The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency does have some legitimate expertise to offer in the debate over the Thirty Meter Telescope project. It was asked to provide that for the current environmental review of the project by a potential funder, the National Science Foundation, and its commentary is now part of the public record.
The surprising element when the testimony was unveiled last week is how far EPA ventured into the territory of cultural impacts in its testimony for the foundation’s environmental impact statement (EIS).
It appears to be a new area of emphasis for the federal agency. But in weighing in on the project — which would be an important advance for Hawaii’s astronomy research and educational pursuits — officials must delve more deeply to understand the nuances of the cultural issue, and look at it from all angles.
Public and agency comments in the EIS on the controversial project, long considered for a site atop Mauna Kea, are what’s going to shape the science foundation’s decision on a potential funding grant to help underwrite construction.
Cultural impacts are always part of the scope of any EIS, but the EPA went so far as to say the telescope’s effect would cause “disproportionately high and adverse impacts to Native Hawaiians.” That raises eyebrows and
deserves scrutiny.
Other locations should be considered, according to the EPA, which also urged the foundation to weigh Mauna Kea against an alternative location in the Canary Islands after comparing environmental impacts for both sites.
Even the opponents of construction at Mauna Kea, which they embrace as a sacred location, were surprised. Agencies evaluating a given project generally focus their analysis on the characteristics of the proposed site.
The political context of these remarks may provide some explanation. Under President Joe Biden, the EPA has launched a new Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights, with more than 200 staff members across 10 U.S. regions.
Its focus is oversight of the Democrats’ agenda to invest $60 billion in environmental justice initiatives under the recently passed Inflation Reduction Act. The idea is largely to distribute funds for improvements in underserved communities bearing the brunt of environmental problems.
It’s not much of a stretch to see the EPA applying that perspective more broadly to cultural burdens of development as well. In fact, the agency’s TMT testimony notes executive orders from Biden directing federal agencies to advance equity and justice for communities such as Native Hawaiians and Pacific islanders.
But what’s critically missing in the EPA’s analysis so far is any acknowledgement of the steps taken already in this direction, or that Native Hawaiians themselves do not speak with one voice on the issue. There is considerable support for astronomy, and the TMT, among Hawaiians, too.
State lawmakers, trying to strike that precarious balance, last session established the Maunakea Stewardship and Oversight Authority, which brings a range of perspectives to the debate; appointees have been nominated to its board.
This transition phase, in which oversight of the astronomy campus at the Mauna Kea summit will shift from the University of Hawaii to the new authority, will take a few years. So will the science foundation’s deliberations over its funding decisions for the telescope.
There is ample time for the EPA and the foundation to watch this process unfold. They can hear from those who are making a rational case: This project can be implemented in a way both respectful to the culture and environment and beneficial to all Hawaii’s people.
Then a decision can be made, based on better information than what’s been gleaned at this stage.
