TMT - Contested Case Hearing Status - Hilo

[TomK]

Mark,

"If she is sane it seems certain the hearing officer will approve it. It seems equally certain that her decision will be appealed. If so there won't be enough time to go around again. All this seems inevitable. Is there really any light at the end of this tunnel?"

There is light, but it's getting a little dimmer I think. Although publicly the TMT have said they need to make a decision about the final location early next year, I've heard via the grapevine the date might actually be about this time next year.

Assuming the contested case hearing 1) ends this year, 2) gets appealed and 3) construction can't start during the appeal process, then that'll likely leave about 9 or 10 months for that process to run its course. However, since I believe the law has changed to allow appeals to go straight to the Hawaii Supreme Court, that should significantly speed up the appeal process.

There are still lots of "ifs" and "buts" and "what ifs", but it's still possible could be built here, just not likely in my opinion.