NASA to prepare impact statement for Mauna Kea telescope project
By Kevin Dayton
Advertiser Big Island Bureau
HILO, Hawai'i — After more than a year of legal wrangling, NASA officials will announce today they will prepare an environmental impact statement for the outrigger telescope project at the W.M. Keck Observatory.
Advertiser library photo • Jan. 24, 2002
No comprehensive federal impact statement has ever been prepared to assess the overall cultural and environmental impacts of astronomy on Mauna Kea, and critics of development on the mountain say one is long overdue.
Mauna Kea, sacred to some Hawaiians, is home to more major telescopes than any other mountain peak.
The 13,796-foot mountain is considered sacred to some Hawaiians. The University of Hawai'i began developing the summit of Mauna Kea for astronomy in the 1960s, and now there are 13 observatories there operated by 11 countries.
More major telescopes are on Mauna Kea than on any other mountain peak.
The announcement expected this morning in a news conference at the Office of Hawaiian Affairs board room in Honolulu is a significant concession by NASA, which is paying for the $50 million Keck outrigger project.
The project would allow astronomers to add up to six 6-foot telescopes around the Keck Observatory. The new telescopes are expected to enhance the images taken by Keck, which boasts the largest optical/infrared telescope in the world.
The outrigger telescopes 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.
OHA sued NASA to try to force the space agency to perform an environmental impact statement for the project, but U.S. District Judge Susan Oki Mollway ruled last year that the statement is not necessary under federal law.
However, Mollway ruled this year the more modest environmental assessment NASA prepared for the project was flawed, and ordered the space agency to rework and expand portions of the document.
Haunani Apoliona, chairwoman of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, confirmed NASA will perform the more comprehensive environmental impact statement OHA had been seeking.
"It's always been our contention as part of the original litigation that the law and regulations relating to this kind of development need to be followed," Apoliona said. "Issues relating to cultural practices need to be honored and respected."
Kealoha Pisciotta, president of Mauna Kea Anaina Hou, said she is encouraged that NASA agreed to prepare the environmental impact statement. She called on the University of Hawai'i Institute for Astronomy to withdraw its application for a state permit for the outrigger project for the time being.
Pisciotta said delaying the state permit makes sense "because then more information will become known about the environmental and cultural impacts (of the project) after the environmental impact statement is done."
Mauna Kea Anaina Hou, a Native Hawaiian organization dedicated to preserving traditional cultural and religious practices on Mauna Kea, participated in a contested case proceeding in Hilo this year to try to block the state permit.
Rolf-Peter Kudritzki, director of the U.H. Institute for Astronomy, declined to comment yesterday on NASA's pending announcement, but said he will discuss the matter after the news conference today.
The national spokesman for NASA was unavailable for comment yesterday.
Reach Kevin Dayton at kdayton@honoluluadvertiser.com or (808) 935-3916.
