OHA seeks to include Mauna Kea ‘Ohana leadership in discussions

News Release from OHA, April 20, 2015

HONOLULU – The Office of Hawaiian Affairs has continued to urge Governor Ige and University of Hawaiʻi President Lassner to address the outstanding legal issues involved in the planned Mauna Kea thirty-meter telescope before the moratorium on construction is lifted.

“We are urging that all the stakeholders — including the Governor, the Mauna Kea ‘Ohana, University of Hawai‘i, OHA, DLNR, Office of Mauna Kea Management, and TMT — come together to kūkākūkā on a collective resolution that is in the best interest of Mauna Kea and that addresses each stakeholders’ interests,” said OHA Chairperson Robert K. Lindsey Jr. “Taking a step back and engaging respected voices on both sides of the issue in a productive and healthy conversation would give us a much-welcomed opportunity to find a positive outcome.”

“The Mauna Kea ‘Ohana leaders have cultivated a deep relationship with that ʻāina. They have taken on a kuleana that belongs to them—a kuleana that OHA cannot assume. Those leaders also have extensive knowledge about the harms the potential TMT project would bring to Mauna Kea from both environmental and cultural perspectives. This is why OHA believes their voices are crucial in the discussions,” said OHA Chief Executive Officer Kamanaʻopono Crabbe.

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