Kaʻū News Briefs, Thursday, October 24, 2019

     "I'm so grateful to the people of Hawaiʻi for allowing me to serve you in Congress for the last seven years. Throughout my life, I've always made my decisions based on where I felt I could do the most good. In light of the challenges we face, I believe I can best serve the people of Hawaiʻi and our country as President and Commander-in-Chief. As president, I will immediately begin work to end the new cold war and nuclear arms race... end our interventionist, foreign policy of being the world's police, toppling dictators and governments we don't like, and redirect our precious resources towards serving the needs of the people here at home."

     Gabbard's departure from the race to be reelected to the U.S. House of Representatives leaves state Sen. Kai Kahele as the leading candidate to represent rural Hawaiʻi in Congress. Kahele currently represents Hilo in the Hawaiʻi Senate.

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THE QUESTION OF THE  CONSERVATION LAND USE CLASSIFICATION FOR MAUNAKEA drew testimony from the Sierra Club during a hearing before the state Land Use Commission today in Hilo. The testimony contends that the 22 "existing telescopes built on Mauna Kea have created a defacto urban district outside of Land Use Commission procedures... The years of conflict over land use at the summit of Mauna Kea could have been avoided if only the University of Hawaiʻi had been honest about its intentions to urbanize this conservation district from the start. If UH had been straight-forward about its intentions to construct over a dozen industrial structures in the conservation district, and followed the proper procedures to authorize the use of the summit in this way, then it would have first sought approval from the Land Use Commission to change the boundary designation for this area from conservation to urban. If UH had followed this procedure, then the public, state agencies, UH, and all telescope development advocates would have had clear guidance on what was allowed and not allowed on the summit of Mauna Kea."

Should the telescope campus on Maunakea be classified Urban by the state Land Use Commission in order to accommodate more facilities on the Conservation land? Photo from Wikimedia Commons

     The Sierra Club urges the LUC to find "that UH improperly urbanized the summit area of Maunakea," and contends that the state Board of Land & Natural Resources "does not have the authority to allow industrialization within the Conservation Districts, and Mauna Kea is no exception. We hold that no further construction on Mauna Kea summit areas be undertaken, because such action would need to comply with LUC boundary amendment procedures to reclassify conservation lands into the urban district. No, in fact, Mauna Kea summit region is a National Natural Landmark, a State Historic District, a Traditional Cultural Property, and a unique ecosystem with endemic flora and fauna found nowhere else on earth. As such, Mauna Kea deserves the highest protected land use designation!"
     A petition to consider the state land use classification of Maunakea was brought to the LUC by Kanahele family members.
     See the full testimony on Big Island Video News

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