Board of Regents to consider proposed Maunakea administrative rules at August meeting
Mauna Kea: ACLU Lists Grounds for Lawsuits Against Police
Will Protesters Attack Astronomers Again?
KITV: … 13 telescopes sit at the summit of Mauna Kea. About 50 to 75 researchers work atop the mountain everyday.
With Mauna Kea Access Road closing on Monday, some might have to adjust daily work depending on road conditions while others can rely on remote access.
"We realize the magnitude of the situation so we canceled non essential work starting on Monday and we will be evaluating the situation day by day to determine if we can get up there to do critical maintenance or not," Rich Matsuda, W. M. Keck Observatory Chief of Operations, said.
With all eyes on the construction of the Thirty Meter Telescope, some are concerned about safety of the other telescopes in the area. Because after protest in June, 2015, some fiber optic cables were damaged. Those cables are the lifeline for communication between the mountain and the ground.
"It feels almost like aftershocks after the big one so to speak. We saw a lot of aftershocks in 2015 with isolated incidents particularly at night," Doug Simons, Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope director, said. "We want that sort of community access but we also realize we're kind of vulnerable if somebody would like to do some damage to the telescopes."
Another impact with the observatories closed is Maunakea Scholars, a program that gives Hawaii high school students a chance to work inside the Canada-France-Hawaii telescope. A few tours were scheduled in the coming weeks….
read … TMT construction might affect operations of other telescopes on Mauna Kea
Chained Protesters Demand Break Time to Stretch—Ask Police to Hurry up and Arrest Them
SA: … At around 9 a.m. an elder began lecturing the police at the cattle guard, telling them to go away and allow the chained protesters to sit up and stretch.
After some discussion among the officers, a sheriffs deputy offered to let them unchain themselves as long as they don’t leave. He announced that they had been arrested earlier.
The chained protesters refused the offer..…
“A lot of these officers are kanaka, and they’re ohana,” Andre Perez said. “They’re not the enemy. The state is the enemy, and they’re being sent to do this dirty work for the state.”…
“There is an extraction team that needs to be able to access that area so they can cut up the cattle guard so they can remove the protectors, and so we agreed to open an access way (on Mauna Kea Access Road) so they could go ahead and begin that process,” Kanhua said. The protesters describe themselves as “protectors” of Mauna Kea.
“Our people have locked down now for almost nine hours,” Kanuha said of the protesters chained to the cattle guard. “That’s a long time. That’s a long time to work, and they’ve been locked down, so we want to go ahead and begin that process.”…
Activists opposing the Thirty Meter Telescope agreed to clear the bottom section of Mauna Kea Access Road this morning to allow an “extraction team” to reach a spot further up the road where protesters have chained themselves to a cattle guard, according to one of the group’s leaders.
However, the extraction team has been delayed because it is caught in a traffic jam…
UPDATE 3:15PM: …Seven activists who chained themselves to a cattle guard on Mauna Kea Access Road to block construction of the Thirty MeterTelescope were told they were free to go this afternoon after an hours-long standoff with police.
The seven were supposed to be placed under arrest. But Kaleikoa Kaeo, who had been chained next to longtime Hawaiian activist Walter Ritte Jr., said officials with the state Attorney General’s office told the seven that they were free to leave this afternoon.
An “extraction team” that was supposed to come to the site to cut up the cattle guard so that the protesters could be removed, Kaeo said, but the decision to drop the effort to arrest them was made “due to issues concerning health and safety, and our safety also.”
“The material including welding machines would also put us in danger, so they decided in the best interest of time, they just not going to arrest us, so we are free to go,” he said in an interview at about 2 p.m. “They were supposed to have been here about four hours ago.”
The seven then freed themselves, and were warmly embraced by their fellow protesters….
VIDEO: Protesters Unchain Themselves
read … Chained Protesters Demand Break Time to Stretch
Kahele Gets Honolulu Council Chair Anderson’s Backing In Congressional Bid
CB: …Honolulu City Council Chairman Ikaika Anderson on Monday announced his endorsement of state Sen. Kai Kahele’s campaign for the U. S. Congress….
… Gabbard is running for president and has not said whether she might also seek to retain her District 2 seat…
Anderson represents Windward Oahu in Council District 3, which includes Waimanalo, Kailua, Kaneohe and Ahuimanu.
Former Hawaii Governors John Waihee, Ben Cayetano and Neil Abercrombie have already formally endorsed Kahele (thus marking him as an old-boy plant)….
read … Kahele Gets Anderson’s Backing In Congressional Bid
WOTUS: Will ADC Appeal Court Order?
SA Editorial: … To max out flexibility in securing opportunities tied to retooling former plantation lands and water systems, the state exempts the ADC from state land use law, Public Utilities Commission regulations and civil service laws. Last week, the ADC’s assertion that it’s also exempt from Clean Water Act oversight was rightly shot down in federal court….
Prior to August 2015, the agribusiness corporation had maintained a NPDES permit to daily discharge millions of gallons of untreated ag water into near-shore waters off Kauai’s west side, edging Barking Sands Beach and Kekaha (MacArthur) Beach Park.
Then, rather than renew the permit, which brings regulatory pollution monitoring and public reporting, the ADC claimed it was eligible to discharge permit- free under a 2008 federal rule that allows NPDES exemption in cases where water transfer “conveys or connects” waters without subjecting them to various uses or adding pollutants.
In ADC’s case, waters funnel to the ocean by way of a century-old 40-mile ditch system — originally built for a Kekaha Sugar Company mill. And over the years, (debunked activist) water testing had found pollutants, including pesticide-related chemicals like chlorpyrifos and glyphosate, raising environmental red flags.
Kudos to community groups who took action upon spotting potential for spikes in health-and-safety risks (litigation) in the absence of environmental law enforcement. In 2016, Earthjustice, on behalf of Na Kia‘i Kai, Surfrider Foundation and the Pesticide Action Network, sued ADC for violating the federal Clean Water Act by polluting waters….
read … Ag agency needs more scrutiny
Dairy Completely Destroyed by TVR Owner Activism
HTH: … DOH spokeswoman Janice Okubo said the dairy’s lower lagoon is offline and in the process of being removed and should be fully removed by the end of this week….
The upper lagoon will be removed after the removal of the lower lagoon is completed.
Dairy owners announced in November they would discontinue dairy and milk processing operations at the Ookala facility, which has been owned by Steve and Derek Whitesides since 2011….
That agreement required the owners to terminate their dairy operations, remove all cows from confinement, clean and remove the existing wastewater system and pay $79,000 by June, either as an administrative penalty or to fund an environmentally beneficial project in the area.
Approximately 300 cows remain on site, with cows being removed and sold weekly….
The Clean Water Branch is not aware of any potential buyers or others interested in the property, she said….
“The closure of the dairy has been going well,” Okubo said. “Dairy personnel have worked hard to comply with the DOH-issued (agreement).”…
read … Dairy wastewater lagoons in process of being removed
Homeless Tent City Dwellers ‘Educate’ Public About Dark Nature of English Language—Designed by Satan
WHT: … the Corporation Counsel has filed an entry of default noting that the owners have not responded. Kamelamela said the owners now have a month to remove the offending structures or else the county will seek permission in civil court to do so itself, at cost to the owners.
Kamelamela said the continued presence of the structures has also led the owners to accrue more than $34,000 in fines as of mid-April.
The camp, which is a fenced-off collection of tents and tarps, houses approximately a dozen people, said camp resident Eldred Ikaika….
Ikaika went on to say that it is his calling to be at the camp so he can educate others about the “dark nature” of the English language, which he claimed was designed by Satan.
The presence of the camp occasionally interferes with the nearby Hilo Farmers Market, said market owner Keith De La Cruz. Vendors and customers have complained of rubbish and illegal dumping near the camp, he said.
Meanwhile, De La Cruz said there have been occasional interactions with camp residents that needed to be “defused”….
SA: Oahu law doesn’t apply to everyone lying down at bus stops
read … We Closed the Insane Asylums
State agency to study transferring control of Kakaako to city
SA: Gov. David Ige last week vetoed a controversial bill that would have altered future development and governance in Kakaako.
But state lawmakers still got some of what they wanted in the bill, which sought the production and execution of a plan under which the state agency that regulates development and infrastructure investments in Kakaako would transfer its responsibilities to the city.
One day after Ige issued his veto Tuesday, board members of the Hawaii Community Development Authority overseeing Kakaako voted to spend up to $100,000 for a private consultant to produce a study on transferring the agency’s Kakaako responsibilities to another entity or entities…
The requirement to produce a transfer plan was floated in early April toward the end of the last legislative session when the House Finance Committee, led by Rep. Sylvia Luke, deleted the contents of a bill aimed at facilitating redevelopment of Aloha Stadium and replaced it with the HCDA Kakaako transfer plan.
Senate Bill 1350, HD 2, threatened to withhold pay for about half of the authority’s staff in the next two years if a “comprehensive” transition plan that shifted HCDA’s role in Kakaako to the city wasn’t produced before the Legislature convenes again in January. The bill also mandated that the transfer to the city be completed before the end of 2023.
Lawmakers, who used a different bill to achieve the stadium redevelopment initiative, passed SB 1350 on April 30 in a vote that drew only one dissenter.
Ige vetoed the bill in part because he said the short timeline to complete the work could threaten funding for 13 HCDA positions.
However, lawmakers also included a provision in the state budget signed by Ige that calls for production of the transition plan 20 days before the Legislature convenes in January.
Michelle Matson, a founding member of a community advisory group that helped HCDA produce a master plan for Kakaako makai of Ala Moana Boulevard, characterized the effort by lawmakers as blackmail and urged the HCDA board at a meeting Wednesday not to go forward with the desired plan.
Some HCDA board members said it would be useful to lay out what the agency has yet to complete in its mission for Kakaako….
read … State agency to study transferring control of Kakaako to city
Council’s office move to Alii Place hits a snag
SA: … Council Chairman Ikaika Anderson said last week that the landlords of Alii Place, The Bristol Group, want a five-year commitment from the Council, something the Council is reluctant to give because it would tie the hands of future Councils. By then five of the current nine Council members will be out of office due to term limits….
Nonetheless, Council members said Friday they want the renovation plans to continue, insisting that the second-floor offices of Honolulu Hale continue to be a health concern for them and their staff aides.
Councilwoman Ann Kobayashi said she and others who work on the second floor develop a cough whenever they’re working there.
Kobayashi, along with Anderson and members Joey Manahan, Ron Menor and Kym Pine, will be finishing up their second terms at the end of 2020.
“Even if I’m gone, I’d still would like to see (renovations) done,” Kobayashi said. “I don’t want to see any more people get hurt.”
Pine said her staff members have been hit with so many illnesses that she’s told them to work from home whenever possible….
Anderson said former Councilman Rod Tam, who died in May due to complications from leukemia, is just one of a string of people who worked in the Council offices who was diagnosed with cancer. Tam was on the Council from 2003 to 2010.
“Far as I know, Rod had no health issues prior to coming to the Hale,” Anderson said. “He always told me that since coming to the Hale, his allergies were horrible.” That was one of the reasons why he met with constituents at Zippy’s or in the community, Anderson said….
“Currently, the main sticking point is necessary language that must be included in any lease the Council signs,” Anderson said. “Specifically, we must include a clause that would allow for the Council to terminate the lease at-will due to the fact that the Council cannot, legally, bind a future Council to a financial obligation.”…
SA Editorial: Council sizes up Alii Place
read … Council’s office move to Alii Place hits a snag
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