Clifton M. Hasegawa

President and CEO

Clifton M. Hasegawa & Associates, LLC

1322 Lower Main Street A5

Wailuku, Hawaii 96793 Telephone: (808) 244-5425

Email: clifhasegawa@gmail.com LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/cliftonhasegawa

August 30, 2016

The Honorable John Culberson

Seventh Congressional District of Texas

2372 Rayburn House Office Building

Washington, D.C. 20515

Re: National Science Foundation; Thirty-Meter Telescope, Mauna Kea

Dear Congressman Culbertson:

Our correspondence seeks your consideration and continued support

for the Thirty-Meter Telescope (“TMT”).

To begin our discussion we refer to the article published in

ScienceInsider, May 14, 20151 and your comments. Specifically,

Representative John Culberson (R–TX) says he’s not butting in.

But he wants the National Science Foundation (NSF) to pay a

significant share of the $1.55 billion cost of a massive telescope

to be built in Hawaii.

1 Mervis, J. and Cho, A. NSF should help build massive telescope in Hawaii, says senior

appropriator. ScienceInsider. May. 14, 2015. http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2015/05/nsf-shouldhelp-

build-massive-telescope-hawaii-says-senior-appropriator

Asked whether his intervention meant he was dissatisfied with

the current process, Culberson demurred. “I haven’t

intervened,” he said. “I think they’re working it out right now,

and I don’t want to get in the middle of that other than to

encourage them to do so. NSF needs to play a role.

After all … using revolutionary technology.”

Culberson, who chairs NSF’s spending panel in the U.S. House

of Representatives, would like to speed up that timetable. “NSF

is not yet a partner, and they should be,” he told ScienceInsider

today after his panel marked up a bill that would set NSF’s 2016

budget.

Your Congressional Biography is insightful,

“Congressman John Culberson is committed to Thomas

Jefferson’s vision of limited government, individual liberty,

and states’ rights. Simply put, John Culberson believes in

“Letting Texans Run Texas.”

Senator Daniel K. Inouye was Hawaii’s Leader, a One-Person Band,

who provided for our well-being.2 The siting of the TMT was

deliberated and Mauna Kea was selected. Provisioning for the TMT

by the National Science Foundation was initiated. In the 2016

markup there is no provision for the TMT. We believe that including

provisioning for the TMT is a high priority and recommend inclusion.

In 2015, Native Hawaiian protesters blocked the road to the TMT

construction site. “Culberson doesn’t expect those protests to pose a

significant obstacle. “I’m confident that NSF and the local authorities

will work things out,” he says.”3

2 Please Refer to Enclosure Senator Daniel K. Inouye The Leader Of The Band 3 Please refer to Footnote 1.

The Office of Hawaiian Affairs (“OHA”) withdrew their support for

the TMT given the voices of the Native Hawaiian people. Having

attended the plenary sessions that led eventually to the decision by

OHA and continued correspondence with Native Hawaii groups, the

University of Hawaii, Institute for Astronomy and members of the

public I would like to share my observations.

First, the voices of Save Mauna Kea came from individuals who for

the first time said, “We have had enough!” In the past we were quiet

and accepting in silence. Hawaii’s foundation is its cultural heritage.

Having made many concessions over time for the sake of maintaining

a peaceful and harmonious co-existence the time came where giving

more was not acceptable and responsible. The response from local

government was to bar the presence of protesters on Mauna Kea, then

verbal warning, then written warnings and thereafter physical arrests

and jail. The Judiciary has freed these peaceful protesters. This

breakdown is on the mend thanks to the University of Hawaii and the

Institute for Astronomy.4

Second, through the process of open and forthright discussions there

has evolved a mutual understanding, acceptance and blending of

Native Hawaiian Culture and Science.

Third, the passage of time and advancements in technology has been

benefited the TMT. The Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope (“DKST”)

formerly the Advanced Technology Solar Telescope (“ATST”) was

intended to complement solar exploration and research being

conducted atop Mauna Kea. The inclusion of Thermal InfraRed

Instrument Concept for TMT (“MICHI”) will further advance space

exploration and research.

4 Source: TMT. 8.3.2016 http://www.tmt.org/news-center/latest-poll-hawaii-island-shows-2-1-margin-support-tmt-construction

The thermal IR high resolution imager/spectrograph combined

with a mid-IR adaptive optics system will afford 15 times higher

sensitivity and four times higher spatial resolution than

current-generation eight-meter class telescopes. This will

enable many new frontier science applications, including

enabling studies of the physical properties of star formation in

regions deeply hidden in dust, at spectral and spatial

resolutions unattainable by NASA’s James Webb Space

Telescope (JWST), or today’s ground-based facilities.5

Fourth, the TMT has evolved and has a greater international and

global presence by and through a consortium of universities,

institutions and governments from the United States, Canada, Japan,

China, and India.6

To conclude, the young people from Hawaii and all parts of the

World, shepherded, stewarded and mentored by the elders, Native

Hawaiian and multi-cultural practitioners are the voices of change.

Changing the landscape, politically and infusing cultural heritages is

difficult and complex. This change is directed to enhance and

empower the achievement of excellence. Many have risked and made

personal sacrifices to evolve for the future. We are “Idle no more”.

The journey and path for the future is clearly before us.

Let us join together and make all possible.

5 Source: TMT. 7.12.2016 http://www.tmt.org/news-center/around-world-japan-discussions-future-tmt 6 Source: TMT. 8.10.2016 http://www.tmt.org/news-center/dynamic-structures-awarded-10-million-contract-award-final-design-phase-thirty-meter-tel

Thank you very much

Aloha

V/R

Copies provided to:

Senator Maize Hirono

Senator Brian Schatz

Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard

Governor David Y. Ige

Lieutenant Governor Shan S. Tsutsui

Senate President Ronald Kouchi

House Speaker Joseph M. Souki

Members of the Hawaii Legislature

Office of the Hawaiian Affairs

University of Hawaii, Institute for Astronomy

Maui Mayor Alan Arakawa

Members of the Maui County Council

Maui Now

Maui Tomorrow

The Sierra Club

The Maui Time

Maui Causes

Save Mauna Kea

SENATOR DANIEL K. INOUYE

THE LEADER OF THE BAND

THE CODE OF BUSHIDO

Senator Daniel K. Inouye was a one-person band. He delivered on his

vision. Senator Inouye ensured what he started was completed.

Alas Senator Inouye is not here to see his “Little Trolley” completed.

Alas Senator Inouye is not here to see the Thirty-Meter Telescope (TMT)

completed.

Alas Senator Inouye is not here to see the Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope

(DKIST), formerly the Advanced Technology Solar Telescope (ATST) built.

Senator Inouye’s life follows the principles of the Code of Bushido.

The DKIST is funded. Source: National Science Foundation. FY 2017

https://www.nsf.gov/about/budget/fy2017/pdf/27_fy2017.pdf

The Rail struggles, awash in funding difficulties. Additional funding at the

Federal level is conditional.

The TMT continues to struggle for lack of leadership, stewardship and

sponsorship from the Hawaii Congressional Delegation. Please see: NSF

should help build massive telescope in Hawaii, says senior appropriator.

Throughout the processes Senator Inouye’s sensitivity to Native Hawaiians

and for Native Hawaiian culture were questioned.

When asked in recent days how he wanted to be

remembered, Senator Inouye said, very simply,

“I represented the people of Hawaii and this nation

honestly and to the best of my ability. I think I did

OK.”

His last words were “Aloha.”

Please review the following enclosures.

Decide how best we can move Hawaii forward for your future.

ALOHA

The Bushido Code

The Eight Virtues of the Samurai

RECTITUDE is the bone that gives firmness and stature. Without bones the head cannot rest

on top of the spine, nor hands move nor feet stand. So without Rectitude neither talent nor

learning can make the human frame into a samurai.

COURAGE is doing what is right.

BENEVOLENCE AND MERCY. A man invested with the power to command and the power

to kill was expected to demonstrate equally extraordinary powers of benevolence and mercy:

Love, magnanimity, affection for others, sympathy and pity, are traits of Benevolence, the

highest attribute of the human soul. Both Confucius and Mencius often said the highest

requirement of a ruler of men is Benevolence.

POLITENESS. Politeness should be the expression of a benevolent regard for the feelings of

others; it’s a poor virtue if it’s motivated only by a fear of offending good taste. In its highest

form Politeness approaches love.

HONESTY AND SINCERITY. True samurai disdained money, believing that “men must

grudge money, for riches hinder wisdom.” Thus children of high-ranking samurai were raised to

believe that talking about money showed poor taste, and that ignorance of the value of different

coins showed good breeding: Bushido encouraged thrift, not for economical reasons so much as

for the exercise of abstinence. Luxury was thought the greatest menace to manhood, and severe

simplicity was required of the warrior class … the counting machine and abacus were abhorred.

HONOR. Though Bushido deals with the profession of soldiering, it is equally concerned with

non-martial behavior: The sense of Honor, a vivid consciousness of personal dignity and worth,

characterized the samurai. He was born and bred to value the duties and privileges of his

profession. Fear of disgrace hung like a sword over the head of every samurai … To take offense

at slight provocation was ridiculed as ‘short-tempered.’ As the popular adage put it: ‘True

patience means bearing the unbearable.’

LOYALTY. Economic reality has dealt a blow to organizational loyalty around the world.

Nonetheless, true men remain loyal to those to whom they are indebted: Loyalty to a superior

was the most distinctive virtue of the feudal era. Personal fidelity exists among all sorts of men: a

gang of pickpockets swears allegiance to its leader. But only in the code of chivalrous Honor

does Loyalty assume paramount importance.

CHARACTER AND SELF-CONTROL. Bushido teaches that men should behave according

to an absolute moral standard, one that transcends logic. What’s right is right, and what’s wrong

is wrong. The difference between good and bad and between right and wrong are givens, not

arguments subject to discussion or justification, and a man should know the difference. Finally, it

is a man’s obligation to teach his children moral standards through the model of his own

behavior: The first objective of samurai education was to build up Character. The subtler

faculties of prudence, intelligence, and dialectics were less important. Intellectual superiority was

esteemed, but a samurai was essentially a man of action. No historian would argue that

Hideyoshi personified the Eight Virtues of Bushido throughout his life. Like many great men,

deep faults paralleled his towering gifts. Yet by choosing compassion over confrontation and

benevolence over belligerence, he demonstrated ageless qualities of manliness. Today his lessons

could not be more timely.

Source: Clark, T. and Cunningham, M. A Man's Life, On Virtue - The Bushido Code: The

Eight Virtues of the Samurai. A Man's Life. September 14, 2008.

http://www.artofmanliness.com/2008/09/14/the-bushido-code-the-eight-virtues-of-the-samurai/

ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY SOLAR TELESCOPE (ATST)

HALEAKALA, MAUI

CONTRIBUTIONS

* ATST Contribution for Overall Public Benefit: Jobs and scientific recognition for Hawai`i.

* ATST Contribution to Science: Complements Hawaii observatories.

* ATST Contribution to Education: Beneficial from educational institution to mentor young

people to respect cultural practices –to preserve, to protect, to maintain and to restore Native

Hawaiian culture for today, tomorrow and for future generations.

ECONOMIC

Advanced Technology Solar Telescope (ATST) – Project cost: $10 M.

Source: <http://www.nsf.gov/about/budget/fy2012/pdf/28_fy2012.pdf>

SCIENTIFIC

ATST future home is now referred to as “Science City” or "Haleakala Observatory." This

astrophysical complex is operated by the University of Hawaii, Institute for Astronomy with

partners from the National Science Foundation, NASA, the Pan-STARRS consortium, Space

Telescope Science Institute, Tohoku University in Japan, the Air Force and others.

Source: http://www.ifa.hawaii.edu/haleakalanew/index.shtml

EDUCATIONAL

“U.S. Sen. Daniel K. Inouye (D—Hawaii) announced at the UH Maui College (UHMC) “Launch

Celebration” last Friday that the college will receive a $20 million mitigation grant as part of the

Advanced Technology Solar Telescope (ATST) project. The grant is targeted at integrating

Native Hawaiians into science and technology education programs. Ironically, the telescope is

the latest in developments at Haleakala that have been in direct conflict with the practices and

concerns of Native Hawaiian cultural practitioners.”

Source: http://hawaiiindependent.net/story/grant-aimed-ties-native-hawaiian-education-

opportunities-with-supporting-ha

NSF should help build massive telescope in

Hawaii, says senior appropriator

Representative John Culberson (R–TX) says he’s not butting in. But he wants the National

Science Foundation (NSF) to pay a significant share of the $1.55 billion cost of a massive

telescope to be built in Hawaii. [Emphasis Supplied]

The Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) is the dream of a consortium of universities, foundations,

and national observatories in the United States, Canada, China, India, and Japan. It would be one

of the world’s largest optical telescopes. The consortium has raised between 75% and 80% of

what’s needed and has long hoped NSF would be a major backer. But the agency has yet to

commit. In 2013, it gave the TMT consortium a 5-year, $1.25 million grant to study how the

agency might participate in the international project, an effort that could lead to a formal

proposal to the agency in 2017.

NSF created new rules for vetting proposed large new facilities in the 1990s after scientists

complained that the agency’s existing approach was not transparent and didn’t make clear what

was expected of them. However, the process, which includes meeting several interim deadlines,

can take many years from start to finish.

Culberson, who chairs NSF’s spending panel in the U.S. House of Representatives, would

like to speed up that timetable. “NSF is not yet a partner, and they should be,” he told

ScienceInsider today after his panel marked up a bill that would set NSF’s 2016 budget. “I intend

to talk to Dr. [France] Córdova about it.” (Córdova is NSF’s director.)

Asked whether his intervention meant he was dissatisfied with the current process, Culberson

demurred. “I haven’t intervened,” he said. “I think they’re working it out right now, and I don’t

want to get in the middle of that other than to encourage them to do so. NSF needs to play a role.

After all … using revolutionary technology.”

Culberson's comments were welcomed by Gary Sanders, TMT project manager at the California

Institute of Technology in Pasadena. "I'm delighted," Sanders says. "I think TMT is a wonderful

opportunity for the U.S. astronomy community."

That community is already solidly behind the project, which would sit atop Mauna Kea on

Hawaii’s Big Island. A 2011 decadal survey of the field by the National Research Council of the

U.S. National Academies ranked a giant segmented-mirror telescope as one of its top three

priorities for ground-based optical and infrared astronomy.

The report recommended the United States pay for 25% of construction of either TMT or its

competitor, the Giant Magellan Telescope, which would sit atop Cerro Las Campanas in Chile.

The panel also recommended NSF eventually spend a similar amount in equipping or operating

the second telescope.

Researchers hope to start construction of TMT soon and have it completed by 2024. The work is

now on hold, as Native Hawaiian protesters have blocked the road to the construction site.

Culberson doesn’t expect those protests to pose a significant obstacle. “I’m confident that NSF

and the local authorities will work things out,” he says.

*Correction, 15 May, 2:36 p.m.: The priority ranking given to a giant segemented-mirror

telescope by the 2011 decadal survey has been corrected. It was given third priority, not first,

primarily because other projects were more "mature."

Source: Mervis, J. and Cho, A. NSF should help build massive telescope in Hawaii, says senior

appropriator. Science. May. 14, 2015. http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2015/05/nsf-should-

help-build-massive-telescope-hawaii-says-senior-appropriator

Giant telescope eyes site on Mauna Kea

HILO, Hawai'i — U.S. Sen. Daniel K. Inouye is pressing to have a huge new telescope project

built on Mauna Kea that is almost certain to be controversial among Native Hawaiians. But he is

also proposing steps such as scholarships for Hawaiian students as part of an initiative to garner

public support for the project.

The proposed $1 billion Thirty-Meter Telescope is considered by some to be critical to

maintaining Hawai'i's status as a world-class hub for high-tech research and development in

astronomy. Inouye echoed that view in a May 8 letter to University of Hawai'i President David

McClain.

The loss of the TMT project to a competing site in Chile "would not bode well for us as a nation,

and could very well signal an end to any major astronomy investment on American soil," Inouye

wrote in the letter.

TMT Observatory Corp. — a partnership between the University of California, California

Institute of Technology and an organization of Canadian universities — selected Mauna Kea and

Cerro Armazones in Chile as the two potential locations for the telescope it hopes to build by

2018.

A consultant report last year on the risks of building TMT on Mauna Kea warned the project

"must run a gauntlet" of possible challenges, including some that would be "potential

showstoppers." That report by The Keystone Center also noted that "it would seem likely that

TMT will be a magnet for litigation" if the Hawai'i site is selected.

Mauna Kea is regarded as sacred to Hawaiians, and legal challenges by environmental and

Hawaiian groups helped scuttle plans last year for a $50 million addition to the W.M. Keck

Observatory, known as the Outriggers project. A lawsuit in connection with Outriggers is still

being fought on appeal a year after NASA withdrew funding for the project.

The TMT is far larger and more ambitious than the Outriggers project. Critics contend the next-

generation telescope will be larger than all of the other telescopes on Mauna Kea combined,

although TMT board of directors member Michael Bolte said that is incorrect.

A report in Wired technology magazine in 2005 said the new telescope would be housed in a

structure the size of a football stadium. Sandra Dawson, site manager for the TMT, said the

actual footprint of the structure to house the telescope and support buildings would be about two

acres on the northern plateau below the summit, making it most visible from Waimea.

INITIAL DISCUSSIONS

In his letter to McClain, Inouye explained he has met with the chairman and vice chairman of the

committee that will decide whether the TMT will be built on Mauna Kea or at an alternative site

in Chile. Inouye said the committee members "expressed their commitment to work with the Big

Island community to hopefully enhance educational opportunities."

Inouye said that meeting included UH-Hilo Chancellor Rose Tseng and Hawai'i Community

College Chancellor Rockne Freitas, and "as I understand it, preliminary discussions about a

possible mitigation measure are under way involving both the Native Hawaiian languages

leadership at the University of Hawai'i at Hilo and the Hawai'i Community College."

"A simple over-arching mitigation measure could be that Native Hawaiians be provided

scholarships to attend school at either campus," Inouye wrote.

Kealoha Pisciotta, president of an organization of cultural practitioners on Mauna Kea called

Mauna Kea Anaina Hou, said she supports more scholarships for all students, but said

scholarships won't change the impact the project would have on Mauna Kea.

The 13,796-foot summit of Mauna Kea is considered sacred to Hawaiians, and according to

Hawaiian legend is the meeting place of the sky god Wakea and the Earth mother Papa, the

parents of the first ancestor of the Hawaiian people. Pisciotta and other Hawaiians contend

further development on Mauna Kea amounts to desecration of sacred land.

"The problem is in this case it is being directed for Hawaiian students and Hawaiian programs,"

Pisciotta said of Inouye's scholarship proposal. "I don't know a word for it, but essentially

pressuring people who are in need, such as the Hawaiian language program or the Hawaiian

studies program, is really unsavory.

"They're forcing them to make a decision between education and desecration, and that's not

proper."

SCHOLARSHIP OFFERS

Jennifer Sabas, Inouye's Hawai'i chief of staff, said the proposal for scholarships for Hawaiians

for both Hawaiian studies and study in other fields was based on Inouye's idea that something

positive for local families should flow from the project. It was aimed at Hawaiians because of the

large Hawaiian population on the island, and was meant to offer them opportunities, not to pacify

opposition to the project, Sabas said.

"Wouldn't it be nice if 10 years, when a local family or a Hawaiian family looks up at Mauna

Kea, they can say, 'My kid is a teacher,' or 'My kid is a carpenter,' or 'My kid is an astronomer,

we benefited from what is up on the mountain,' " she said. "The only way you do that is investing

in education and making that long-term commitment."

An alternative to building the TMT at a new site on Mauna Kea would be to replace one of the

dozen existing observatories on the mountain so the new development does not alter the

mountain itself, said Pisciotta, a former employee of the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope on

Mauna Kea. She opposes any expansion of the footprint of the observatories on Mauna Kea.

Mauna Kea is also home to rare plant and insect species, and the Sierra Club's Mauna Kea Issues

Committee Co-chair Nelson Ho said no one knows the "carrying capacity" of the mountain, or

the point at which the development overwhelms the natural resources there.

"I think the senator is ignoring a lot of widespread sentiment that Big Islanders don't want more

telescopes on the mountain, let alone the TMT," Ho said. "It's a huge monstrosity at a time when

there are still too many unresolved issues on the table."

EIS SOUGHT

The state must first develop a comprehensive management plan for the mountain, establish its

carrying capacity and decide who controls it, Ho said.

The meeting Inouye had with two members of the TMT — board chairman Henry Yang, who is

chancellor of the University of California at Santa Barbara, and vice chair Jean-Lou Chameau,

who is president of the California Institute of Technology — was an effort to pressure them into

picking Mauna Kea, Ho said.

Sabas, Inouye's chief of staff, said Yang and Chameau asked to meet with Inouye.

She said it was "not at all correct" to interpret the meeting as Inouye attempting to pressure them

to bring the project to the Big Island. She said TMT already has decided to delay site selection

until 2009, and "I think all he was asking of them would be to at least allow the (environmental

impact statement) process to go forward in Hawai'i before making a decision."

"I think we'd like to see a process go forward, and really if at the end of the day the community

feels that on balance it's just not something they could accept...everybody could accept that,"

Sabas said.

The goal of the TMT is to build an "exceptionally powerful" telescope that would have a synergy

with other planned observatories such as the planned James Webb Space Telescope. The TMT is

to be a scientific instrument that can answer "the new questions that will arise during the

following 30 years," according to material from the project.

TMT initially had planned to select its preferred site in mid-2008, but TMT's Dawson now says

that decision will be delayed until June 2009. By then the draft environmental impact statement

for Mauna Kea should be finished, and information from that document will help the site

selection committee to make its choice, Dawson said.

CHILE MOVING AHEAD

TMT has nearly completed an environmental impact statement for the proposed site in Chile, and

has awarded a contract to Parsons Brinckerhoff Inc. in Honolulu to perform the environmental

report for Mauna Kea, Dawson said.

TMT board member Bolte said engineers are fitting larger telescopes into smaller domes, so the

height of the TMT should not be dramatically different from the height of the Keck Observatory

domes. He said the TMT dome will be about 100 feet tall.

The project has been moving very slowly in Hawai'i, he said. "We have been trying to find our

way through in a way that people could embrace astronomy on Mauna Kea, and figure out a way

to make it not incompatible with the sacredness of the mountain," he said.

One thing that helps is providing benefits to nonastronomers including Hawaiians, he said,

"because, after all, we're borrowing this magnificent place up there to do astronomy."

Source: Dayton, K., Advertiser Big Island Bureau. Giant telescope eyes site on Mauna Kea.

Posted on Honolulu Star Bulletin Sunday, August 10, 2008.

http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2008/Aug/10/ln/hawaii808100379.html

Giant telescopes belong in Chile, not Hawaii

Sen. Daniel Inouye is pressuring the California Institute of Technology and the University of

California to build their giant Thirty Meter Telescope on Mauna Kea instead of in Chile, a drier

site preferred by many astronomers. To mollify native Hawaiians, Inouye wants Caltech and UC

to fork over "mitigation funds" to Hawaiian programs at the Imiloa Astronomy Center, UH-Hilo

and the Hawaii Community College.

Inouye's efforts strike us as disrespectful to our community, coming after decades of outcry

fueled by 40 years of summit mismanagement, lease violations, and environmental and cultural

damage to the mountain. They also come on the heels of state and federal court rulings against

the last UC/Caltech project.

Their Keck 6 Outriggers died after Big Island Judge Glenn S. Hara sided with Hawaiians and

Sierra Club to void the project's conservation district use permits because the Board of Land and

Natural Resources failed to write a comprehensive plan "to conserve, protect and preserve the

summit area of Mauna Kea." A federal judge had earlier forced the Outrigger project to also

follow U.S. law and complete a federal environmental review, the first Mauna Kea telescope to

do so.

UH immediately appealed Hara's 2007 ruling, but abandoned that strategy last week. Instead,

and repeating the error that led to the ruling, UH is rushing to cobble together yet another veiled

development plan it claims will satisfy conservation district regulations - a bald-faced attempt to

circumvent both the ruling and BLNR's legal regulatory responsibility to write the plan.

UH has denied its plan is part of a strategy to pave the TMT's way, even as it works toward

renegotiating the original summit lease to accommodate the observatory. Inouye is more honest

about it in a recent letter to UH President David McClain. He says the plan "will provide a

blueprint for Mauna Kea's future" that includes the TMT.

No matter. Sierra Club and the Hawaiian plaintiffs are prepared to litigate any continued

illegalities - with UH's plan, the lease, TMT's EIS or the BLNR permits, if it comes to that.

With the law and the citizens against them, how else could Inouye and TMT proponents force

their will on Hawaii? Exempt the project from the National Environmental Policy Act and

National Historic Preservation Act, as Sen. John McCain did to clear the way for Arizona's

Mount Graham telescopes? That would be foolish since Inouye has already had to apologize to

Hawaiians for past heavy-handed politics to secure reviled projects, including bombing on

Kahoolawe, the H-3 freeway and geothermal development on Kilauea.

Years ago at a hearing, professor and cultural expert Pualani Kanakaole Kanahele wondered

aloud if the Mauna Kea fight would eventually become "another Kahoolawe." To avoid the kind

of political embarrassment, public dismay and even civil disobedience that memories of

Kahoolawe conjure up, three solutions to this conflict should be initiated:

» Caltech and UC should resist Inouye's pressure and take the TMT to Chile.

» BLNR should write the conservation plan required by the laws and precedents upon which

Hara's ruling was based. Part of that plan should include strategies, timetables and performance

bonds to dismantle observatories as they become obsolete and return the land to its original

condition as the current lease requires.

» BLNR also should start following state law and impose fair market lease rents on all existing

telescopes, which now pay only one dollar a year. This would give BLNR the funds to live up to

their legal responsibilities to manage Mauna Kea and repair damage already done. BLNR could

then finally protect the legal rightholders to the conservation and ceded lands on Mauna Kea.

Nelson Ho and Deborah Ward are co-chairs of Sierra Club's statewide Mauna Kea Issues

Committee.

Source: Ho, N. and Ward, D. Giant telescopes belong in Chile, not Hawaii. Honolulu Star

Bulletin Vol. 13, Issue 246 - Tuesday, September 2, 2008.

http://archives.starbulletin.com/2008/09/02/editorial/commentary.html

Latest polling on O‘ahu shows not only a majority of voters

support the TMT project, but support from Native Hawaiians has

grown into a majority.

PUEO [Perpetuating Unique Educational Opportunities Inc.] is

buoyed by the news of poll numbers conducted by Ward Research

for the Star Advertiser showing 76% support for TMT with 57% of

Native Hawaiians in favor. [Clarification Supplied]

BIG ISLAND NOW. July 28, 2016. http://bigislandnow.com/2016/07/28/letter-majority-of-

native-hawaiians-support-tmt/

LATEST POLL ON HAWAII ISLAND SHOWS 2-1 MARGIN IN SUPPORT FOR TMT

CONSTRUCTION 08.03.2016

HILO, HAWAII - The results of a new scientific poll show Hawaii Island residents support the

construction of the Thirty Meter Telescope by a nearly 2-to-1 margin. The public opinion poll

conducted in July 2016 by Ward Research, Inc. shows that 60 percent of Big Island residents

support moving ahead with construction of the TMT project, with 31 percent opposed.

In a previous scientific poll taken in October 2015, 59 percent of Big Island residents supported

moving ahead with TMT construction, while 39 percent were opposed to it.

"It was important for us to understand how Hawaii Island residents feel about the project, and the

latest poll results demonstrate that opposition to TMT on Hawaii Island is decreasing," said TMT

Executive Director Ed Stone. "That's significant and we are most grateful that the community’s

support of the project remains high. The findings also show that the general public on Hawaii

Island understands the benefits TMT will bring in terms of Hawaii's economy and education,

both of which are very important to TMT."

Among the key findings in the latest poll:

89 percent of Hawaii Island residents agree there should be a way for science and

Hawaiian culture to co-exist on Maunakea

76 percent of Hawaii Island residents agree that TMT will help create good paying jobs

and economic and educational benefits for those living on Hawaii Island

70 percent of Hawaii Island residents agree that failure to move forward with TMT will

hurt educational opportunities for Hawaii Island children with the termination of TMT’s

annual $1 million contribution to the THINK Fund and workforce pipeline program

69 percent of Hawaii Island residents agree that TMT has followed a lengthy approval

process, so work should proceed

66 percent of Hawaii Island residents agree that failure to move forward with TMT after

following all regulations would hurt Hawaii's reputation as a place to do business

In addition, the poll found that support for TMT’s construction is split among

Hawaiians/part Hawaiians on Hawaii Island, with 46 percent of those polled in support of

the project and 45 percent opposed.

"As a Hawaiian, I strongly support the Thirty Meter Telescope because it affords us the ability to

share new discoveries of stars, planets and science with our children and grandchildren, keeping

in line with the traditions of our ancient Hawaiian navigators," said Kirstin Kahaloa, executive

director, Kona-Kohala Chamber of Commerce. "Think about it. The best science in the world

happening on the best mountain in the world right here in Hawaii. How can you not get excited

about that? The time has come for everyone including Hawaiians to stand up and support TMT."

Maunakea remains the preferred choice for the location of TMT and the project is continuing to

pursue a permit to build on that site. TMT is simultaneously evaluating alternative sites, should

the Hawaii option not prove feasible. Added Stone, "We hope that permitting activities continue

apace in Hawaii so that TMT can be under construction on Maunakea by April 2018."

Source: TMT http://www.tmt.org/news-center/latest-poll-hawaii-island-shows-2-1-margin-

support-tmt-construction

Senator, the journey begun is not yet complete.

We thank you! We will give our best efforts!