HILO — What will become of the construction equipment that has been sitting idle near the summit of Mauna Kea since April?
That is the question that many in Hawaii were asking Thursday, following the previous day’s ruling by the Hawaii Supreme Court invalidating the construction permit issued to the Thirty Meter Telescope.
Immediately following the ruling, Lanakila Mangauil, one of the leaders in the effort to block the construction equipment when it was first being hauled up the mountain, said he expected TMT to begin removing its machinery as soon as possible.
Its removal remains a possibility, but project organizers have yet to come up with a timeline, TMT spokesman Scott Ishikawa said Thursday afternoon.
“TMT is assessing its next steps following the court ruling, including particular issues involving our construction vehicles on Mauna Kea,” he said. “They are discussing a timetable — if and when they will bring down the equipment.”
Opponents of the $1.4 billion project maintain the removal of the equipment is critical.
“Now that the ruling has come out, what’s clear is they have absolutely no permits. They do not even have a so-called TMT area,” said Kealoha Pisciotta, president of Mauna Kea Anaina Hou, one of the appellants in the Supreme Course case.
“Now that the court rules there’s no permit, it’s been vacated,” she said. “They need to take it all down. Mauna Kea is not a parking lot for earth-moving activities. That’s our burial area, so you can understand why this is important.”
However, the state Attorney General’s Office maintains there is no legal need for TMT to remove its equipment.
“TMT has a sublease with the University of Hawaii for a portion of Mauna Kea,” according to a Thursday email from Joshua Wisch, special assistant to the attorney general. “As long as TMT does not engage in activities that constitute a land use in the conservation district, TMT would not require a permit or be subject to fines.”
Wisch said he had nothing more to add when asked in a follow-up email whether using the site to store the vehicles constituted a land use.
Pisciotta said the removal of the equipment was a matter of “good faith.”
“They should take it down, because desecration is still a law in Hawaii, even though the governor has chosen not to acknowledge it,” she said. “It’s a burial ground, and this is causing distress. … This shouldn’t be a major sticking point. They should do it as a matter of course and respect.”
She added that as long as the equipment remains on the mountain, it endangers the environment.
“They can leave it up there, but it’s probably going to take at least a year to get back to a contested case hearing, and in the meantime we know that the fuel in these diesel vehicles, if they are not started frequently, they leak,” Pisciotta said.
Ishikawa said earlier reports that vehicles had been leaking oil into the soil atop Mauna Kea were incorrect.
“There were oil pans under the construction vehicles,” he said. “If there was any leaking oil, it would leak into the pans. The whole intent of going up there last month was to take mechanics to maintain or fix vehicles that needed repair.”
The TMT spokesman said he did not yet have any information regarding the costs being incurred as the vehicles sit idle, or the costs that might be involved in their removal from the mountaintop.
The multi-national partnership to construct what would be one of the largest telescopes in the world includes UH, which subleases the land on Mauna Kea to TMT for the project. The planned construction site is on land considered sacred by some Native Hawaiians. Scientists say the location is ideal for the telescope, which could allow them to see into the furthest reaches of space, and take a peek into the earliest beginnings of the universe.
The group suspended construction on Mauna Kea after protesters blocked the road to the summit earlier this year.
The state Board of Land and Natural Resources approved an application by UH-Hilo for a Conservation District Use Permit at a public board meeting on Feb. 25, 2011. The approval came despite opponents’ requests that BLNR delay ruling on the permit until a contested case hearing could be held.
In its ruling on Wednesday, the high court agreed that the permit should not have been approved prior to a contested case hearing. The permit was issued April 12, 2013, but the ruling invalidates it.
Email Colin M. Stewart at cstewart@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
