![]() ![]() Tensions between native Hawaiian groups and the astronomical community have reached a fever pitch over use of the land, which is leased by the University of Hawaii and administered by its newly established Office of Mauna Kea Management. In addition, environmentalists worry about potential chemical spills and waste water mismanagement on the summit. In a scathing complaint filed last April, the OHA writes: “Ironically, in their zeal to discover other life in the universe, the IfA and NASA are ignoring life on these islands … fixing their gaze on distant stars, the astronomers fail to see what is right before their eyes: the irreplaceable cultural and natural resources of Mauna Kea.”Īccording to the complaint, those resources include three cinder cones surrounded by at least 40 shrines that form the border of a “god/spirit zone at the summit of Mauna Kea,” and the Wekiu bug, an endemic species that has been nearly decimated. ![]() ![]() While an environmental impact assessment was done for the planned outriggers, the OHA is suing for a more formal “Environmental Impact Statement” as outlined in the National Environmental Policy Act. The outriggers, originally slated to cost $50 million dollars and to begin operating this year, are now on hold indefinitely, pending resolution of the lawsuit and a state permit hearing that will begin February 10. These “outrigger” telescopes would be linked to the Kecks, collectively acting as a single large telescope (or interferometer), and would help researchers find and characterize extrasolar planets. The instruments at the heart of the controversy are four to six 1.8-meter telescopes proposed by NASA that would flank the existing twin 10-meter Keck I and Keck II telescopes. But not everyone thinks so - the state’s Office of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA) has sued NASA and the University of Hawaii’s Institute for Astronomy (IfA), insisting that cultural and environmental impact statements be completed before any new telescopes are built. So perhaps it should seem fitting that the mountain is also home to the most powerful telescopes on the planet. ![]()
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