The Project Manager's
Corner: TMT Passes Chilean Environmental Review
October/November 2008
 Our Chilean environmental assessment has been accepted.
Optical telescopes need clear windows to the sky. Clear windows mean high mountains. We have frequently written about the TMT quest for a site [-1-] [-2-] [-3-]. We have written about all of the technical testing of "seeing," wind speeds, water vapor, cloud cover and temperature cycles. And we described the conclusion that all 5 sites tested by TMT were excellent and that the TMT Board has identified two sites for further study with selection of the preferred alternative planned in summer 2009. The sites are Mauna Kea on the Big Island of Hawaii and Cerro Armazones in the Antofagasta region of northern Chile.
To make that final selection and, ultimately, to be granted legal permission to construct on the selected site, one of the ingredients is a thorough study of the environmental impacts of TMT construction and operations and of the offsetting actions to address these impacts. TMT has carried out such a study in Chile and is well into the early stages of this in Hawaii.
Chile requires an environmental assessment of most large projects on public lands. As an observatory potentially sited on public land (Cerro Armazones is owned by the government of Chile and administered by its Ministry of National Assets), TMT falls in a category that does not appear to require such a formal legal study. However, we carried out the Declaración de Impacto Ambiental (Declaration of Environmental Impact) (DIA) voluntarily in order to be assured that we are following the best practices. Over the past year we completed studies of site specific cultural resources, and biological studies. We assessed all phases of our activities in the region and all environmental and cultural impacts and we collected all agency and legal requirements and identified all needed permits. Last summer we formally submitted our DIA to the Chilean environmental agency, which managed a review by 13 government agencies. All agencies responded, some with questions, suggestions and clarifications and TMT responded to all requests with two addenda to the DIA. This very thorough process came together last week in an interagency meeting that supported approval of the DIA. We await the formal decree certifying the acceptance but we are very gratified to have come through this substantive and careful process. The agreed responses to TMT impacts will define a high quality, low impact operation in Chile. Beyond the DIA, the remaining legal stops involve obtaining the land concession for the needed summit area and other specific permits. Work is underway preparing for this process that can be completed if TMT decides that Armazones is the preferred alternative.
In Hawaii, the State of Hawaii defines an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) process that includes cultural impacts. This process involves several steps and Sandra Dawson describes our first steps in this Newscast. This process will provide important information needed to select a preferred alternative between the two sites next summer. If Hawaii is selected, the EIS process would continue with preparation of the Final EIS.
Observatories may seem to be benign facilities. But they create traffic, have visual impacts, may disturb important cultural sites and values, affect the local economy, require support services, draw upon local resources, impact the biological environment and these must all be assessed. Design modifications, tailored practices and offsetting actions need to be defined in response. If done to a high standard, the promise of TMT in its science, its stimulus of local education and its place in the cultural fiber of a community can be realized. This is why we must work so carefully to assure that we reach for a very high standard.
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