TMT - Contested Case Hearing Status - Hilo

[TomK]

Once again, the topic of the MK observatories not paying rent becomes an issue, and once again, I'll point out that they pay an enormous amount of rent.

"Mauna Kea Deserves New Management"

"To this day, no observatory pays more than $1 a year for use of the mauna. This means that taxpayers and students are left to foot the bill for the management of natural and cultural resources."

http://www.civilbeat.org/2017/12/mauna-k...anagement/

All MK observatories pay rent via observing time which is 15% of their observing time. This comes to millions of dollars per year that are invested in research at UH, teaching students and UH managing the summit area plus investing in the Imiloa and the MK VIS which is one of the most popular tourist spots on the island. Whether UH have invested that money wisely is another issue, but the MK observatories do pay rent and it's an awful lot more than $1 a year.

If you take that away and start charging rent that goes to some organization that has done nothing for anyone, even those they represent, not only do I think that'd be illegal, it would be a mechanism to take funds away from education and give it to a group of people who have no interest in anything other than having more money in their own pockets.