HILO — A judge on Thursday cleared the way for a new round of hearings by the state Board of Land and Natural Resources on the proposed Thirty Meter Telescope near the summit of Mauna Kea.
HILO — A judge on Thursday cleared the way for a new round of hearings by the state Board of Land and Natural Resources on the proposed Thirty Meter Telescope near the summit of Mauna Kea.
In a status conference held by telephone in an empty courtroom, Hilo Circuit Judge Greg Nakamura instructed Richard Naiwieha Wurdeman, attorney for Mauna Kea Anaina Hou and several other appellants, to prepare an order vacating a May 5, 2014, ruling by Nakamura that the permitting process employed for the $1.4 billion observatory project by BLNR was valid and the appellants’ due process rights weren’t violated by the process.
“All we’re trying to do is move the case back to the board,” Nakamura said.
The conference itself was a formality. The state Supreme Court on Dec. 2 issued an opinion siding with Mauna Kea Anaina Hou and co-appellants Clarence Kukaukahi Ching, Flores-Case Ohana, Deborah J. Ward, Paul K. Neves and Kahea: The Hawaii Environmental Alliance.
The group had appealed Nakamura’s ruling, arguing that BLNR’s approval of a conservation district use permit to the University of Hawaii at Hilo for the project on Feb. 25, 2011, prior to a contested case hearing, was improper.