Posted on: Wednesday, April 11, 2001

Maui antenna proposal to receive second look

By Timothy Hurley
Advertiser Maui County Bureau

PUKALANI, Maui — Faced with opposition to their preferred location on Haleakala for antennas serving television viewers on Maui, the Big Island and Windward O'ahu, Hawai'i's broadcasters say they plan to take a second look at other possible sites.

KITV President and General Manager Michael A. Rosenberg, president of the Hawai'i Television Broadcasters Association, said yesterday that an independent engineering firm will be hired to study the feasibility of various locations on Haleakala's upper reaches.

Broadcasters also plan to meet today with those who oppose the preferred proposed site at Kalepeamoa, a remote area at the 9,400-foot level on Haleakala's southwest ridge.

"We're going to work real hard to mitigate as many concerns as possible,'' Rosenberg said. "Still, at the end of the day, we need a place where we can transmit.''

The broadcasters are under growing pressure to move the broadcast antennas from the 10,000-foot summit of Haleakala. The University of Hawai'i and the Air Force continue to press for removal of the antennas because of the interference they cause for the summit's observatories.

The broadcasters also face a May 2002 deadline imposed by the Federal Communication Commission to switch from analog to digital transmitters. Left in place, the digital transmitters would create even more interference.

A 1998 proposal to build transmitter towers at Kalepeamoa ran into a storm of opposition.

Rosenberg said Kalepeamoa remains the top choice, but the broadcasters plan to re-examine the suitability of an existing antenna farm at 'Ulupalakua Ranch, among other locations.

A previous study indicated the 'Ulupalakua site is too low and doesn't allow for signals to reach parts of Maui and Kona on the Big Island, according to Rosenberg.

Chuck Bergson, president of Island Airwaves, owner of the site at the 4,400-foot level, said he has a study that shows his site will indeed work well enough for the broadcasters. He said moving to 'Ulupalakua will not only serve the purpose but save the broadcasters a fight with the community.

Environmentalists and Native Hawaiians teamed up to oppose the Kalepeamoa proposal in the fall of 1998, vowing to go to court to stop a plan to erect up to four, 199-foot-tall towers clustered on five acres.

Mary Evanson, president of the Friends of Haleakala National Park, said she remains adamantly opposed to the project because it would mar a pristine ridge, visible from all of Central Maui.

Meanwhile, Air Force officials say they want the antennas off the summit. The Air Force said it has spent tens of thousands of dollars trying to minimize the antennas' impact on its surveillance satellites.