Blog
News, updates, finds, stories, and tidbits from staff and community members at KAHEA. Got something to share? Email us at: kahea-alliance@hawaii.rr.com.
Action Alert: Help Us to Oppose Office of Mauna Kea Management Proposed Rules
Mauna Kea needs our help. The University of Hawai‘i Office of Mauna Kea Management (OMKM) has proposed rules restricting access and use of Mauna Kea summit lands and a vague permitting system for the access that it does allow.
KAHEAʻs testimony that public hearings on OMKM draft rules are premature
It is premature to request the Governorʻs approval to allow for public hearings on these proposed rules. There are far too many substantive issues with the rules in their existing draft to put them out for public comment. It would make more sense to get better consensus before spending time and resources in a public hearing process.
KAHEA's position statement on OHA's lawsuit
In the midst of all that’s going on, it can be hard to know what to make of OHA’s recently filed lawsuit against the State regarding the longtime mismanagement of Mauna Kea.
KAHEA's response to Land Board's decision to approve TMT CDUP
Mauna Kea is the anchor for kanaka maoli, it is our collective mana, which is being stripped and disrespected. Our deities exist in its winds, its rains and mist and dew, and its snows. The elemental nature of the Mauna reaffirms from where we come and where we now stand.
This is not the first time that the state Board of Land and Natural Resources (BLNR) has failed to enforce constitutional and legal protections for conservation district lands, native Hawaiian cultural practices and the environmental resources upon which those practices depend. For two decades, a hui of Hawaiian cultural practitioners and environmental justice advocates have worked tirelessly to bring attention to these issues and to be voices of reason against unfettered development of our sacred Mauna Kea. In 2015, the Hawai'i Supreme Court invalidated BLNR's approval of the TMT permit. BLNR has missed another opportunity to do the right thing and KAHEA and other community petitioners are faced with the burden of fixing those failures, yet again.
The next step will be the court appeal. Both the Hearing Officer and the BLNR have committed some of the same procedural violations that the Hawai'i Supreme Court cautioned against. Both those for and against the TMT earlier sought to disqualify the Hearing Officer, and similarly, objected to participation by board members with conflicts of interest. We emphasize also that the TMT International Observatory Corporation does not have a sublease for its use of Mauna Kea lands. Construction should not begin before all legal processes have run their course. We've been here before, we are here now, and we are here in the days and years to come.
No, the state should not allow TMT on Mauna Kea
While Hawaii’s leaders see this gathering as an opportunity to showcase Hawaii’s conservation efforts, our accomplishments cannot hide the elephant in the room: the state-supported proposal for a massive Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) proposed for a designated conservation district near the summit of Mauna Kea.
Expanding protection for our kupuna islands
KAHEA was part of the initial push to create a protective refuge in the state waters of the Northwest Hawaiian Islands and the subsequent, successful establishment of the first-ever marine monument in 2006. This action would protect one of the most unique ocean ecosystems on the planet.
