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On August 26, the BLNR will hear public testimony on the 14-story telescope proposed for Haleakala. We really need community members to show up early, sign up to speak, and give testimony on this giant telescope proposal. You can read the flyer here.

From Kilakila Haleakala:

All studies done for the proposed project indicate that in addition to the misuse of conservation lands, there will be major, adverse, short- and long-term direct impacts on traditional and cultural resources. We must let them know know that our summit will not be furuther desecrated.

You can read more at http://www.kilakilahaleakala.org

Wanting another perspective? We’re also liking this thoughtful take on the Haleakala proposal by blogger and astronomer Salman Hameed.

From our friends at NHLC:

The State Water Commission meets on May 19, 2010 May 26th (UPDATE: Date change!) to act on the latest round of petitions by East Maui residents seeking to restore stream flow to 19 East Maui streams, when HC&S is WASTING water being diverted.  Na Moku Aupuni O Ko`olau Hui is seeking restoration so the fish, o`opu, hihiwai, and o`opu can return to those streams and support the constitutionally-protected cultural practices of Hawaiians.

Without doubt, A&B/HC&S is wasting water.  The Water Commission has already concluded that it uses 70% more water than it should in the wet season and 40% more water than it should during the dry season.  Moreover, unless this Water Commission demands that they do more, A&B/HC&S’ leaky irrigation system and poor maintenance practices will continue wasting this valuable resource, because the State only charges this sugar plantation less than ¼ of a penny per thousand gallons, discouraging any conservation while depleting the State of fair market value for the use of this invaluable resource (collected from 33,000 acres of ceded lands, or about $4.84 per acre per year).

Learn more, see the flyer

Click to see more detailed information at CWRM website on Na Moku Aupuni O Ko`olau’s petitions to restore 27 East Maui Streams now dewatered by Alexander and Baldwin, Inc. and its Maui subsidiaries,  Hawaiian Commercial and Sugar Company and East Maui Irrigation Company.

What you can do:

Please keep those letters to the editor going, leading to this Water Commission action meeting on whether to restore 19 East Maui streams.  We are starting to see some really intelligent responses to the A&B/HC&S propaganda.

You can write to the editors of your daily papers:

Maui News: Use form at: http://vnr.oweb.net/vnr/add_submission.asp?categoryID=769&publicationID=110

Honolulu Advertiser:
E-mail: letters@honoluluadvertiser.com
Fax: (808) 535-2415
Online: Use online form: http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/form/op/letters

Honolulu Star Bulletin:
Email to: letters@starbulletin.com
Fax: (808) 529-4750

Click to see latest CWRM agenda information for most recent information on where the May 19 meeting will be held and at what time.

Questions?  Contact either Camille Kalama (cakalam@nhlchi.org) or Alan Murakami (almurak@nhlchi.org) or at 808-521-2302.

Many of you know of the efforts of people like Pete Doktor, Norman Kaneshiro, Kyle Kajihiro and so many others in Hawai’i working to protect beautiful Henoko Bay in Okinawa from U.S. military base construction. Henoko Bay is home to the endangered dugong and a place on which local people depend for their traditional practice and livelihood.

Many of you have also probably seen in the papers the gathering of nearly 100,000 protesters in Okinawa this past weekend, calling for a close to Futenma Marine Corps Air Station on their island. You can read more about this struggle and take action–with petition signatures and letters to the U.S. Congress–at http://closethebase.org

In today’s Washington post, folks seeking to protect Okinawa from further base construction have a full page ad, calling on leadership in the U.S. and in Okinawa to end base construction in Okinawa.

From Network for Okinawa and the Japan-U.S. Citizens for Okinawa network:

A full-page ad calling for the closure of the Futenma Marine Corps base and no base relocation within Okinawa prefecture has appeared in The Washington Post on April 28. This ad appears in the wake of the April 25 demonstration of nearly 100,000 Okinawans protesting the planned base relocation.

“Would You Want 30 Military Bases in Your Backyard?” reads the headline of the ad. “The new base would damage the health and safety of people and threaten a unique ecosystem that contains many rare species. This includes the Okinawan dugong, an endangered cousin of the manatee.”

The sponsors of the ad, the Network for Okinawa and the Japan-U.S. Citizens for Okinawa network, want to send a message to the Obama administration that a significant number of Americans support Okinawan concerns about the environmental and social consequences of U.S. military bases on the island. The ad challenges the prevailing consensus in Washington that the Futenma base is essential to U.S. national security.

The full-page ad coincides with a letter sent to President Obama and Prime Minister Hatoyama, signed by more than 500 organizations, that demands the immediate closure of Futenma and the cancellation of plans to relocate it to Henoko Bay. The letter can read at: http://closethebase.org/2010/03/13/center-for-biological-diversity-sign-on-letter/

The full-page ad is the work of concerned U.S. and Japanese citizens who formed the Network for Okinawa (NO) and the Japan-U.S. Citizens for Okinawa Network (JUCON) earlier this year. JUCON  (http://jucon.exblog.jp/) is a coalition of Okinawa and Japan-based NGOs, citizens groups, journalists and prominent individuals. The Network for Okinawa (http://closethebase.org/). the US-based NGOs, draws together representatives from peace groups, environmental organizations, faith-based organizations, academia, and think tanks. It is sponsored by the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington. Members include: American Conservative Defense Alliance, American Friends Service Committee, Center for Biological Diversity, Fellowship of Reconciliation, Greenpeace, Institute for Policy Studies, Just Foreign Policy,Pax Christi USA, the United Methodist Chuch, Veterans for Peace, and Women for Genuine Security.

Interviews with Debbie Ward and Kealoha Pisciotta, two members of the Mauna Kea Hui, with the call to stop desecration and destruction of sacred sites and unique native habitat on Mauna Kea’s summit. We know that artificially low rent–of $1/year–paid by some of the wealthiest institutions and corporations in the world is accelerating industrialization of the summit, in the middle of a state financial crisis.  Mahalo to these two amazing women, and to Pono, with aloha.

You can support the Mauna Kea legislative resolutions calling for a financial audit in support of fair market rent on Mauna Kea, and a stop to further desecration on the sacred summit by submitting testimony at:  http://tiny.cc/mkrent_duenow