Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 26, Number 3, 1 April 2009 — Legislative update: OHA versus UH for control over Mauna Kea [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Legislative update: OHA versus UH for control over Mauna Kea

£ A no'ai kakou... I eall out in a kahea for / \ all Hawaiians and the people of Hawaii J. A.to oppose the LIniversity of Hawaii's management of Mauna Kea and to support Senate Bill 995, SD2, whieh would give OHA ownership of our sacred mountain. SB 995 SD2 attempts to resolve claims and disputes relating to the portion of ineome and proceeds from the lands of the Public Land Trust for use by OHA between Nov. 7, 1978, and July 1, 2009. This bill also conveys Mauna Kea to OHA, along with other parcels of land. The House version of the above bill (HB 901 HD2) does not include Mauna Kea. It passed third reading on March 10, 2009, and has crossed over to the Senate. At the time of the writing of this article, the board has not taken an "official" position on SB 995 SD2. During the Cayetano administration, OHA was offered 20 percent of all ceded lands and $150 million in cash. Five OHA board members refused the offer. Two of those members are still on the OHA board. In Governor Cayetano's recent book, he speaks to the foolishness of those board members and refers to the events as a "missed opportunity" for OHA. SB 995 SD2 offers OHA another opportunity to redeem itself. Efforts to transfer total control of Mauna Kea to UH HB 1174 HD3 would allow the University of

Hawaii's Board of Regents (BOR) to adopt administrative rules to regulate public and commereial activities on Mauna Kea lands that LIH leases from the Board of Land and Natural Resources (BLNR). The bill, in its current form does the following: (1) It requires the BOR to establish procedures to enforce these rules; (2) allows LIH to collect administrative fines for violations of these rules; and (3) establishes the Mauna Kea Management Special Fund for the deposit and use of these revenues. KAHEA, Mauna Kea Anaina Hou, Sierra Club Hawaii Island Chapter, Royal Order of Kamehameha I and numerous concerned individuals opposed this measure. OHA originally opposed the first version of the bill, but now supports the bill with amendments. In her Feb. 3, 2009, testimony to the House Committee on Higher Education, KAHEA Program Director Marti Townsend strongly opposed HB 1 174 for the following reasons: • "Mauna Kea lands leased by the LIniversity are 'ceded' lands. Granting this authority to the LIniversity will violate the Supreme Court's ruling in OHA v. HCDCH. With this bill, the Lingle administration is seeking to transfer ceded land protected by the Public Lands Trust from the state Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) to the LIniversity of Hawaii." • "Mauna Kea lands are public trust lands that must be managed by the landlord (BLNR), not the LIniversity, who is a mere leaseholder. State law requires that public trust lands be leased at fair market value for the benefit of the people of Hawaii, not the leaseholder." • "According to current state law, ceded lands

are managed and administered by DLNR. See, HRS sec. 171-3. This bill seeks to transfer the ceded lands of Mauna Kea from DLNR to the LIniversity by granting the LIniversity 'authority to manage and control public activities on the Mauna Kea lands.' This is the exact same type of agency-to-agency transferred deemed illegal by the Supreme Court in OHA v. HCDCH and therefore should not be allowed by the state Legislature." • "The LIniversity's activities on Mauna Kea have exploited, destroyed and desecrated irreplaceable natural and cultural resources on the summit. Mauna Kea's Hawaiian alpine desert is unlike any other plaee in the world. It is home to many Hawaiian endemic species, some are found only on Mauna Kea! Muhiple reports, audits and lawsuits have confirmed that the LIniversity's telescope activities have violated the law and continue to destroy the natural and cultural resources of Mauna Kea." • "In muhiple reviews of the LIniversity's activities on the summit, the Hawaii State Auditor found that LIH's management of Mauna Kea is 'inadequate to ensure the protection of natural resources' and 'neglected ... the cultural value of Mauna Kea.' Their report stated that LIH's Institute for Astronomy 'focused primarily on the development of Mauna Kea and tied the benefits gained to its research program,' and that its focus on telescope eonstruction has been 'at the expense of neglecting the site's natural resources.' " • "The LIniversity will use this authority to limit public access to the summit, regulate when and how Hawaiians worship on the summit, and expand telescope construction on the summit." • "For 30 years, the LIniversity has failed to pay the fair market rent to the State for its subleases to foreign countries and corporations that own telescopes atop Mauna Kea, as required

For more information on important Hawaiian issues, eheek out Trust.ee Akana 's web site at rowe naakana.org.

by HRS sec. 171. This means the LIniversity owes the people of Hawaii back rent for the numerous telescope and support structures on the sacred summit." • "LInfortunately, the LIniversity has never accounted for the profits it has gained from its destructive use of Mauna Kea. According to a report to the LIH Board of Regents in 1994, however, the LIniversity enjoyed at least $60 million annually in benefits from its use of Mauna Kea. In 2001, the University admitted to the Legislature that the work conducted on Mauna Kea earned $8 million a year just from the patent-lease contracts with defense eontractors like Raytheon." • "Surprisingly, during this time of debilitating eeonomie crisis, the LIniversity is not paying this back rent to the State. Instead in this bill it is proposing to establish a special fund that would allow it to pocket all of the profits from the use of Mauna Kea lands, bypassing the general fund altogether. The LIniversity is literally seeking the Legislature's approval to rob the people of Hawaii." On March 10, 2009, HB 1174 HD3 passed third reading in the House with eleven (11) Representatives (Belatti, Berg, Brower, Carroll, Hanohano, C. Lee, Luke, McKelvey, Saiki, Shimabukuro and Thielen) voting no and has crossed over to the Senate. I will continue to keep you updated on these bills as they make their way through the second half of the legislative session. In the meantime, I encourage eaeh of you to eall your elected officials and let them know how you feel about these important pieces of legislation. Aloha Ke Akua. ■

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