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Hawaiian Volcano Observatory Is Being Evicted Amid Federal Cuts
#1
From CB this morning.. https://www.civilbeat.org/2025/03/hawaii...eral-cuts/

Observatory leaders have assured local emergency officials their public service will continue, but questions linger about how and where that work will happen.

For more than 100 years, the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory has kept a close eye on Kīlauea and other geologic hot spots to warn Big Island residents before eruptions, while training hundreds of volcano researchers from around the globe.

Now, the observatory’s staff faces eviction from their current headquarters at the Ironworks Building in Hilo — where they have been housed during construction of their new, permanent observatory — as part of the Elon Musk-led effort to end hundreds of federal leases early.

It remains unclear exactly how that lease cancellation will affect the observatory’s research and public services; no one seems to want to talk about it.

More at link above..
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#2
Ugh, hopefully this is (yet another) rash/unlawful action that will be overturned in short order. The judicial branch is getting quite the stress test - hopefully it will hold up to the challenge.
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#3
Not so much.


https://bigislandnow.com/2025/04/05/hawa...arly-2027/
I wish you all the best
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#4
Btw... when the kibosh came down on HVO it was also levied on other offices of the Volcano Hazards Program.. the CVO (Cascades) and AVO (Alaska) observatories. But, at least in Alaska having their congressman, Nick Begich, stand up for them got the kill order rescinded..

From.. https://alaska-native-news.com/congressm...avo/78181/

Congressman Nick Begich Secures Reversal of Planned Lease Cancellation for AVO

Which begins..  

In coordination with the Department of the Interior (DOI) and the General Services Administration (GSA), Congressman Nick Begich (AK-R) took quick action and worked to secure a reversal of the planned lease termination for the Alaska Volcano Observatory in Anchorage. 

I have yet to see an outright attack by the feds on other programs under the USGS umbrella.. but hey, the season is young..

Nor have I heard of our representatives standing up in HVO's defense..
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#5
Anything with federal funding is under threat. I understand that the stuff you're interested in is threatened, but the UH depends on federal funding, including medical research. So do many of the MK observatories and all sorts of projects in Hawaii, including the NOAO. Hopefully, the mess will be sorted out, but right now, the things that Hawaii relies upon that require funding from the feds are threatened.
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