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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Friday, July 18, 2003

UH says culture, science compatible on summit

By Jan TenBruggencate
Advertiser Science Writer

An official with the University of Hawai'i's Institute for Astronomy said yesterday that astronomers remain convinced a $50 million telescope project atop Mauna Kea will meet federal environmental requirements and satisfy the concerns of Native Hawaiians.

Institute for Astronomy Deputy Director Bob McLaren said that NASA, which is paying for the project, will make the decision on how to proceed in light of this week's federal court ruling ordering the space agency to prepare a new environmental assessment.

The alternatives include conducting a new study, appealing U.S. District Judge Susan Oki Mollway's ruling or abandoning the project.

"We remain convinced that the spiritual, cultural and environmental values can be integrated with the scientific to everyone's benefit," McLaren said.

NASA spokesman Don Savage said the decision is under review.

The proposed outrigger telescope project would add up to six 1.8-meter telescopes to the W.M. Keck Observatory's twin 10-meter scopes, which are the world's largest optical/infrared telescopes. The new telescopes would boost the observatory's light-gathering capability, and are a major part of NASA's Origins Program to study how stars and planetary systems form, and whether habitable planets exist around nearby stars.

While the proposed outrigger project may not be huge, Mollway said it clearly would add to the overall impact on the environment of Pu'uhau'oki, one of the cinder cones that crown Mauna Kea.

Thirteen observatories are on the 13,796-foot volcano, which Hawaiians consider sacred. Mollway said NASA erred when its environmental assessment failed to evaluate the cumulative impacts of the other telescopes.

The judge said NASA conceded in its 125-page study that there are cumulative impacts, but then failed to analyze them appropriately.

"Although there are scattered descriptions in the rest of the (environmental assessment) regarding current pollution and traffic levels, the (assessment) fails as a whole to recognize and consider the effects of past actions on the summit of Mauna Kea," Mollway wrote.

Attorney Lea Hong, who represented the Office of Hawaiian Affairs in challenging the assessment, said the observatories have damaged the appearance of the mountaintop, the view from important cultural sites, and the habitat of the endangered native wekiu bug, a predatory insect whose body contains a kind of natural antifreeze that allows it to survive freezes.

OHA had asked the judge to require a full environmental impact statement, but Mollway declined to do so. She said there is not enough information to support requiring a more in-depth EIS.

Mollway also ruled that the Institute for Astronomy can continue to use the environmental assessment in its application to the state for a conservation district use permit for the astronomy project. But that application faces a six-month delay for another reason.

Hearing officer Michael Gibson has recommended to the Board of Land and Natural Resources that it delay until Dec. 31 its decision on the permit, to allow the public time to comment on a management plan for the project.

Gibson recommended that the BLNR, once it deals with the management plan, approve the permit as long as NASA takes a number of steps "to ensure that the construction and development of the outrigger telescopes are conducted with greater sensitivity and respect for Native Hawaiian culture and the environment than was demonstrated in the past."

Reach Jan TenBruggencate at jant@honoluluadvertiser.com or (808)245-3074.