Without fanfare, Gov. David Ige on Thursday signed into law House Bill 2024, which removes the University of Hawaii as the management authority of lands on Maunakea and establishes the Maunakea Stewardship and Oversight Authority as the sole authority.
The law provides a five-year period to transition from UH management to management by the Maunakea Stewardship and Oversight Authority.
The new law, Act 255 authorizes the new entity to develop a framework to allow astronomy development on Maunakea and declares astronomy as a state policy.
The legislation also requires the authority to establish advisory groups, and allows it to limit certain commercial use and activities on Maunakea on its respective jurisdictional lands.
It also provides certain restrictions on leases and a moratorium on new leases, requires the timely decommissioning of certain telescopes and allows the Authority to require an application and fee for all recreational users of Maunakea.
The bill was introduced by four representatives including two Big Island Democrats, Reps. Mark Nakashima and David Tarnas. They did so at the behest of House Speaker Scott Saiki, who on Feb. 2, at the beginning of this year’s legislative session, said in a floor speech it’s time to replace the University of Hawaii as the management entity of Maunakea.
Saiki also said the university should stop its pursuit of renewal of its master lease of the Big Island mountain, home of Hawaii’s world-class astronomy observatories.
That lease expires in 2033.
“The university has tried its best to manage Maunakea, but for too long, the university’s work has been shrouded by its inability to appropriately manage cultural practices, resources and education,” Saiki said at that time.
The mountain was the site of protests and arrests in 2019, as opponents of the Thirty Meter Telescope project staged a massive blockade of the access road, stalling construction activities for months before winter, and then the coronavirus pandemic set in.
Saiki described those those demonstrations as “a manifestation of what happens when we draw lines, work in silos and disregard different views.”
Maunakea Observatories, a collective of the astronomy facilities on the mountain issued a statement Thursday saying they share the commitment stated by the University of Hawai’i to support the new Maunakea Stewardship and Oversight Authority moving forward.”
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
