{"id":7134,"date":"2015-01-30T23:00:58","date_gmt":"2015-01-30T23:00:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost:8888\/wordpress\/?p=7134"},"modified":"2015-01-30T23:00:58","modified_gmt":"2015-01-30T23:00:58","slug":"hearing-officer-gives-thumbs-up-to-new-haleakala-telescope","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/?p=7134","title":{"rendered":"Hearing Officer Gives Thumbs-Up to New Haleakala Telescope"},"content":{"rendered":"

Posted<\/strong> 02\/27\/2012\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

\"ATSTReberRender_0.preview\"<\/a><\/p>\n

More than a year after the Land Board heard the application for the Advanced Technology Solar Telescope proposed to be built atop Haleakala, the hearing officer it appointed in the case has released his recommendation.<\/p>\n

And a surprising one it is.<\/p>\n

After going through the motions of a contested-case hearing last summer, attorney Steven Jacobson determined that Kilakila `o Haleakala, the group that had petitioned the board for a contested case hearing, should not have been granted standing in the first place, and that the Conservation District Use Permit granted in December 2010, with 18 conditions, stands.<\/p>\n

In his report, Jacobson writes that on February 11, 2011, when the Land Board considered Kilakila\u2019s request for the contested case, it \u201cdid not decide whether Kilakila was entitled to a contested case. Rather, the Hearing Officer\u2019s designated duties included (i) holding a preliminary hearing on standing \u2026 as well as (ii) holding a hearing, and preparing proposed findings, conclusions, and a recommended decision on the merits\u201d of the Conservation District Use Permit, \u201cif that were appropriate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last April, Jacobson conducted a preliminary hearing on standing and also set a date for \u201cthe hearing on the merits of the contested case\u201d to begin. The so-called merits hearing was held in July and August, without Jacobson having issued an order on the question of Kilakila\u2019s standing.<\/p>\n

In September, both the university and Kilakila, represented by the Native Hawaiian Legal Corporation, filed their proposed findings of fact, conclusions of law, and decision and order. The journal Nature<\/i> reported in October that Jacobson had indicated he would file his recommended findings with the board later that month.<\/p>\n

Months passed. In early December, Jacobson told Environment Hawai`i<\/i> that he would definitely hand in his findings by the end of the year.<\/p>\n

Instead, in December, Jacobson reports, he went to the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, where he examined the documents filed by Kilakila. He learned there that Kilakila\u2019s articles of incorporation state that it is a non-profit corporation without members, contrary to assertions made in its contested-case petition.<\/p>\n

In an email to Environment Hawai`i,<\/i> Jacobson said that \u201cbecause Kilakila isn\u2019t a membership organization, and doesn\u2019t qualify for standing on its own (isn\u2019t a native Hawaiian, doesn\u2019t conduct cultural activities or recreational activities like the Sierra Club does, etc.), it isn\u2019t entitled to a contested case hearing\u2026. As the note to my report says \u2026, my initial inclination was to recommend that Kilakila did have standing. That\u2019s why the merits hearing went forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

When asked what prompted him to research the status of Kilakila, he responded: \u201cA hearing officer\u2019s duties including checking all alleged facts as well as all cited law, to be sure they are correct, before signing off on them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jacobson submitted his recommended findings to the Land Board on February 23. The board is scheduled to hear the recommendations and arguments on them at 1 p.m. on Friday, April 13, in the first-floor conference room of the Kalanimoku Building.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Posted 02\/27\/2012  More than a year after the Land Board heard the application for the Advanced Technology Solar Telescope proposed to be built atop Haleakala, the hearing officer it appointed in the case has released his recommendation. And a surprising … Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7135,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[351],"tags":[3],"class_list":["post-7134","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-eh-xtra","tag-teresa-dawson"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7134","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7134"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7134\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7135"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7134"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7134"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7134"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}