From time to time, we check in on the Hawaiian telescope project - TMT - in which UC is involved. The latest is an item below dated Nov. 7 reported on Hawaii News Now, indicating that a contruction permit for TMT may - or may not - have expired:
There were heated arguments Tuesday at a state Land Board on the future of the controversial Thirty Meter Telescope project on Mauna Kea. The latest legal challenge is about whether construction of the embattled project actually started. The Mauna Kea Hui alleges construction of the TMT has not started, which would be a violation of the University of Hawaii at Hilo’s Conservation District Use Permit permit. Whatever the board decides would determine if the telescope project is permitted to build on Mauna Kea or not. “There’s been no grading up there, pouring concrete. There has not been any of that done here,” said Richard Naiwieha Wurdeman, Mauna Kea Hui attorney.
In 2017, UH-Hilo got a CDUP permit allowing TMT to use the land at Mauna Kea, but one of the conditions was that work needed to start at the site within two years. In 2019, protests stopped the project and UH-Hilo got a two-year extension. In 2021, UH-Hilo said construction had started before the 2019 protests.
...There was no word on when the BLNR [Bureau of Land and Natural Resources] would make a decision, but the stakes are high and could at the very least lead to more delays for project.
Full story at https://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/2023/11/08/state-land-board-hears-tmt-construction-debate/.
If you are a glutton for punishment, the full hearing can be seen at:
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