Reaching For The Stars

Richard Ha writes:

I’ve written here before about the Thirty-Meter Telescope (TMT), a “new generation” telescope that may be sited here on Mauna Kea.

And I’ve written about how this project, unlike previous telescopes, is being discussed. I’m on the board of the Hawai‘i Island Economic Development Board, and we’ve made it clear that this can only happen if, unlike with previous telescopes, our people clearly benefit from it.

What I haven’t mentioned yet are the types of extensive benefits we are discussing:

• What if the TMT coming here meant disadvantaged Hawaiian (and other race) students can attend Hawai‘i Community College and the University of Hawai‘i at Hilo for free?

• What if we develop a pathway for local people to fill jobs during the extensive construction and operating of the telescope?

• What if we collect all the funds attributable to astronomy and have that money administered by a group of wise people who are chosen specifically to allocate it to the education of this island’s keiki?

• And what if these credible people fund education programs about the Hawaiian culture and Hawaiian language, and about traditional ways of sustainability, the sciences, job skills and other subjects that prepare our children for a new world where we, living on the island of Hawai‘i, might have to survive on what exists here on our island?

• And what if this organization exists far into the future and benefits many generations to come?

What if, not at the summit though on Mauna Kea, the world’s finest and most powerful telescope looks back in time to the beginning, seeking the answer to the question, “Are we alone?”…

…while on the ground, the people have learned how to restore the ancient fish ponds, and are supplementing that with modern aquaculture methods that don't require oil? And the people on the island’s windward side are using their abundant water to again grow kalo, and growing food with hydroponics, and as in pre-Western times they are able to feed everybody without depending on foreign oil?

It would be the best of the future and the best of the past. What if?

From the TMT:

May 15, 2008

PASADENA, Calif.--After completing a worldwide survey unprecedented in rigor and detail of astronomical sites for the Thirty-Meter Telescope (TMT), the TMT Observatory Corporation board of directors has selected two outstanding sites, one in each hemisphere, for further consideration. Cerro Armazones lies in Chile's Atacama Desert, and Mauna Kea is on Hawai'i Island.

The TMT observatory, which will be capable of peering back in space and time to the era when the first stars and galaxies were forming and will be able to directly image planets orbiting other stars, will herald a new generation of telescopes.

To ensure that proposed TMT sites would provide the greatest advantage to the telescope's capabilities, a global satellite survey was conducted, from which a small sample of outstanding sites was chosen for further study using ground-based test equipment. This ground-based study of two sites in the northern hemisphere and three in the southern was the most comprehensive survey of its kind ever undertaken.

Atmospheric turbulence above each candidate site, and wind characteristics, temperature variations, amount of water vapor, and other meteorological data at some of the candidate sites, were continuously monitored for up to four years. Based upon this campaign, the TMT project will now further evaluate the best site in the northern hemisphere and the best site in the southern hemisphere.

"All five sites proved to be outstanding for carrying out astronomical observations," said Edward Stone, Caltech's Morrisroe Professor of Physics and vice chairman of the TMT board. "I want to congratulate the TMT project team for conducting an excellent testing program, not only for TMT but for the benefit of astronomical research in the future." In addition to the "astronomical weather" at the sites, other considerations in the final selection will include the environment, accessibility, operations costs, and complementarities with other nearby astronomy facilities.

The next step in the site analysis process is the preparation of an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) that will thoroughly evaluate all aspects, including environmental, cultural, socio-economic, and financial, of constructing and operating the Thirty-Meter Telescope in Hawai`i. An environmental impact statement for Cerro Armazones has already been completed and submitted to the Chilean government for their review.

The community-based Mauna Kea Management Board, which oversees the management of the Mauna Kea summit in coordination with the University of Hawai'i at Hilo, concurs that the Thirty-Meter Telescope should proceed with its EIS process. Regardless of whether Mauna Kea is selected as the Thirty-Meter Telescope site, information generated from the EIS will be useful in the management of Mauna Kea.

Henry Yang, TMT board chair and chancellor of UC Santa Barbara, expressed the gratitude of the board. "The selection of these top two candidate sites is an exciting milestone in the Thirty-Meter Telescope's journey from vision to reality. We are grateful for the tireless efforts of our project team and the tremendous vision and support of the Moore Foundation and our international partners that have brought us to this point. We look forward to moving ahead rapidly and with all due diligence toward the selection of our preferred site."

The TMT is currently in the final stages of an $80 million design phase. The plan is to initiate construction in 2010 with first light in early 2018. This project is a partnership between the University of California, California Institute of Technology, and ACURA, an organization of Canadian universities. The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation has provided $50 million for the design phase of the project and has pledged an additional $200 million for the construction of the telescope, and Caltech and the University of California each will seek to raise matching funds of $50 million to bring the construction total to $300 million.

"We look forward to the discussions with the people of Hawai'i and Chile regarding the opportunities to open a new era in astronomy in one of these two world capitals of astronomy," says Professor Ray Carlberg, the Canadian Large Optical Telescope project director and a TMT board member. "Canadian scientists have partnered in the extensive site testing carried out by TMT and we are very pleased to see that it has led to two great options for TMT."

TMT gratefully acknowledges support for design and development from the following: Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, Canada Foundation for Innovation, Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation, National Research Council of Canada, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, British Columbia Knowledge Development Fund, Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, and the National Science Foundation (USA).

Comments

[Andrew Cooper]

Did you catch yesterday's Honolulu Advertiser article on TMT? It does seems awareness of the project is growing in the community.

The comments make interesting reading, much of what you expect and a little I didn't expect. I addressed some of it on my blog today...

I agree with you in that the project represents a real alternative to tourism as an industry to support the local economy. That is the message we need to press.

[Kealoha Pisciotta]

Aloha Mr. Ha,

Recently your public statements (and Blog statements) regarding your support for University of Hawai`i (UH) and their agent Ku`iwalu’s push for the gigantic TMT telescope to be built atop Mauna Kea were forwarded to me. You state:
“Because of and Thanks to Kealoha Pisciotta, Paul Neves, Clarence Ching and others who challenged procedures, Judge Hara directed that a Comprehensive Management Plan be done before building can proceed on
Mauna Kea.”
And,

“If this Comprehensive Management Plan is done correctly, there will be
guidelines to follow that results from suggestions gathered from the
community, scientific analysis as well as cultural and religious
practitioners.”

While it is not clear to me, if you are simply confused and/or misinformed or actually mean to confuse and/or misinform others; nevertheless, your commendations combined with your attempt to claim Judge Hara’s decision as a win for the University are not only inaccurate but could be construed by us as disingenuous. You are either arguing we support your push for the TMT or that you have supported our work all these years. Neither could be farther from the truth since both are false.

First, we are opposed to further development atop Mauna Kea, and always have been therefore we are opposed to UH-UC-Caltech constructing the TMT atop Mauna Kea. It is one thing for you to claim you support a project like the TMT—we have no problem with your right to support the TMT---but it is not okay for you to use our names to further your positions or to create the impression we are on board with you. We are not in support of the TMT being built on Mauna Kea—so I expect you to be truthful about our real positions.

Second, throughout the years the HIEDB, of which you are the Vice President, has taken an adversarial position against us. And while I can’t speak to what you represent to your membership, what I know is that the HIEDB, spent years opposing all of us in the Mauna Kea Contested Case, with its lawyers (Tsukazaki, Yeh and Moore) submitting motions after motion parroting the UH motions against the Sierra Club, the Royal Order of Kamehameha I, the Mauna Kea Anaina Hou and Mr. Clarence Ching. As a matter of fact, HIEDB just submitted another motion parroting the UH against our positions in the Mauna Kea case in the Intermediate Court of Appeals. So you can not honestly sustain a claim that HIEDB has supported our work all these years.

Lastly, neither you nor HIEDB can claim Judge Hara’s ruling as a win for the University. The HIEDB, UH and the State lost the case and that means we won. Judge Hara did not order the UH to do a Comprehensive Management Plan as you claim. Judge Hara ordered the state to do it. We know this because we were the Plaintiffs’ and because the court found in our favor. When you win a case, you are given the right to write the draft of the final judgment for the Judge to review, amend and to sign if he or she agrees with it. That is the way court works. So were are clear what Judge Hara said.

Furthermore, despite the fact we would have liked to simply sue the UH, we had to sue the State’s BLNR too—because you can only sue the legally responsible party. In this case on Mauna Kea, the State’s BLNR is the legally responsible agency and not the UH. The UH is not constitutionally or statutorily responsible for overseeing the conservation districts within the state. The title of our case is Mauna Kea et al., v. the State of Hawai`i, the reason for this is simple, the State is the legally responsible agency not UH or its agent Ku`iwlau. So you cannot honestly sustain a claim that the UH-Ku`iwlau plan comply’s with Judge Hara’s order. The plan will never be able to be done right, because they UH-Ku`iwalu can’t do the plan.

There is no way to misinterpret the Judge Hara decision or the fact that he was giving instruction to the State’s BLNR when he ruled on the BLNR rules and regulation relating to the Conservation District of Mauna Kea. The University’s creative interpretation is nothing more than their continued to attempt gain control over Mauna Kea for the promotion of their own interest.

Judge Hara found in our favor, not in the UH, HIEDB or State’s favor. Judge Hara ordered the State to prepare and approve a Comprehensive Management Plan. The State may not transfer their legal obligations to a third party (especially a third party with a conflict of interest) to fulfill the law for them—just like a police officer can’t hand a regular citizen a gun and ask that citizen to shoot an escaping criminal—the State can’t transfer it power to another unless the law allows for it—and the law does not allow this.

In closing Mr. Ha, as I said before, I am not sure if you are confused and/or misinformed or are purposefully attempting to confuse and/or misinform others. I hope it is the former. You must STOP using our names to throw weight to booster your own your positions. Your organization has opposed us in court for years now. We are not supporting the TMT as you are, nor are we supporting the UH-Ku`iwalu’s alleged Comprehensive Management Plan.

You can contact us anytime to discuss our actual positions, and I would encourage you to do so.

Kealoha Pisciotta, President
Mauna Kea Anaina Hou

[Richard Ha]

Aloha Kealoha:

You quoted me correctly, but you read way too much into what I said. I was just simply trying to say mahalo to you folks for all the hard work. I think that lots of positive change happened because of it.

I have always felt that you folks won and that is why Judge Hara required that a Comprehensive Management Plan be done to protect Mauna Kea.

I volunteered three years ago to be a member of the TMT subcommittee of the HIEDB. Being part Hawaiian myself I wanted to make sure that if the TMT was going to come to Hawaii—it be done right.Today I am the chair of that sub committee.

But, I only write and speak about the TMT as an individual, usually as a representative of my workers who want more for their children than to be banana farm workers.

I was not a member of the HIEDB when the first suit took place. I do know about the second case. The HIEDB needed to defend itself from a lawsuit to pay attorneys fees. The judge ruled against the litigants who then appealed. That is going on.

I think that we have more things in common than not. We should go drink coffee and talk story. I’ll call you.

Aloha

Richard