Mayor Harry Kim reveals Mauna Kea plan, which includes building Thirty Meter Telescope

HILO >> Hawaii County Mayor Harry Kim officially released his long-awaited plan for resolving the controversy surrounding Mauna Kea on Monday, distributing a pamphlet that asserts that the site designated for the Thirty Meter Telescope will become the last area of the mountain that is ever developed for a telescope.

Kim acknowledged in an interview Monday that the TMT opponents reviewed a draft of his proposal, and warned him the plan would be unacceptable if it envisions construction of the next-generation $1.4 billion telescope. But Kim said he has asked Gov. David Ige and officials with TMT for more time to try to bring the telescope supporters and opponents together.

“I’m working like there is time, but it’s a two-sided sword, too,” Kim said. “I’ve got to show them a reason why I’m asking for that time. I think this is the first step, to show that we have a definitive proposal in place.”

Kim said Monday he will ask the TMT opponents to remove the barricades blocking the Mauna Kea Access Road and reopen the road during discussions on how to resolve the impasse, with the understanding that construction equipment will not move up the road during negotiations to begin work at the TMT site.

“Obviously, (it’s) a deep trust I’m asking of them to know that nothing will be done in any backdoor element,” Kim said.

It appears unlikely Kim’s proposal to break the TMT impasse will win quick or easy acceptance from the TMT opponents, who call themselves kia‘i, or protectors of Mauna Kea. Kaho‘okahi Kanuha, a leader of the protests on Mauna Kea, said earlier this month that if Kim’s proposal assumes that TMT will be built, “there’s no way that works.”

“I’m not sure how he believes that to be representative of the people, and how that would in any way work towards finding a solution to the current issue, which is the building of TMT,” Kanuha said at the time.

Gov. David Ige announced on July 23 he asked Kim to develop a plan to resolve the dispute on Mauna Kea, where anti-TMT activists have been camped for months on the access road to prevent construction equipment and crews from starting work on TMT near the summit.

The access road has been closed since July 15, and dozens of anti-TMT activists were arrested July 17 for blocking the roadway. The protesters regard the project as a desecration of a mountain that many Hawaiians consider sacred, and say they will not allow TMT to be built.

Supporters of TMT, meanwhile, say the project has a legal right to proceed. It took the TMT sponsors a decade to obtain the necessary permits and permissions from the state and county to proceed with the project.

Kim’s plan for resolving that dispute is entitled “The Heart of Aloha, A Way Forward Maunakea,” and it incorporates a number of steps that have already been proposed or promised, including a pledge by the University of Hawaii to remove five of the 13 existing observatories from the mountain.

The plan also states that “the University of Hawaii has made a legally-binding commitment that the TMT site will be the last new area to be developed for observatories,” according to Kim’s proposal.

The document recaps plans to develop rules to regulate commercial activities on Mauna Kea as well as the number of people who visit the mountain, and notes that TMT will pay much more in lease rent than the other observatories — with payments starting at $300,000 annually, and ramping up to $1.08 million annually after 10 years. Other observatories pay only $1 a year.

It also restates the community benefits package that TMT has pledged to provide, including the launch of the TMT International Observatory’s THINK Fund to provide $1 million a year to science, technology, engineering and math education on Hawaii island.

Also included in the document are new pledges by Ige to administratively overhaul the governance of the mountain to include representation by the Hawaiian community and county government, and by University of Hawaii President David Lassner to establish a cultural center at the Hale Pohaku visitors center.

The new center will “celebrate and honor Hawaiian history, knowledge, culture and language, along with modern science and astronomy,” according to a statement from Lassner that is included in the Kim proposal.

“Mayor Kim’s path is consistent with the Board of Regents’ resolution affirming collaborative stewardship and University of Hawaii commitments,” Lassner said in a written statement issued Monday. “We need ideas for ways forward like these that can help shift thinking to paths in which there will be wins for all the people of Hawaii — Hawaiians and non-Hawaiians alike. UH stands ready to work with any and all interested in forging a peaceful way forward, whether or not they believe TMT belongs on Maunakea.”

The Kim document calls for the convening of “a core group of community members who believe and support the vision. The responsibilities of this group are to provide direction and guidance in bringing this vision to life.”

The Mauna Kea protests have mobilized many in the Hawaiian community, and Kim said in his proposal that the mountain has contributed to the “Hawaiian cultural renaissance, the Hawaiians’ identity and the pride of being Hawaiian; with this, the reverence and sacredness for the total environment.”

“When respectfully integrated with a comprehensive understanding of Maunakea and Hawaiian culture, astronomy can be such a catalyst for positive and transformational changes in Hawaii,” the plan states. “Under the leadership of dreamers, innovators, and awakened community, this can be the leverage for not only Maunakea issues, but to understand and address wrongs of past to make us a better people and place.”

Cindy McMillan, Ige’s communications director, said in a statement Monday that Kim’s brochure “provides historical context for today’s situation and responds to the most frequently heard concerns about the TMT project. Gov. Ige will continue to work with Mayor Kim and others to achieve a better future for all.”

Gordon Squires, TMT vice president for external relations, said Kim’s pamphlet “addresses a number of the larger issues beyond TMT for which Maunakea has become a flashpoint, including issues related to self-determination and management of Maunakea.”

“We are open to working with Mayor Kim and others on these larger issues and getting to the next step as soon as possible,” Squires said in a written statement.

A Star-Advertiser poll published last week shows that as the protests have continued, public support for the TMT has been eroding.

Half of all voters surveyed in mid-September supported plans to build the telescope, but that is a significant decline from 18 months ago when 77% of voters said they supported the project. The poll found Hawaiians object most to the project, with 62% now saying they oppose construction of the TMT.

Slightly more than half of all voters said they approve of the protests, which are designed to prevent the TMT from ever being built.

Ige has pledged to reopen the road and “enforce the law” so that construction can proceed, but the poll found 59% of Hawaii voters oppose the use of force to reopen the road.

Mauna Kea Booklet by Honolulu Star-Advertiser on Scribd