Board approves plan to decommission Mauna Kea telescope
Associated Press
1 hr ago
HILO, Hawaii (AP) — The Maunakea Management Board this week approved a plan for decommissioning a telescope atop Hawaii's tallest peak.
The Caltech Submillimeter Observatory is the first of five summit observatories scheduled to be decommissioned in exchange for the planned construction of the Thirty Meter Telescope at Mauna Kea. It ceased operations in 2015.
Jim Hayes, president of Honolulu consultancy firm Planning Solutions, Inc., presented a preliminary environmental assessment and conservation district use application for the decommissioning process to the board on Monday, the Hawaii Tribune-Herald reported.
The plan calls for restoring the site to pre-development conditions at a cost of a little over $4 million. It could be completed by the end of 2022.