Anyone who believes astronomy offers Hawaii a promising scientific and economic endeavor cannot see House Bill 2024 as supporting that aim. Even members of the committees that advanced the measure are worried about unintended consequences of changing management of state lands on Mauna Kea’s summit.
The advance of House Bill 2024 — which would create a new entity for that purpose, now shared by the Department of Land and Natural Resources and, through a lease on the district comprising 11 active telescopes, the University of Hawaii — does not send a very encouraging message. At the very least, DLNR, the state agency under which the new entity would be housed administratively, does not think so.
Suzanne Case, the department’s director, testified that DLNR “finds that there is already a strong management framework in place for the management of lands on Mauna Kea, and respectfully opposes this measure.”
Neither the state nor the university has a spotless record of stewardship for Mauna Kea. In particular, Case pointed to the 1998 state audit showing deficiencies in management by both UH and DLNR, which was faulted for its monitoring and enforcement.
Their more recent history of stewardship improvements, backed by three follow-up audits, should change that assessment. And even with an amendment to HB 2024 adding a single UH representative as a voting member, there is not enough experienced representation of astronomy interests, given the pivotal stage in development of the Thirty Meter Telescope and the decommissioning of other installations.
Another amendment would delay planning to return elevations above 9,200 feet to their natural state until after space-based technology renders ground telescopes obsolete. But there is no agreement among experts when ground telescopes would lose their utility, if ever.
The fact that the mountain would come under a new, single authority concerned Maui Rep. Angus McKelvey enough to vote for the plan, but “with serious reservations,” noting that the governing board would lack checks and balances.
He’s right to raise that point. Assuming the bill does pass the House, the Senate must consider whether expanding involvement of Native Hawaiians and other stakeholders could be accomplished in a way that does not imperil the future of Hawaii astronomy.
