by Andrew Walden

You weren't fooled by all the silly talk about sacredness, were you?

Precisely as predicted, the Mauna Kea telescope protests were all about money.  Now Governor Ige is announcing a "proposed way forward" which will "change the management of the entire summit...to bring cultural voices into the leadership...." 

UPDATE May 27: As predicted, OHA Trustees are pleased with Ige's plan ... LINK

In the text of Ige's announcement and news release below, rent-collecting opportunities are highlighted with yellow dollar signs. 

All of the predicted cash items are there including, "reopening of current leases", several references to the master lease, and a demand that UH "ensure full use of its scheduled telescope time" which obviously opens the door for the proposed "Cultural Council" to sell off expensive telescope time whenever it decides to feel UH is not. 

There are also crumbs for protesters in need of payoffs:

• Ige's plan calls for "leasing portions of the mountain to cultural groups."
• Do nothing jobs for activists in "native species protection and forestry...."
• "Require training in the cultural aspects of the mountain and how to be respectful to the cultural areas for anyone going on the mountain."

Ige's plan also envisions limiting the mountain to OHA-approved visitors:  "Significantly limit and put conditions on non­-cultural access to the mountain."  And what are those conditions?  "Future visitor access to the mountain be handled through the Native Hawaiian community...."  You will have to pay OHA at a toll booth to go up the mountain. 

Why?  Ige explains:

"From my own personal experience on the mountain, with all the noise and crowding, I could not feel the same special feeling I felt the last time I was up there. It felt and still feels entirely wrong."  

The only "noise" up there during Ige's last visit came from protesters, but Ige demands "rules that significantly limit and put conditions on non-­cultural access to the mountain...."

In other words, you won't be able to go up there and get a truckload of snow to bring back down to Hilo because you are just a dirty ignorant peasant.  Mauna Kea will be a temple limited to the high priests of the new State religion and the scientists who pay them.  People of other faiths (or no faith) need not apply.  Closing public access is in clear violation of the Admission Act which states that the so-called 'Ceded' lands will be used for five purposes including: "for the provision of lands for public use."

Amusingly, a call for more scholarships is included as an afterthought in Ige's comments.  It is just a fig-leaf for the shake-down and pay off.

Rent-seeking activities like these significantly reduce the diversity of Hawaii's economy.  By limiting economic opportunity to politics, land development and tourism, these type of shake-downs drive the continuing exodus of Hawaii residents to the Mainland.  For this reason, the telescope payoffs also violate the Admission Act requirement to use 'Ceded' lands "for the betterment of native Hawaiians."

Reminders of Reality:

• Telescope: For OHA, it’s all About the Rent Money
• Crabbe: OHA Wants 'percentage of gross receipts' from Telescope
• Sacred? Protest Leaders Demand $50M Yearly Rent for Telescope Site
• OHA driving Hawaiians out of Hawaii

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Lassner: "We Apologize"

"The university deeply appreciates the governor’s strong commitment to improved care for Mauna Kea. We share that commitment. We agree that the University can and must do better. We apologize for where our efforts have fallen short to date. The specific actions that the governor has requested today are consistent with what we have heard in public testimony, discussions, and meetings with numerous community members and stakeholders over the last two months. We appreciate his support, as accomplishing many of them will require close collaboration with the state and other partners." -- UH President Lassner

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GOVERNOR DAVID IGE ANNOUNCES MAJOR CHANGES IN THE STEWARDSHIP OF MAUNA KEA

HONOLULU – Governor David Ige today announced his proposed way forward for the stewardship of Mauna Kea.

The full script of the governor’s comments, as prepared, may be downloaded from the website: http://governor.hawaii.gov/.

Governor Ige thanked the Thirty-Meter Telescope (TMT) team for halting construction to allow him to listen to and learn from those with differing points of view on the issues surrounding the project. During the timeout, the governor consulted with the University of Hawai‘i, TMT officials, the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Native Hawaiian lineal and cultural descendants, the Department of Land and Natural Resources, and individual supporters and opponents of the project. He also visited the summit of Mauna Kea.

Governor Ige said, “My review found that the TMT project took the appropriate steps and received the approvals needed to move forward. The project has the right to proceed with construction, and the state will support and enforce its right to do so. We also acknowledge the right to protest this activity. We will protect the right to a peaceful protest and will act to ensure public safety and the right to use our roads for lawful purposes.”

The governor noted that there is a court challenge to the project and he will abide by the decision of the courts on this matter.

Governor Ige said his review also found that, “In many ways, we have failed the mountain. Whether you see it from a cultural perspective or from a natural resource perspective, we have not done right by a very special place and we must act immediately to change that.”

The governor said the State of Hawaiʻi must change the way it exercises responsibility for Mauna Kea and proposed to change the management of the entire summit, all of which is state land, to bring cultural voices into the leadership structure. He announced the formation of a Mauna Kea Cultural Council which will work with the Board and Department of Land and Natural Resources and the governor’s office to ensure that all acts from here forward are sensitive to and observant of the host culture ($).

He also said that the state will increase its oversight of the activities currently taking place on the mountain under existing leases ($) and sub-leases ($).

Governor Ige asked the University of Hawai‘i to take 10 significant actions related to enhanced stewardship in general and to the Thirty-Meter Telescope (TMT), specifically.

1. Accept its responsibility to do a better job in the future.
2. Formally and legally bind itself to the commitment that this is the last area on the mountain where a telescope project will be contemplated or sought.
3. Decommission – beginning this year – as many telescopes as possible with at least 25 percent of all telescopes gone by the time TMT is ready for operation.
4. Restart the EIS process for the university’s lease extension ($) and conduct a full cultural impact assessment ($) as part of that process.
5. Move expeditiously the access rules ($) that significantly limit and put conditions on non­cultural access to the mountain.
6. Require training in the cultural aspects of the mountain and how to be respectful to the cultural areas for anyone going on the mountain.
7. Substantially reduce the length of its request for a lease extension ($) from the Board of Land and Natural Resources.
8. Voluntarily return to full DLNR jurisdiction all lands (over 10,000 acres) not specifically needed for astronomy ($).
9. Ensure full use of its scheduled telescope time ($).
10. Make a good faith effort to revisit the issue of payments ($) by the existing telescope now as well as requiring it in the new lease ($).

Governor Ige asked the TMT team to increase its support for Native Hawaiian students interested in science and technology through admission to and scholarships ($) at its own or partner institutions with first priority given to students on Hawaiʻi Island and then to students statewide.

The governor concluded by committing to take a much longer view of our cultural and natural resources ($) and to plan for them in 10 years, 40 years or even 100 years.

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Remarks of Governor David Ige as prepared

THE MAUNA KEA STORY, MAY 26, 2015

My role as Governor is to represent all the people of Hawai‘i our people, especially on critical and controversial matters.

The issues surrounding Mauna Kea are contentious and on all sides very strongly felt. And because of that, the search for answers is very challenging and difficult.

In moving forward, I believe our core values need to be:

• The importance of respecting our host culture and the special places of Hawai‘i.
• The critical role that science and technology play in the economic ($) and educational ($) life of our community. Our young people need to reach for the stars, literally and figuratively.
• Respect for the laws and the process of seeking and receiving approvals to do work ($) in Hawai‘i.
• The need in all of our work as government, and as people, to take the time to listen, and to learn, from each other and especially from those who feel they have not been heard.
• To act always with aloha.

In reflecting on those values, we have in many ways failed the mountain. Whether you see it from a cultural perspective or from a natural resource perspective, we have not done right by a very special place and we must act immediately to change that…..

TMT went through the appropriate steps and got the appropriate approvals. I do not doubt that they did more than any previous telescope to be a good neighbor.

This is in litigation at this time and the courts will ultimately have their say on this case ($).

In the meantime, however, TMT has the right to proceed with construction and they may proceed as far as I am concerned. And we will support and enforce (REALLY?  This I gotta see.) their right to do so.

We also acknowledge the right to protest this activity. We will protect the right to peaceful protest and also will act to ensure (Anytime now.) the public safety and the right to use our roads for lawful purposes.

That is however not the end of the story, it is only the beginning.

It is my own belief that the activities of Native Hawaiians, and of our scientists, to seek knowledge and to explore our relationship with our cosmos and its creation can and should co-exist on the mountain……

What has instead happened is that science has received most of the attention ($) and it has gotten way ahead of culture in our work ($) on the mountain. The proper balance ($) between the two has been lost.

From my own personal experience on the mountain, with all the noise and crowding, I could not feel the same special feeling I felt the last time I was up there. It felt and still feels entirely wrong. It is a special place and we need to treat like a special place.

So what can we do to be better stewards of the mountain?

That is one of the key issues we have been talking about these last weeks, and we received input from multiple perspectives.

We received a petition from those protesting on the mountain asking that public hearings be held on any new lease ($) to the University, that we deny any renewal to the University, that any new development be restricted including TMT, that fair market lease rent ($) be charged and back rent sought ($), and that 20% of all revenues ($) as provided by law. We received a petition from a young Native Hawaiian who wants to see TMT installed and astronomy encouraged. We received a citizens group’s request that the current EIS on the lease renewal ($) be reopened ($) for comment. And we have been part of several convened conversations with leaders of the Native Hawaiian community.

Based on those conversations and our own visits and meetings including many with strong supporters of the project, I am sharing with all of you my sense of how we go forward from here.

First, my responsibility begins with the State of Hawai‘i and our need to change the way we exercise responsibility for the mountain.

1. We will change the management ($) of the entire summit, all of which is state land, to bring cultural voices into the leadership structure ($) so that all acts ($) from here forward are sensitive to and observant of culture. 
2. We are establishing a Mauna Kea Cultural Council to work with the Board and the Department of Land and Natural Resources, and the Governor’s Office, to do a better job.  Among the tasks for this group will be the review of all leases ($) and lease renewals ($), of all proposed rules impacting the mountain especially those relating to access, ($) of any EIS preparation ($) and any cultural impact assessments, ($) of decommissioning plans and execution, ($) working on leasing ($) portions of the mountain to cultural groups, and the reconciliation of the various other uses ($) of the mountain including native species protection and forestry.
3. We are currently putting the group together and hope to make an announcement on that shortly. In asking people to be part of this work, I am not making support for TMT a requirement of those who agree to serve…
4. We are also committed to doing a much better job of monitoring compliance with all activities under any leases ($) or sub-leases, ($) and to act immediately if there are issues that need resolution. Such action may include the reopening of current leases ($) or the suspension of processing extension requests ($).

Second, the University of Hawai‘i must do a better job in its stewardship of the mountain. If we are going to be a long term partner (and landlord ($)) of the University, we expect the University to do its part as well:

1. The University must begin by being very forthright and public in accepting its need to do a better job in the future.
2. The University must formally and legally bind itself to the commitment that this is THE last area on the mountain where a telescope project will be contemplated or sought.
3. The University must decommission as many telescopes as possible with one to begin this year and a least 25% of all telescopes gone by the time TMT is ready for operation.
4. The University must restart the EIS process ($) for its lease extension ($) including a full cultural impact assessment ($) as part of that process.
5. Access rules that significantly limit and condition non-cultural access to the mountain ($) must be moved expeditiously through the process. There is far too much routine access to this special place and it cannot continue to carry this burden.
6. What I would hope to see is that future visitor access to the mountain be handled through the Native Hawaiian community ($) so that visitors have a greater understanding of and respect for the cultural significance of the mountain. Anyone going on the mountain must receive training in the cultural aspects of the mountain and how to be respectful to the cultural areas.
7. I am asking that the University substantially reduce the length of its request for a lease extension. We need to ensure that the stewardship of the mountain is revisited in an appropriate period and we all need to take another look at activities on the mountain in mid-century.
8. I am also asking the University to voluntarily return to full DLNR jurisdiction all lands not specifically needed for astronomy. This would involve over 10,000 acres and would allow for culture-based management ($) of much of the mountain. This was an alternative proposed in their pending EIS document for their lease renewal ($) request and would be a significant act of good faith in ensuring the proper balance of activities ($) on the summit.
9. The University will ensure the full use of its scheduled telescope time ($).
10. Finally, I am asking the University to make a good faith effort to revisit the issue of greater payments ($) by the existing telescopes now as well as requiring it in the new lease.

For all these activities, the University will set forth a schedule for their completion which must be done as expeditiously as possible.

Third, I am asking the TMT leadership to significantly increase the level of support ($) they are providing Native Hawaiian students interested in the areas of science and technology. This can include admission and scholarships ($) at their own institutions or partner institutions. First priority would be for students on Hawai‘i Island and then to students statewide.

As in many areas of Hawai‘i’s life, we need to take a much longer view of our resources ($) and to plan for them in ten years, forty and even a hundred years.