Mauna Kea telescopes
hit roadblock
A federal judge has ruled that NASA must redo its environmental assessment to erect more telescopes around the two existing Keck telescopes on the summit of Mauna Kea.
U.S. District Judge Susan Oki Mollway said Tuesday that the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's environmental assessment failed to adequately analyze the cumulative impact of the development of the four to six telescopes on the site.
"We think it's a good beginning and that the university and NASA had better wake up, because if they don't change their behavior, more of what the university proposes will be legally challenged," said Nelson Ho, Sierra Club's co-chairman of the statewide Mauna Kea Issues Committee.
The state Office of Hawaiian Affairs had alleged that NASA and the University of Hawaii's Institute for Astronomy violated the National Historic Preservation Act and the Hawaii Environmental Policy Act, and asked the court to require them to prepare an environmental impact statement.
The proposed telescopes are three-story-high domes with underground light tunnels and would be attached to the existing W.M. Keck Observatory, which has two 111-foot-high telescopes on the Puu Hauoki cinder cone. The telescopes have already been built in Australia, OHA attorney Lea Hong said.
NASA is funding the $50 million project, and the university as administrator of the summit is the applicant for state Land Board approval.
OHA had argued that Mauna Kea had cultural and religious significance for native Hawaiians, who consider it home to deities and as an ancient and modern burial ground and that NASA had ignored their concerns by its disposal of sewage at the site. OHA contends more than 48,000 gallons of sewage a month are disposed of on the summit.
In her order, Mollway did not address the adequacy of NASA's response to the sewage concerns, since she said it may change after doing a more thorough analysis.
The attorney for NASA could not be reached, and the university had not reviewed the court order yesterday.
"The university remains convinced that spiritual, cultural and environmental values can be integrated with scientific endeavors for the benefit of all," said Robert McLaren, associate director of the UH Institute for Astronomy.
The ruling comes as the Sierra Club and native Hawaiian groups wait for a decision from the state Board of Land & Natural Resources in a contested case on a conservation permit for the project.
The project had received a recommendation for approval, but a Land Board hearing officer denied approval of the state's three-page management plan and recommended the university prepare an adequate management plan.
"This federal court case could knock the state permitting process off the tracks, and I think that's beginning to happen," Ho said.
The judge also said the environmental assessment failed to quantify the amount of traffic and dust that would be generated by NASA's activities, nor did it describe the scope of the expansion.
"Overall, I think it's an important victory, not just for OHA and native Hawaiian organizations, but it is an important decision in terms of informing federal agencies they need to do appropriate cumulative impact analysis in environmental assessments," said OHA attorney Lea Hong.