Opinion ID: 6494576
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: UHIfA Applies for a Conservation District Use Permit to Develop the ATST Project on Haleakala

Text: Haleakala is a resource of seminal importance to Hawañ. Its significance to science is such that it was chosen from 72 potential sites as the best location to meet a worldwide need for a telescope capable of taking high-resolution images of the sun to study its solar magnetic fields and its relation to solar energy, sunspots, and flares. The ATST would consist of a 142.7-foot tall telescope observatory structure, a support and operations building, a utility building, a parking lot, and a wastewater treatment plant. In addition to its scientific importance, the observatory project represents significant economic development. The summit of Haleakala is also of great cultural significance to Hawai'i. The summit was traditionally used by Native Hawaiians as a place for religious ceremonies, for prayer to the gods, to connect to ancestors, and to bury the dead. Native Hawaiians continue to engage in some of these practices at the summit. Cultural assessments performed for the ATST project determined that the Haleakala summit is one of the most sacred sites on Maui, and the Haleakala Crater is known as “where the gods live.” The ATST cannot be built if it will cause a substantial adverse cultural impact. Hawai'i Administrative Rules (HAR) § 13—5—30(c)(4) (2011). This is because the summit of Haleakala is within the conservation district. 1 As such, the site of the ATST is recognized by our state legislature as containing important natural resources—including cultural resources—“essential to the preservation of the State’s fragile ecosystems.” Hawaii Revised Statutes (HRS) § 183C-1 (2011); see also Hawaii Administrative Rules (HAR) § 13—5— 2 (1994) (defining natural resources as including “cultural, historic, recreational, geologic, and archaeological sites”). Accordingly, to construct the ATST, UHIfA must obtain from the Board of Land and Natural Resources a CDUP establishing that the ATST does not have a substantial adverse impact on natural resources, including cultural resources. HAR § 13-5-30(b)(2),(c)(4) (1994); HAR § 13-5-2 (1994). UHIfA began the application process for a CDUP for the ATST by filing a conservation district use application (CDUA) with the Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) on March 1, 2010. In support of its CDUA, UHIfA attached to its CDUA the final environmental impact statement (FEIS) for the project that concluded the ATST would have a major adverse effect on cultural resources. Based on the finding of the FEIS and other concerns, Kilakila opposed granting a CDUP for the ATST, maintaining there was no evidence upon which the Board could refute the findings of the FEIS and conclude the ATST would not have a substantial adverse impact on cultural resources.