Mauna Kea construction ban clears Senate, but House not interested

In the closest Senate vote this year, lawmakers voted 15-8 in favor of a ban on new construction atop Mauna Kea, but the effort is likely to collapse as their counterparts in the House say they don’t want to interfere with the Thirty Meter Telescope planned near the mountain’s summit.

The proposed construction freeze surfaced last week when Sen. Kaiali‘i Kahele (D, Hilo) helped rework House Bill 1585 to require a series of audits and other tasks of the University of Hawaii, which manages the 11,288-acre Maunakea Science Reserve, before a ban would be lifted.

The bill was never vetted at a public hearing because its contents were slipped into an​ unrelated​ House bill that initially would have provided funding for support staff in UH’s capital improvements office.

The move comes as the $1.4 billion next-generation telescope project is on appeal at the Hawaii Supreme Court. The high court is weighing two appeals challenging the project’s sublease and its conservation district use permit.

The TMT International Observatory board, meanwhile, has been pursuing a backup site for the telescope in the Canary Islands. The TMT board has been meeting in California this week and is expected to make an announcement today on the project’s status.

TMT spokesman Scott Ishikawa said the board continues to monitor legislative proposals affecting Mauna Kea.

With the Senate’s passage Thursday of HB 1585, the bill will be sent back to its originating chamber. Because the House and Senate drafts differ, leadership in both chambers would need to appoint negotiators to hammer out the differences in order to keep the bill alive in what’s known as conference committee.

House Speaker Scott Saiki (D, Downtown-Kakaako- McCully) said the House has no plans to advance the bill.

“I would say the bill is dead on arrival in the House,” Saiki told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. “The House’s position is that while the litigation is pending, the Legislature should not enact laws concerning Mauna Kea. The House supports the astronomy program in Hawaii and does not want to send negative messages or create an unstable environment for the astronomy program.”

Kahele, chairman of the Senate Higher Education Committee, considers himself a TMT supporter but said HB 1585 would hold the university and the state Department of Land and Natural Resources accountable for stewardship of the mountain. He believes the project, which has been stalled the past two years, is being rushed.

“We are at a defining moment in our state’s history, and it is time for us as the leaders of this state to raise our level of consciousness and understanding that the care and the protection of our aina — from the mountain to the sea — is part of our kuleana, our responsibility,” Kahele said in urging his colleagues to support the bill.

He said the idea for a construction ban came out of 10 community presentations and listening sessions he has hosted across the state to talk about the mountain’s future.

“There is one thing that resonates time and time again, and that is we have to do, we must do a better job of protecting and managing Mauna Kea and it cannot wait any longer,” Kahele said. “We need to hold state agencies entrusted with the care of Hawaii’s most precious natural resources and wonders accountable.”

Fellow Hawaii island Sen. Russell Ruderman (D, Puna) spoke out against the bill. He contends a construction ban would doom TMT and interfere with legal proceedings. He also objected to the public not having an opportunity to testify on the proposal.

“This bill does exactly one thing for certain: It kills the Thirty Meter Telescope,” Ruderman said. “Often we profess to want high-tech projects to come to Hawaii. But now we propose to sidestep the legal process to kill a project that spent 10 years moving forward.”

He added, “We’re telling the world that besides the tedious, time-consuming nature of our due process, we will also pull the rug out from under you at the last minute. … The moratorium is intended to punish UH for mismanagement and perhaps right some wrongs, but the only real victim is TMT.”

Senators voting against the bill were Ruderman, Will Espero, Lorraine Ino­uye, Donna Mercado Kim, Gil Riviere, Brian Taniguchi, Laura Thielen and Jill Tokuda. Senate President Ron Kouchi and Sen. Breene Harimoto were absent.

Under the bill a moratorium would stand until UH implements remaining recommendations identified in two comprehensive management plans dating back to 2009, completes an environmental impact statement for astronomy activities on Mauna Kea and secures a new master lease for the science reserve. UH’s existing lease expires in 2033.

It also calls on the state auditor to conduct various audits, including a financial review of UH’s Office of Mauna Kea Management.

The Senate also voted 21-2 Thursday to advance HB 1985, which proposes to revamp the governance of public lands on the mountain by creating a state management authority to replace the Office of Mauna Kea Management.

Greg Chun, chairman of UH’s Maunakea Management Board, said the university has acknowledged its past shortcomings on the mountain but has steadily been making improvements.

“We are not satisfied with where we are at, and we will continue to push ourselves to improve and elevate our stewardship,” Chun said in an interview. “The university recognizes and the astronomy community recognizes that it’s a privilege for us to be practicing astronomy on Mauna Kea, and with that privilege our responsibilities are elevated even further.”

Chun said UH would have appreciated the opportunity to work collaboratively with Kahele and lawmakers.

“In principle there’s many things in his bills that we agree with,” he said. “We hope that we will be able to refocus our efforts on more forward-looking conversations that we are wanting to have.”