Land Board Fails Mauna Kea Again, The Hui Appeals to the Courts

The Mauna Kea hui filed suit against the Board of Land and Natural Resources AGAIN for failing to protect the natural and cultural resources of sacred Mauna Kea. This time the Land Board denied the hui's request for a contested case hearing on the management plan it approved for the summit last Spring, claiming only those with private property on the summit can challenge their decisions.

"The Board's decision undermines the basic right everyone in Hawaii has to stand up for their environment, their culture, and their religion," said Kealoha Pisciotta, President of Mauna Kea Anaina Hou. "Despite extensive evidence on the record of our cultural, spiritual, environmental and recreational connections to Mauna Kea, the Board is now claiming we suddenly have no right to ensure it is protected from bulldozers."

Though the law requires the management plan to be comprehensive, it fails to adequately protect the conservation district on the summit.

"The Land Board just keeps making the same mistakes over and over again," said Marti Townsend, Program Director at KAHEA. "We know they are being pressured to get this new massive telescope built on the summit, but they have to follow the law first and that means adopting a truly comprehensive management plan that protects the natural resources, cultural practices, and public access on Mauna Kea."

Click here for more info, including the court filings...

KAHEA files suit for failure to protect NWHI
On July 21, 2009, KAHEA filed suit against the state Department of Land and Natural Resources for not abiding by the Hawaii Environmental Policy Act when issuing permits to Papahanaumokuakea Monument in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. This lawsuit seeks to halt the issuance of all permits to the NWHI until the managers can develop a permitting system that satisfies all state and federal laws. "We have been raising these concerns with the monument managers for a long time now," said Marti Townsend, KAHEA program director. "But a lawsuit was inevitable when a former employee revealed that there was a staff policy to ignore the requirements of the Hawaii's environmental review law."

Read KAHEA's media statement, July 21, 2009

Read KAHEA's letter to the Monument Managers, July 21, 2009

Read KAHEA's Complaint, filed July 21, 2009

Read the Whistleblower Complaint, filed July 8, 2009

Update: Defend the Sacred Summits of Mauna Kea and Haleakala
Just as we predicted, the University is using its new found control over Mauna Kea to usher in a new age of development on our sacred summits. Mere days after the University's substandard plan for managing Mauna Kea was conditionally approved by the state, proponents of the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) released their draft Environmental Impact Statement. They propose to destroy unique habitat and cultural sites on Mauna Kea by building the largest telescope in the world... without assessing whether an alternate site in Chile would cause less cultural and environmental harm.

At the same time, the University and the National Science Foundation are proposing to build a 14-story, 100-acre telescope on the sacred summit of Haleakala. This Advanced Technology Solar Telescope (ATST) proposes to destroy critical viewplanes and irreparably undermine cultural practice on the sacred summit of Haleakala, in order to collect data about weather in space... without even considering whether building the same telescope in California or Spain would have less environmental and cultural impacts.

Science should not be used to justify cultural genocide. It is possible for astronomers to meet the needs of their scientific inquiries without destroying the pillars of the Native Hawaiian culture. We must unite to save our sacred summits and hold astronomy to the same high standards of humanity.

Take Action Now!
1) Protect Haleakala -- the House of the Sun -- from another, unnecessary solar telescope Public comments due by June 22, 2009.

2) Defend the Sacred Summit of Mauna Kea from the World's Largest Telescope Public comments due by July 7, 2009.

Feds Heed KAHEA's call to protect more habitat critical to the survival of the Hawaiian monk seal
On June 12, 2009, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration issued a report supporting a request filed on July 2, 2008, by KAHEA, the Center for Biological Diversity and The Ocean Conservancy, to designate more critical habitat for the highly endangered Hawaiian monk seal.

The three groups are calling for increased habitat protections in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands -- where the majority of the world's last remaining 1,200 Hawaiian monk seals are found -- and in the main Hawaiian Islands -- where monk seal activity is on the rise. Protecting the habitat areas critical to monk seal survival is a basic first step towards ensuring federal actions do not harm the environment that monk seals depend on and to fulfilling our commitment to bring this important species back from the brink of extinction.

In June 2008, the Caribbean monk seal (a relative of the Hawaiian monk seal) was officially removed from the endangered species list because it was deemed extinct by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

Public Statement from KAHEA (224 kb PDF) June 11, 2009 KAHEA's response to the federal government's report supporting expansion of critical habitat for the monk seal.

FAQ's on Monk Seal Habitat (288 kb PDF) updated June 2009.

Read the petition to designate critical habitat for the Hawaiian monk seal (1.2MB PDF) July 2, 2008.

Read the public statement (1.3MB PDF) by KAHEA, Center for Biological Diversity, and The Ocean Conservancy, July 2, 2008.

Mahalo to all who demonstrated their support for the NWHI!!
NWHI hui issues critical review of the Management Plan proposed for the Papahanaumokuakea Monument in the NWHI
Several thousand people throughout Hawai‘i and the world joined the call to uphold the strongest possible protections for the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands in the management plan for the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument. The NWHI hui, consisting of members from KAHEA, Sierra Club, and ‘Ilioula‘okalani Coalition, identified ten key shortfalls that must be addressed for the final management plan to be successful in protecting the amazing and sacred resources of the NWHI.

The world's largest marine protected area was established in 2006 after years of overwhelming public support for the strongest possible protections. On April 22, 2008, the Draft Monument Management Plan (DMMP) was released to the public. The final version of the plan is expected to be released to the public in December. Once finalized the DMMP will be the single most important document dictating how the Papahanaumokuakea protections are implemented over the next 15 years.

After all the fanfare in establishing the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument, the DMMP fell far short of creating a true pu'uhonua (place of refuge) in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. The DMMP proposes to increase harmful human activity in the Monument through more tourism, more extractive research, and more construction without a cummulative impact risk assessment, a numerical carrying capacity, or a citizen's advisory council.

Read the Analysis of the DMMP by the NWHI hui:
"Fulfilling the Promise: Recommendations for Improving the Draft Monument Management Plan for the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument," by the NWHI hui, July 23, 2008
- Executive Summary (368KB PDF)
- Complete Comments (6.3MB PDF)
- National Sign-On Letter (52KB PDF)
- Statement to the Press (80 KB PDF)

"No Human Footprint on the NWHI" Brochure (716 PDF)
Learn more by clicking here...

Support Responsible Science for the NWHI: Research in the NWHI must be conservation-driven, culturally appropriate, and protective of this fragile public trust resource! Learn more about how you can support Responsible Science!

Maka'ala: Hawai'i's 2009 Legislative SessionThis legislative session participating in the decisions that affect the future of Hawaii's natural and cultural resources is even easier with KAHEA's new virtual testimony table. This one link will give you all the information and tools you need to take action fast on the issues that concern you most. JUST CLICK HERE!

KAHEA: The Blog
The strength of grassroots movements is informed people, and what makes the difference is YOU!

KAHEA staff, board, and allies are blogging their views on the news, policy-making, and word on the street--all part of keeping a vigilant public informed! E komo mai! Check it out at: http://blog.kahea.org.