The state will appeal a Hilo Circuit Court ruling that vacated its consent to the Thirty Meter Telescope’s sublease with the University of Hawaii at Hilo.
The state will appeal a Hilo Circuit Court ruling that vacated its consent to the Thirty Meter Telescope’s sublease with the University of Hawaii at Hilo.
Judge Greg Nakamura ruled orally last month that the state Board of Land and Natural Resources also should have held a contested case hearing for that agreement, in addition to the $1.4 billion project’s land use permit.
He issued a written order Friday vacating the Land Board’s consent to the sublease, issued in 2014, for 6 acres on Mauna Kea and sending the issue back to the Land Board.
“This judgment may have broad ramifications for future cases before the Land Board,” said state Attorney General Doug Chin in a statement. “Therefore, while we respect the court’s decision, we do plan to appeal it within 30 days, as the law requires.”
E. Kalani Flores, a Native Hawaiian cultural practitioner, had appealed the Land Board’s consent to the sublease after being denied a contested case.