Money Well Spent? We think not.
From Bianca, 0ur super summer legal intern:
“Money well spent” ...
This is how Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) Observatory Corporation representative Sandra Dawson describes the $100 million spent on TMT design, development, six-figure salaries, and the “shifting of mindsets” and “creat[ing] positive enthusiasm” for the TMT. The proposed TMT would be the largest telescope on Mauna Kea by far and is the latest in a long line of the University of Hawai`i’s affronts to Native Hawaiian rights.
On June 5, 2011, West Hawai`i Today contributor Peter Sur reported major contributions and expenditures on the TMT. Although Dawson emphasized those of the $100 million expenditures that went towards design, testing, and the environmental review process, Sur examined TMT tax forms, which disclosed that TMT Project Manager Gary Sanders earned $221,300 in 2008-2009, and at least six other employees earned six-figure salaries. Even more controversially, the Hawai`i Island Economic Development Board (members of which have consistently testified in favor of the TMT during the environmental review process) has also been receiving TMT monies. In 2006-2007, they received an unspecified sum to assess Hawai`i island communities’ thoughts on the telescope’s contribution to Mauna Kea development. HIEDB spent $42,584.88 in 2007-2008 to continue community scoping work and created an Advisory Board “to help [the] shifting of mindsets and [to] create positive enthusiasm amongst our [Hawai`i Island] communities favoring the sitting [sic] of the Thirty Meter Telescope on Mauna Kea.” HIEDB ramped up their efforts in 2008-2009, spending $153,522 on “public outreach and education” on the TMT. The TMT paid HIEDB $200,757 to cover expenses during these two years.
We should question the transparency of funding for public agencies (like HIEDB and UH) whose authority rests on their service to the public interest. The HIEDB should not be renting itself out as a publicity firm for the TMT Corporation. Board Member Mike Kaleikini contends that outreach for TMT was part of the HIEDB mission to advocate for balanced economic growth on Big Island. But, we should question whose interests are being leveraged against conservationists, Hawaiian cultural practitioners, and the many others who support the simple point that industrial development on sacred summits is an abdication of responsibilities towards the peoples whose land this is – and particularly when we’re talking about the (un)ceded lands of Mauna Kea.
The payments to the HIEDB are a drop in the bucket compared to the $375 million that has already been committed to the TMT by Gordon Moore’s foundation (co-founder of Intel Corporation), the California Institute of Technology, the University of California, and other Canadian universities. In total, the TMT expects to draw in another $725 million to meet its $1.1 billion price tag. These expectations build on the presumption that UH will prevail in the contested case hearing over the Board of Land and Natural Resources’ approval of the use of Mauna Kea conservation district lands for the TMT project. As part of the Mauna Kea Hui, KAHEA will be contesting the BLNR’s decision to grant that permit on August 15-18, 2011. In the meantime, let’s hope the TMT corporation and Hawai`i public officials refrain from embarking on a public-private partnership of TMT outreach and education.
Read the article for yourself here: http://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/sections/news/local-news/biggest-telescope-carries-big-cost.html
