Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 22, Number 9, 1 September 2005 — NASA to go aheael with new Mauna Kea scopes [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

NASA to go aheael with new Mauna Kea scopes

Controversial project woulel add new structures to summit

By Sterling Kini Wong In August, NASA decided to move forward with its controversial $50-million project that would add up to six 1.8-meter telescopes to the summit of Mauna Kea, a move that has drawn criticism from some Native Hawaiian and environmental groups. The project calls for the construction of four to six outrigger telescopes that will be strategically placed around the two existing 10-meter Keek telescopes, whieh are the largest and most powerful optical telescopes in the world. The project will employ a technology called interferometry to optically eomhine images from the outrigger telescopes and the two main Keek telescopes in order to render sharper pictures of objects in space. Astronomers hope that the clearer images will reveal previously unknown planets hiding behind stars. NASA's decision concludes the project's environmental impact statement process (EIS), during whieh the agency identified an alternative site, located in Spain's Canary Islands. In its decision, however, NASA said that the Canary Islands site will have only one 10-meter telescope, as opposed to the Keck's two, and that the area has more atmospheric water vapor than Mauna Kea, whieh would limit the effectiveness of the outrigger telescopes. NASA said that it prefers Mauna Kea's 13,796foot summit as the site for the project because it is "one of the finest locations in the world for ground-based astronomical observations" and that "no alternate site matches the scientific eapa-

bility" of the W.M. Keek Observatory. If funding for the project becomes available and all necessary permits and approvals are obtained, NASA anticipates that on-site construction and installation of the first four telescopes would begin sometime this year, with operations starting in 2007. The project must be reviewed by the Office of Mauna Kea Management at UH-Hilo and final approval must be given by the UH Board of Regents. While NASA will fund the construction of the project, UH leases the Mauna Kea Science Reserve from the state. Mauna Kea has been used as an astronomy site since the late 1960s and is now home to 13 observatories. Some Native Hawaiian and environmental groups have opposed the Outrigger Telescope Project because they believe further development threatens the cultural and natural resources of Mauna Kea, whieh according to oral traditions was the meeting plaee of the gods Wākea and Papahānaumoku, ancestors of the Hawaiian people and the Hawaiian Islands. Of particular eoneem is the impact astronomy development has had on the wēkiu bug, whieh is only found on Mauna Kea and is currently a candidate for federal listing as an endangered species. In 2002, OHA filed a federal lawsuit challenging NASA's less rigorous environmental assessment for the project. After a federal judge ruled in favor of OHA, NASA decided to go beyond the court's order and complete the more eomprehensive EIS. The project has also been at the center of a contested case hearing before the state

Board of Land and Natural Resources, and in December 2004, several groups filed a lawsuit in Hilo Circuit Court appealing the state's approval of UH's permit for the project. The judge has yet to rule in the case. Deborah Ward, a spokesperson for the Sierra Club, one of the groups involved in the permit lawsuit, said it's "disgraceful" that although NASA found another viable site for the project, they still chose Mauna Kea, even after hundreds of people submitted oral and written testimony in opposition to the project during the EIS puhlie hearings. "NASA has blatantly disregarded the wishes of the community," she said. "Their decision is a snub of the people of Hawai'i." Kealoha Pisciotta, president of Mauna Kea Anaina Hou, agreed, adding that NAS A still chose Mauna Kea after their EIS states that more than 30 years of astronomy activities on the mountain has had a significant and adverse impact on the cultural and environmental resources of the mountain. "By choosing Mauna Kea over the Canary Islands, [NASA] is deciding to continue that negative impact on the people of Hawai'i and the environment," she said. U

Nf) Hon

[?]

A digital rendering of how the smaller outrigger scopes would look next to the existing Keek structures. Photo: Courtesy of IFA