State Board to Rule on Whether UH Missed Deadline to Break Ground on TMT

News Release from KAHEA, October 21, 2021

The Board of Land and Natural Resources entered orders today indicating it will rule on a petition for declaratory orders from parties from the 2016-17 Thirty-Meter Telescope permit contested case.

The case challenges the University of Hawai‘i Hilo’s assertion that TMT construction has already been initiated.

Petitioners Mauna Kea Anaina Hou, Kealoha Pisciotta, Kū Ching, Deborah J. Ward, Paul Neves, and KAHEA: The Hawaiian-Environmental Alliance say that TMT construction has not begun, and the Board should re-examine their 2017 permit approval in light of changed conditions surrounding the project.

Currently, the University’s permit to build the TMT requires construction to begin by Sept. 26, 2021. If the Board grants the group’s petition, the University would have to request another permit extension at a public hearing before the Board or its permit would be void within a year.

The Board’s order set forth a 25 day schedule for briefing, after which it will issue its ruling without a hearing. 

Read the Board’s Order here.
Read the Petition, filed May 24, 2021 here

HTH: Activists want land board to revisit TMT permit issue