawaiian population on the island, and was meant to offer them opportunities, not to pacify
opposition to the project, Sabas said.
"Wouldn't it be nice if 10 years, when a local family or a Hawaiian family looks up at Mauna
Kea, they can say, 'My kid is a teacher,' or 'My kid is a carpenter,' or 'My kid is an astronomer,
we benefited from what is up on the mountain,' " she said. "The only way you do that is investing
in education and making that long-term commitment."
An alternative to building the TMT at a new site on Mauna Kea would be to replace one of the
dozen existing observatories on the mountain so the new development does not alter the
mountain itself, said Pisciotta, a former employee of the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope on
Mauna Kea. She opposes any expansion of the footprint of the observatories on Mauna Kea.
Mauna Kea is also home to rare plant and insect species, and the Sierra Club's Mauna Kea Issues
Committee Co-chair Nelson Ho said no one knows the "carrying capacity" of the mountain, or
the point at which the development overwhelms the natural resources there.
"I think the senator is ignoring a lot of widespread sentiment that Big Islanders don't want more
telescopes on the mountain, let alone the TMT," Ho said. "It's a huge monstrosity at a time when
there are still too many unresolved issues on the table."
EIS SOUGHT
The state must first develop a comprehensive management plan for the mountain, establish its
carrying capacity and decide who controls it, Ho said.
The meeting Inouye had with two members of the TMT — board chairman Henry Yang, who is
chancellor of the University of California at Santa Barbara, and vice chair Jean-Lou Chameau,
who is president of the California Institute of Technology — was an effort to pressure them into
picking Mauna Kea, Ho said.
Sabas, Inouye's chief of staff, said Yang and Chameau asked to meet with Inouye.
She said it was "not at all correct" to interpret the meeting as Inouye attempting to pressure them
to bring the project to the Big Island. She said TMT already has decided to delay site selection
until 2009, and "I think all he was asking of them would be to at least allow the (environmental
impact statement) process to go forward in Hawai'i before making a decision."
"I think we'd like to see a process go forward, and really if at the end of the day the community
feels that on balance it's just not something they could accept...everybody could accept that,"
Sabas said.
The goal of the TMT is to build an "exceptionally powerful" telescope that would have a synergy
with other planned observatories such as the planned James Webb Space Telescope. The TMT is
to be a scientific instrument that can answer "the new questions that will arise during the
following 30 years," according to material from the project.
TMT initially had planned to select its preferred site in mid-2008, but TMT's Dawson now says
that decision will be delayed until June 2009. By then the draft environmental impact statement
for Mauna Kea should be finished, and information from that document will help the site
selection committee to make its choice, Dawson said.
CHILE MOVING AHEAD
TMT has nearly completed an environmental impact statement for the proposed site in Chile, and
has awarded a contract to Parsons Brinckerhoff Inc. in Honolulu to perform the environmental
report for Mauna Kea, Dawson said.
TMT board member Bolte said engineers are fitting larger telescopes into smaller domes, so the
height of the TMT should not be dramatically different from the height of the Keck Observatory
domes. He said the TMT dome will be about 100 feet tall.
The project has been moving very slowly in Hawai'i, he said. "We have been trying to find our
way through in a way that people could embrace astronomy on Mauna Kea, and figure out a way
to make it not incompatible with the sacredness of the mountain," he said.
One thing that helps is providing benefits to nonastronomers including Hawaiians, he said,
"because, after all, we're borrowing this magnificent place up there to do astronomy."
Source: Dayton, K., Advertiser Big Island Bureau. Giant telescope eyes site on Mauna Kea.
Posted on Honolulu Star Bulletin Sunday, August 10, 2008.
http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2008/Aug/10/ln/hawaii808100379.html
Giant telescopes belong in Chile, not Hawaii
Sen. Daniel Inouye is pressuring the California Institute of Technology and the University of
California to build their giant Thirty Meter Telescope on Mauna Kea instead of in Chile, a drier
site preferred by many astronomers. To mollify native Hawaiians, Inouye wants Caltech and UC
to fork over "mitigation funds" to Hawaiian programs at the Imiloa Astronomy Center, UH-Hilo
and the Hawaii Community College.
Inouye's efforts strike us as disrespectful to our community, coming after decades of outcry
fueled by 40 years of summit mismanagement, lease violations, and environmental and cultural
damage to the mountain. They also come on the heels of state and federal court rulings against
the last UC/Caltech project.
Their Keck 6 Outriggers died after Big Island Judge Glenn S. Hara sided with Hawaiians and
Sierra Club to void the project's conservation district use permits because the Board of Land and
Natural Resources failed to write a comprehensive plan "to conserve, protect and preserve the
summit area of Mauna Kea." A federal judge had earlier forced the Outrigger project to also
follow U.S. law and complete a federal environmental review, the first Mauna Kea telescope to
do so.
UH immediately appealed Hara's 2007 ruling, but abandoned that strategy last week. Instead,
and repeating the error that led to the ruling, UH is rushing to cobble together yet another veiled
development plan it claims will satisfy conservation district regulations - a bald-faced attempt to
circumvent both the ruling and BLNR's legal regulatory responsibility to write the plan.
UH has denied its plan is part of a strategy to pave the TMT's way, even as it works toward
renegotiating the original summit lease to accommodate the observatory. Inouye is more honest
about it in a recent letter to UH President David McClain. He says the plan "will provide a
blueprint for Mauna Kea's future" that includes the TMT.
No matter. Sierra Club and the Hawaiian plaintiffs are prepared to litigate any continued
illegalities - with UH's plan, the lease, TMT's EIS or the BLNR permits, if it comes to that.
With the law and the citizens against them, how else could Inouye and TMT proponents force
their will on Hawaii? Exempt the project from the National Environmental Policy Act and
National Historic Preservation Act, as Sen. John McCain did to clear the way for Arizona's
Mount Graham telescopes? That would be foolish since Inouye has already had to apologize to
Hawaiians for past heavy-handed politics to secure reviled projects, including bombing on
Kahoolawe, the H-3 freeway and geothermal development on Kilauea.
Years ago at a hearing, professor and cultural expert Pualani Kanakaole Kanahele wondered
aloud if the Mauna Kea fight would eventually become "another Kahoolawe." To avoid the kind
of political embarrassment, public dismay and even civil disobedience that memories of
Kahoolawe conjure up, three solutions to this conflict should be initiated:
» Caltech and UC should resist Inouye's pressure and take the TMT to Chile.
» BLNR should write the conservation plan required by the laws and precedents upon which
Hara's ruling was based. Part of that plan should include strategies, timetables and performance
bonds to dismantle observatories as they become obsolete and return the land to its original
condition as the current lease requires.
» BLNR also should start following state law and impose fair market lease rents on all existing
telescopes, which now pay only one dollar a year. This would give BLNR the funds to live up to
their legal responsibilities to manage Mauna Kea and repair damage already done. BLNR could
then finally protect the legal rightholders to the conservation and ceded lands on Mauna Kea.
Nelson Ho and Deborah Ward are co-chairs of Sierra Club's statewide Mauna Kea Issues
Committee.
Source: Ho, N. and Ward, D. Giant telescopes belong in Chile, not Hawaii. Honolulu Star
Bulletin Vol. 13, Issue 246 - Tuesday, September 2, 2008.
http://archives.starbulletin.com/2008/09/02/editorial/commentary.html
Latest polling on O‘ahu shows not only a majority of voters
support the TMT project, but support from Native Hawaiians has
grown into a majority.
PUEO [Perpetuating Unique Educational Opportunities Inc.] is
buoyed by the news of poll numbers conducted by Ward Research
for the Star Advertiser showing 76% support for TMT with 57% of
Native Hawaiians in favor. [Clarification Supplied]
BIG ISLAND NOW. July 28, 2016. http://bigislandnow.com/2016/07/28/letter-majority-of-
native-hawaiians-support-tmt/
LATEST POLL ON HAWAII ISLAND SHOWS 2-1 MARGIN IN SUPPORT FOR TMT
CONSTRUCTION 08.03.2016
HILO, HAWAII - The results of a new scientific poll show Hawaii Island residents support the
construction of the Thirty Meter Telescope by a nearly 2-to-1 margin. The public opinion poll
conducted in July 2016 by Ward Research, Inc. shows that 60 percent of Big Island residents
support moving ahead with construction of the TMT project, with 31 percent opposed.
In a previous scientific poll taken in October 2015, 59 percent of Big Island residents supported
moving ahead with TMT construction, while 39 percent were opposed to it.
"It was important for us to understand how Hawaii Island residents feel about the project, and the
latest poll results demonstrate that opposition to TMT on Hawaii Island is decreasing," said TMT
Executive Director Ed Stone. "That's significant and we are most grateful that the community’s
support of the project remains high. The findings also show that the general public on Hawaii
Island understands the benefits TMT will bring in terms of Hawaii's economy and education,
both of which are very important to TMT."
Among the key findings in the latest poll:
89 percent of Hawaii Island residents agree there should be a way for science and
Hawaiian culture to co-exist on Maunakea
76 percent of Hawaii Island residents agree that TMT will help create good paying jobs
and economic and educational benefits for those living on Hawaii Island
70 percent of Hawaii Island residents agree that failure to move forward with TMT will
hurt educational opportunities for Hawaii Island children with the termination of TMT’s
annual $1 million contribution to the THINK Fund and workforce pipeline program
69 percent of Hawaii Island residents agree that TMT has followed a lengthy approval
process, so work should proceed
66 percent of Hawaii Island residents agree that failure to move forward with TMT after
following all regulations would hurt Hawaii's reputation as a place to do business
In addition, the poll found that support for TMT’s construction is split among
Hawaiians/part Hawaiians on Hawaii Island, with 46 percent of those polled in support of
the project and 45 percent opposed.
"As a Hawaiian, I strongly support the Thirty Meter Telescope because it affords us the ability to
share new discoveries of stars, planets and science with our children and grandchildren, keeping
in line with the traditions of our ancient Hawaiian navigators," said Kirstin Kahaloa, executive
director, Kona-Kohala Chamber of Commerce. "Think about it. The best science in the world
happening on the best mountain in the world right here in Hawaii. How can you not get excited
about that? The time has come for everyone including Hawaiians to stand up and support TMT."
Maunakea remains the preferred choice for the location of TMT and the project is continuing to
pursue a permit to build on that site. TMT is simultaneously evaluating alternative sites, should
the Hawaii option not prove feasible. Added Stone, "We hope that permitting activities continue
apace in Hawaii so that TMT can be under construction on Maunakea by April 2018."
Source: TMT http://www.tmt.org/news-center/latest-poll-hawaii-island-shows-2-1-margin-
support-tmt-construction
Senator, the journey begun is not yet complete.
We thank you! We will give our best efforts!