{"id":475702,"date":"2026-02-18T11:07:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-18T11:07:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/475702\/"},"modified":"2026-02-18T11:07:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T11:07:10","slug":"is-haleakala-the-next-frontier-for-a-telescope-standoff","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/475702\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Haleakal\u0101 The Next Frontier For A Telescope Standoff?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Plans for several new military telescopes atop the mountain are drawing strong opposition. But protests over other Maui telescope projects in recent years have failed to have the same impact as the anti-TMT movement on the Big Island.<\/p>\n

Public opposition to the military\u2019s plan to build up to seven telescopes in a state conservation district atop Haleakal\u0101 has been mounting in recent weeks, after the release of a draft environmental impact statement late last month.<\/p>\n

Six academic and four space surveillance telescopes already sit on the volcano\u2019s summit, which, at 10,000 feet, is the Valley Isle\u2019s highest peak. However, the government\u2019s position is that new telescopes are needed to enhance the United States\u2019 ability to track and identify potential threats among satellites and other objects in space over the Pacific.<\/p>\n

Haleakal\u0101 is home to numerous endangered or threatened species like the Hawaiian hoary bat, Hawaiian shearwater, the Hawaiian goose or n\u0113n\u0113 and a species of silversword that grows only on the mountain, but the project\u2019s environmental impact is expected to be minimal, according to the draft environmental survey. There would, however, likely be significant adverse effects on cultural resources because the mountain top is considered by many Native Hawaiians and others to be a sacred and deeply spiritual place, the EIS says.<\/p>\n

\"\"The area within the red dotted line is where the new telescopes and optics lab would be located. (U.S. Air Force photo\/2024)<\/p>\n

Opponents of the telescopes say the environmental report does not have sufficient strategies for mitigating negative impacts on cultural and environmental resources, and federal officials have not done enough to incorporate feedback from locals.<\/p>\n

Some of that frustration came through on Tuesday, when more than 100 people packed into the K\u012bhei Community Center for the first of two public hearings where the public can share feedback<\/a> and ask questions about the draft report. The meetings are being conducted by the Air Force and the hearing panel includes Air Force officials and advisers.<\/p>\n

Dozens of people voiced concerns at the meeting about the approximately $5.9 million project\u2019s potential to degrade cultural resources, negatively affect biodiversity and make Maui a military target. Many residents said the U.S. government has a long history of harming Hawaiian land for military operations, and they noted federal officials are still cleaning up a 720-gallon diesel fuel spill<\/a> caused by a lightning strike at the Maui Space Surveillance Complex on the mountain in January 2023.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have no answers other than sorry, we are going to do better,\u201d Mona Kea told the panel. \u201cNobody believes you at this point, so I don\u2019t really understand why you are still here. It\u2019s such a clear and resounding no from the community.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Air Force says the cleanup of the spill shows the military is committed to protecting cultural resources.<\/p>\n

\u201cRestoring the land in a way that is culturally informed has been and continues to be our top priority to ensure we do this right,\u201d U.S. Space Force Lt. Col. Douglas Thornton, 15th Space Surveillance Squadron commander, said in a written statement<\/a> last week. \u201cWe are cognizant of the cultural significance of our operational location to provide essential space domain awareness and continue to build trust with the community in which we live and work.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Dozens of people gathered outside of the K\u012bhei Community Center for a prayer circle led by P\u016blama Collier ahead of Tuesday night\u2019s public hearing about the U.S. Air Force\u2019s plans to construct seven new telescopes near the summit of Haleakal\u0101. Dozens of people testified in opposition to the project. (Erin Nolan\/Civil Beat\/2026)<\/p>\n

Construction of the telescopes is currently planned to begin by 2027, and it is expected to take about two years. The domed telescopes \u2014\u00a0 as well as infrastructure improvements like a new paved access road, parking facilities and surface water runoff management measures \u2014 would be built on less than 1 acre of land near the existing space surveillance complex on Haleakal\u0101.<\/p>\n

The completed complex would be known as Air Force Maui Optical and Supercomputing Site Small Telescope Advanced Research Facility, or AMOS STAR.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Strong Opposition <\/p>\n

In recent decades, several new telescopes have been built near Haleakal\u0101\u2019s summit, where the near-absence of light pollution, high altitude air and clear skies render the space viewing conditions among the best in the world<\/a>. The Air Force has been providing space intelligence to the U.S. Department of Defense from facilities on Haleakal\u0101 and in K\u012bhei for nearly 70 years.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Haleakal\u0101 features prominently in the story of Maui as the place where the demigod wrangled the sun, and fights over the telescopes on the mountain top date back years. In 2015 and 2017, demonstrators were arrested after they lay in the road to stop construction vehicles transporting parts for the controversial $344 million Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Federal officials first unveiled plans to build up to seven new telescopes in 2024, and that spring, hundreds of locals attended public hearings to express vehement opposition<\/a> to the project. The Air Force also received written comments from more than 600 people, the majority of whom were against the planned space surveillance facility, according to the draft environmental impact statement.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In June of that year, the Maui County Council unanimously voted to oppose the project<\/a>, and Mayor Richard Bissen sent a letter to the Air Force expressing the community\u2019s disapproval.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Despite the outcry, federal officials have maintained that the need to build the new telescopes and expand their ability to identify satellites and other objects will only become more critical in the coming years as space debris continues to accumulate in Earth\u2019s orbit.<\/p>\n

The new facility would be managed and operated by the Air Force Research Laboratory, which is responsible for tracking the approximately 48,900 space objects orbiting above the Pacific. Haleakal\u0101 is perhaps the only site where the telescopes could be built, in part because its geographic location and optimal viewing conditions would allow officials to monitor critical areas of space that can\u2019t be seen from other locations, the document states.<\/p>\n

\"\"Haleakala already hosts several academic and space surveillance telescopes at its summit. (Courtesy: Gaylord Paul Garcia\/County of Maui\/2023)<\/p>\n

A hui of local organizations has come together under the banner \u201cProtect Haleakal\u0101\u201d to oppose the project, said Kiope Raymond, the president of the group Kilakila O Haleakal\u0101<\/a>, a Native Hawaiian group that has fought against military and research telescopes on Haleakal\u0101. Even though locals have publicly resisted telescopes on the volcano\u2019s summit for years, there is still a lack of sufficient consultation with Native Hawaiian organizations.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe pain has become intergenerational,\u201d Raymond said. \u201cAnd the pain is traumatic, coming from the broken process itself.\u201d<\/p>\n

The draft environmental report says that workers will \u201crespect, honor, and not interfere with traditional cultural practices,\u201d and employees and contractors will be required to receive \u201ccultural awareness\u201d training.<\/p>\n

But that is not enough, said Raymond, who founded one of Maui\u2019s first Hawaiian language immersion preschools. The project should not be allowed to proceed at all, he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Maui County Council member Tamara Paltin, who represents West Maui, said many locals are also wary of any perceived military expansion in Hawai\u02bbi and are afraid that increasing the nation\u2019s intelligence operations on Maui could make the island a target.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople are rightfully, I think, scared,\u201d she said. \u201cThe reason that Pearl Harbor was attacked back in the \u201840s was because it was a strategic military installation of the American empire, and with the state of things in the United States of America right now and other nations\u2019 feelings towards the United States of America right now, it\u2019s pretty horrifying.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hawai\u02bbi has had a complicated relationship with the U.S. military since Marines aided the overthrow of the monarchy in 1893. Those tensions have surfaced repeatedly throughout history, and they are coming to a head once again as military leases on state lands on Kaua\u02bbi, O\u02bbahu and an artillery range on Big Island are set to expire soon. Native Hawaiian groups, including those advising Gov. Josh Green, have also criticized the negotiation process for seeming to exclude Hawaiian voices.<\/p>\n

The fight over telescopes on Haleakal\u0101 parallels a similar movement on Mauna Kea. However, the Big Island saw very different results.<\/p>\n

After nearly a decade of legal battles and protests, construction of the Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope on Haleakal\u0101 was completed in 2021, but similar demonstrations successfully stalled the building of the Thirty Meter Telescope on Mauna Kea and led to the creation of a new entity to manage the mountain.<\/p>\n

Raymond said there needs to be more collaboration on Haleakal\u0101. Unlike Mauna Kea, Haleakal\u0101 has no comprehensive management plan among the various agencies that use it including the National Park Service, several branches of the military and the University of Hawai\u02bbi.<\/p>\n

Without a cohesive plan, Raymond worries that each of the agencies will operate in a silo.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just not fair how we do it,\u201d Raymond said.<\/p>\n

Federal officials for the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Force will host a second public hearing on Wednesday from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Mayor Hannibal Tavares Community Center in Makawao, and will accept written feedback on the 516-page document through March 16.<\/p>\n

Civil Beat\u2019s coverage of climate change and the environment is supported by The Healy Foundation, the Marisla Fund of the Hawai\u2018i Community Foundation and the Frost Family Foundation.<\/p>\n

\"Civil<\/p>\n

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