Posted by ku ching on February 12, 2009 at 12:36pm
Go to: www.kahea.org/maunakea
Lobbyists for the University of Hawaii, backed by powerful foreign telescope-developers, are pushing hard to take control of Mauna Kea's public trust resources and override the conservation laws currently barring further development on our sacred summits. If successful, they will use this authority to write their own rules, approve their own permits, and shut-out the public. Public trust resources cannot be protected if the developers are allowed to police themselves. Don't let the politics of special interests undermine the public's best interests. Take action now to help prevent the University's power-grab.
Our sacred summits -- Mauna Kea and Haleakala -- are protected by law as conservation districts. These are public trust ceded lands--Hawaiian lands--held by the state in trust for the people of Hawaii. Yet, today Mauna Kea's public lands are exploited by foreign corporations and the University, who are profiting from telescope activities on the summit at the public's expense.
Forty years of uncontrolled telescope construction has desecrated cultural sites, contaminated the ground above the primary aquifer, and destroyed 90% of the endemic Wekiu's habitat.
The only thing stopping them is the law. Two courts of law and two state audits have already found that the telescope industry violated the state and federal laws meant to protect Mauna Kea.
All of it comes down to the University's same, long-sought goal: make it easier to exploit Mauna Kea for money. The latest proposal on the table would allow the University to restrict public access (including how and when Hawaiians may worship at the sacred summit), pocket all the money made on Mauna Kea, and exempt themselves from public oversight.
Your voice can help preserve the sacred temple and delicate ecosystem of Mauna Kea. Take action now to tell the Legislature and the Land Board that Mauna Kea is still not for sale.
(This has been shortened - so please go to the KAHEA site and get more information.)
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