Bill offers compromise in clash over Mauna Kea

State Sen. Kaiali‘i Kahele has a PowerPoint presentation that breaks all the rules of an effective PowerPoint presentation: It is packed with dates and dollar amounts and abbreviations, is text heavy as opposed to graphically snazzy, and it’s really long. He also breaks the big rule about reading off the slides. He reads off almost every slide.

But it’s a terrific presentation. Thoughtful and convincing.

The Hilo Democrat and Sen. Donovan Dela Cruz, (D, Wahiawa-­Whitmore-Mililani Mauka), have, unsolicited, taken up the thorny task of trying to find a workable solution to the future of Mauna Kea, the Hawaii island mountain that has been at the heart of debate, protest and courtroom battles for years.

Kahele’s PowerPoint tracks the tangled modern history of development and damage on Mauna Kea. It tells a tale of uncoordinated agencies, action items for which there was no action, and largely unregulated commercial activities. Their plan, out­lined in Senate Bill 3090 Opens in a new tab, would establish the Mauna Kea Management Authority, a board of commissioners that would manage activity and resources on the mountain, akin to the way the Kahoolawe Island Reserve Commission oversees restoration, access and planning on the island that was for decades used for military target practice.

Stakeholders on all sides of the Mauna Kea debate are wary.

SB3090 has been criticized by Mauna Kea Hui and others who are against the construction of the huge Thirty Meter Telescope as providing a way for the TMT project to proceed. The University of Hawaii doesn’t like it because it takes authority away from the college and its world-class astronomy program. The Department of Land and Natural Resources has testified against the plan.

When people with such opposing views don’t like the same proposal, it may be because the idea comes close to finding middle ground.

Last week, the Senate unanimously approved SB3090, which now goes to the House. The current version would have the governor appoint the seven-member board based on specific categories, including a practitioner of Native Hawaiian traditional practices associated with Mauna Kea and an expert in Native Hawaiian cultural practices and history. It would establish a fee for going up to the mountain, similar to the fees for entering Haleakala or Volcanoes national parks. The fee would be waived for Native Hawaiian cultural practitioners. It would regulate the vanloads of tourists that ramble up to the summit day and night.

Here’s the thing: If you look at the surface of the bill, or just glance at a briefly worded protest on social media, or if you look at it with a jaundiced eye, you could find something you don’t like about it no matter what you think and feel about Mauna Kea. But these lawmakers are doing something significant: They’re willing to take up an extremely volatile issue and try to find a way to manage the situation.

Kahele sees the bill as a work-in-progress, and, indeed, it was amended and refined as it moved through the Senate. Kahele and Dela Cruz are holding community meetings around the state to discuss the bill and get input. Kahele acknowledges that getting an idea like this passed this year is a long shot, but says something has to be done so that the issue doesn’t continue to divide the community and doesn’t sit for many more years with no leadership.

“If you don’t like the plan, OK,” Kahele said. “I get that. So where’s your plan?”

Reach Lee Cataluna at 529-4315 or lcataluna@staradvertiser.com.