Critics of Mauna Kea telescope project question astronomers

By Kevin Dayton
Advertiser Big Island Bureau

HILO, Hawai'i — Critics of the continued development of Mauna Kea grilled scientists yesterday on the opening day of a contested case hearing to decide whether six new telescopes can be added on the mountain.

Environmentalists and Hawaiian activists are attempting to block the state from issuing a conservation district use permit to the University of Hawai'i for the project in a case being watched by scientists and business leaders concerned about the future of astronomy on the Big Island.

Critics of the W.M. Keck Observatory's Outrigger Telescopes Project contend the project should be stopped until an environmental impact statement is done to study the overall effect of decades of development in the summit area.

But Lisa Munger, lawyer for the University of Hawai'i, said yesterday the outcome of the contested case hearing should rest on the effect of the outrigger project, and not on the cumulative effects of construction of the other observatories.

"This is about the outrigger project," Munger said. "It is not a referendum on the master plan. It is not a referendum on astronomy development."

Nelson Ho, chairman of the Mauna Kea issue committee for Sierra Club Hawai'i, said the university is, in effect, arguing what is at stake is merely a new telescope development on the "parking lot" of the existing Keck observatory.

Ho said the real issue is how the state will handle the next wave of applications for larger and more powerful telescopes. If the state approves the outrigger project with only "cursory" efforts at mitigating its cultural and environmental impacts, it will set a precedent, he said.

The outrigger project is expected to cost about $50 million, and would allow astronomers to add up to six telescopes around the existing Keck observatory.

The new telescopes, which are being financed by NASA as part of its Origins Program, would enhance the images captured by Keck.

An environmental assessment was completed last year, and UH Institute for Astronomy Director Rolf-Peter Kudritzki concluded the project would cause no significant environmental impacts, provided mitigating measures are taken.

Opponents questioned Kudritzki for hours on the cultural and environmental issues, and the scientific importance of the project.

The mountain is sacred to Hawaiians, and provides habitat for the endangered wekiu bug and other unique insects.

Kealoha Pisciotta, a former telescope operator on the mountain, questioned Kudritzki about the "desecration" of her own family shrine, which she erected on the mountain.

Pisciotta, president of the group Mauna Kea Anaina Hou, said critics of the outrigger project will show that cumulative effects of observatory development on the mountain were never assessed.

She also said critics want assurances that sewage, chemicals and others waste from the observatories won't contaminate Big Island water supplies.

"We are the taxpayers and we actually fund the astronomy development," she said. "We have a right to question the need for the development."

The contested case hearing before hearing officer Michael Gibson is expected to continue through the week.