Mauna Kea telescope
plan still uncertain

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By Rod Thompson
rthompson@starbulletin.com

HILO >> The fate of six small telescopes proposed for the summit of Mauna Kea was left undecided last night by a Board of Land & Natural Resources meeting.

Several groups have asked for a contested-case hearing on the proposal for the six "outrigger" telescopes planned around the two giant Keck telescopes.

Anyone making a verbal request for such a hearing must also make a written request within 10 days, said Land Board Chairman Gilbert Coloma-Agaran. Only after that will the board consider granting such a hearing. Since contested-case hearings are complicated, they generally result in long delays for projects.

Last night's public hearing was attended by more than 100 people, many opposed to the outriggers or any other new telescopes on Mauna Kea.

The opposition was already well known. Rolf-Peter Kudritzki, head of the University of Hawaii Institute for Astronomy, said previous criticism has fallen into two categories, concern about cultural and historic values and concern about the possibly endangered wekiu bug. A plan to lessen impacts of constructing the outriggers calls for an archaeologist and a cultural monitor to be on site to prevent harm, Kudritzki said.

Whether any opinions changed is in doubt. Kahea, an alliance of Hawaiians and environmentalists, continued a call for a full environmental impact statement, which would cause more delay, instead of the current less rigorous environmental assessment.

On the other hand, Gemini Observatory director Matt Mountain said there is "significant global competition for investments" in astronomy.