TMT Hearing: Contested Case Hearing Concludes
An artist’s rendering of the Thirty Meter Telescope at sunset. TMT photo.
No more witnesses will take the stand, and attorneys and petitioners will no longer conduct cross-examinations.
After 71 witnesses and 44 days of hearings—and a little over two hours past the 4:30 p.m. adjournment time on Thursday, March 2—the contested case hearing for the state Board of Land and Natural Resources Conservation District Use Application (CDUA) on the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) project came to an end.
Thursday marked the last day of the months-long hearing for which proponent parties and petitioners gathered at the Grand Naniloa Hotel in Hilo.
Retired Judge Riki May Amano is now left to assess all evidence produced from the hearing.
Before Judge Amano makes her final decision:
- Involved parties need to submit all exhibits into evidence
- Involved parties will need to file motions, objections and responses to aforementioned exhibits
- Judge Amano will identify all exhibits
- Proposed decisions will need to be made by proponent parties and petitioners
It is estimated that the transcripts from the case will fill about 50 volumes and take five to six weeks to put into printed form because of the length of case and difficulty of translating the Hawaiian language used throughout the case.
Judge Amano thanked the last witness, then addressed the gallery, thanking them for their patience, and noting that everyone had come a long way since the pre-hearing that began in May of 2016.
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