UH confirms TMT project is the last telescope site on Maunakea

News Release from UH, November 23, 2015

A letter from University of Hawaiʻi President David Lassner to Department of Land and Natural Resources Chair Suzanne Case confirms that the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) project site is the last new area on the mountain where a telescope project will be contemplated or sought.

President Lassner’s letter to Chair Case states that it, “shall constitute a legally binding commitment and may be regarded as a condition of the University of Hawaiʻi’s current lease(s) and of any lease renewal or extension proposed by the university.”

The commitment fulfills the second point of Governor David Ige’s 10-point “Way Forward” plan that addresses future management and stewardship of Maunakea. UH has also fulfilled the third point of the plan, officially identifying three telescopes that will be decommissioned and permanently removed before TMT begins operations.

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PDF: Lassner’s letter to the Department of Land and Natural Resources