After listening to two days of testimony, the Board of Land and Natural Resources accepted the Comprehensive Management Plan (CMP) with some conditions. The most significant condition is that the University of Hawai‘i Board of Regents accept responsibility for enforcing the CMP.

There is a requirement to include information from two resource plans that are nearing completion. There is an addition of a decommissioning plan, including upfront funding for returning the site to its original condition. And finally, a plan to delineate access. People did not want access to be taken away. I thought these were very good additions.

The Board of Land and Natural Resources Chair, Laura Thielen, did a very good job of giving everyone a chance to share their thoughts. I was very impressed that they spent two days in Hilo accepting testimony.

University of Hawai‘i President David McClain stayed for the better part of two days. In his introduction, he mentioned the recent Board of Regents declaration of a special relationship with native Hawaiians. This has far-reaching implications.

He went on to make three main points:

1. That, in the interest of home rule, the University system is committed to the University of Hawai‘i at Hilo being the entity that would manage the CMP.
2. He committed to funding that would ensure that the CMP could be implemented.
3. He apologized for the pain and anguish that the native Hawaiian community feels due to the university’s mismanagement prior to 2000.

At the end of the session, Dr. McClain talked about compensation. There is not much that can be done to change the original lease, which gives the IfA a percentage of viewing time as compensation.

He emphasized that the University of Hawai‘i has been providing $2.5 million annually in scholarships to native Hawaiian students. This means that UH is paying the equivalent of 20 percent of what would be $10,000,000 if telescope time were monetized.

From here forward, he said, lease rents for new projects will be determined differently instead of all the telescope time going to UH Manoa. It could include telescope time for the University of Hawai‘i at Hilo, and an amount could go toward community benefits. This is in the early conceptual stages.

The people opposed to the CMP were very organized and people kept on coming through the door to testify. They did a very good job. Out of the 80 or so testifiers overall, I would say that it was evenly split; maybe slightly more in favor than not.

The people who testified in favor were also highly motivated. I have not seen that level of participation before at the eight public hearings that I attended. It clearly made a difference in the decision to accept the CMP.

People were very respectful and tolerant of each other, and this is very encouraging. We all live here on an island in the middle of the ocean and we need to be able to have these discussions, go through the process, come to a conclusion, live with the decision and remain friends. More than anything, I was pleased that we all went through this process together. The result is a better CMP.