Mauna Kea management bill finds acceptance, opposition

The University of Hawaii on Thursday raised the white flag on its opposition to a bill that seeks to boot it from its role as manager of the Mauna Kea summit and its observatories.

In a statement posted on the UH website, President David Lassner said that while various legal and technical concerns remain about House Bill 2024, there is a lot to appreciate about the latest version of the bill, and that UH would not ask the governor to veto the bill.

Lassner pledged that UH would engage “as positively and collaboratively as possible” with the Mauna Kea Stewardship and Oversight Authority board when and if it is formed under the legislation approved this week by both houses of the state Legislature.

Asked about the bill Thursday, Gov. David Ige wouldn’t commit one way or the other regarding signing it. He said he and his staff would be looking at the measure and making a decision within the 45-day veto deadline.

If Ige does sign off, the independent authority would be given $14 million for startup and transition planning costs and take over from the university in five years.

Following the transition, the 11-member authority board would assume the powers and responsibilities of the state Department of Land and Natural Resources and the state Land Use Commission in a way similar to the authority granted to the Kahoolawe Island Reserve Commission.

Under HB 2024 a moratorium would be placed on any new observatory leases until 2028, the end of the transition period.

The campaign to revamp the management of Mauna Kea originated with state House leadership, with the goal of ending controversy that has dogged the university over development of Mauna Kea’s summit over decades. They said their aim was to find a path forward that offers Native Hawaiians a role in managing the mountain while providing a stable future for astronomy.

Lawmakers described the final product as a “mutual stewardship paradigm in which ecology, environment, natural resources, cultural practices, education and science are in balance and synergy.”

If enacted into law, the authority board would include a lineal descendant practitioner and cultural practitioner from Mauna Kea, as well as a couple of members representing the university, among others.

The university previously lobbied heavily against the original version of HB 2024, saying it would undermine the $110 million astronomy industry in Hawaii. The transition to a new authority, UH officials argued, would threaten the lengthy and complicated process of renewing the land lease at the summit, set to expire in 2033.

In his statement Thursday, Lassner said the final version of the bill enshrines astronomy on Mauna Kea as a matter of state policy, and it includes language that locks in a minimum percentage of viewing time for UH in all future subleases, which will ensure that Hawaii will not become a mere landlord of observatories on Mauna Kea.

“So there is much for UH to appreciate,” Lassner wrote.

While UH has given up opposing the bill, the DLNR came out forcefully against it in a statement issued Thursday.

In its statement, the DLNR said the measure could lead to worse management of Mauna Kea’s natural and culture resources and open the mountain to further development and commercial use without the regulatory oversight given to other lands in Hawaii.

The statement said the bill creates special laws for Mauna Kea that skirt the oversight and control of the DLNR and the Board of Land and Natural Resources.

“This is a dangerous legal precedent, contrary to our state constitution,” it said. And because this bill requires the authority to be financially self-sustaining, there will be pressures to open the conservation lands to commercial tourism, DLNR said.

In addition, a moratorium on new leases until 2028 will make it difficult to maintain existing observatories, which need to seek to have new leases by 2033, the agency said.

Also opposed to the bill is the Mauna Kea Hui, the group of Native Hawaiians that have opposed the Thirty Meter Telescope and other astronomy developments atop Mauna Kea.

Kealoha Pisciotta, Mauna Kea Hui leader, said the proposal gives control of the ceded lands of Mauna Kea to an independent authority, removing the state from its responsibility as trustee to protect and preserve the lands for future generations.

“It’s ridiculous they call this a Hawaiian bill. There’s nothing Hawaiian about it,” she said.

A handful of Mauna Kea observatories, however, welcomed the new authority, saying the “community- based mutual stewardship model” will allow astronomy to thrive alongside other interests and to be sensitive to the needs of the local community.

“We feel a mutual stewardship model reflects and is strongly aligned with the astronomy profession’s broader aspirations,” five observatory directors said in a letter, adding that the recently published Astro2020 Decadal Survey suggests the same.

Lassner said that given the momentum behind the legislation, UH plans to immediately pause all sublease negotiations with the current observatories as well as planning for any additional decommissioning.

The bill “makes it clear that the new Authority will be responsible for deciding if there will be more or less astronomy on Maunakea than the nine observatories allowed under the current UH Master Plan,” he said.

“We will also pause our work toward a new Master Lease and the associated EIS (environmental impact statement). And we will undertake internal analyses to understand how we can best unravel the complex long-term obligations we accepted through our master lease, subleases and permits, which would become the responsibility of the Authority,” Lassner said.