PUKALANI – For nearly a decade, the “line in the lava” – as Kahu Charles Kauluwehi Maxwell Sr. put it
recently – has been clearly delineated over the National Science Foundation’s proposed 143-foot-tall solar telescope near the summit of Haleakala.

Native cultural preservationists and Haleakala purists oppose the $161 million Advanced Technology Solar Telescope as sacrilegious, unnecessary and flat-out insensitive and ugly. Finish Reading: ‘House of the Sun’ getting crowded

Maui News May 21, 2009

Emerson Earl considers small roadside shrines “trash” (Letters, April 14) but declaims that a 20 story concrete eyesore on top of Haleakala is “appropriate” (Letters, May 17). He goes on to spout a lot of grandiose but meaningless words about the proposed telescope.

I don’t have a strong opinion on the telescope. But then, I am not Hawaiian. I listen to Hawaiian friends and relatives when they tell me that this is a desecration and culturally inappropriate. Only a very ungracious guest of Maui would ignore their words and trample our hosts’ sacred place. Finish Reading: Haleakala Solar Telescope Desecration

For information on the Supplemental Draft Environmental Impact Statement:
http://www.epa.gov/fedrgstr/EPA-IMPACT/2009/May/Day-08/i10561.htm

Samples of Testimony Submitted:

National Park Service — The introduction is a must read!

On behalf of Kilakila O Haleakala

Dick Mayer

Sierra Club

Kiope Raymond Maui News Viewpoint

UH Environmental Center Review

Kahea SEIS Comments

Kahea DEIS Comments

‘The law of Aloha is in the land.’ Kealoha Pisciotta

Respect for Kanaka Maoli Spiritual Practices

Panelists explained that from a kanaka maoli perspective, the summit of Haleakala is considered ‘wao akua,’or the realm of the gods. The very lands of Haleakala are seen by many as the kinolau (physical manifestation) of the sacred goddess Pele, a place that should be regarded as a temple. Finish Reading: Panelists Discuss the Clash of Cultures and Land Ownership on Hawaii’s Sacred Peaks