Hawaiian Volcano Observatory Is Being Evicted Amid Federal Cuts [View all]
https://www.civilbeat.org/2025/03/hawaiian-volcano-observatory-is-being-evicted-amid-federal-cuts/
For more than 100 years, the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory has kept a close eye on Kīlauea and other geologic hot spots to warn Big Island residents before eruptions, while training hundreds of volcano researchers from around the globe.
Now, the observatorys staff faces eviction from their current headquarters at the Ironworks Building in Hilo where they have been housed during construction of their new, permanent observatory as part of the Elon Musk-led effort to end hundreds of federal leases early.
It remains unclear exactly how that lease cancellation will affect the observatorys research and public services; no one seems to want to talk about it.
Its leaders and the agency that runs it, the U.S. Geological Survey, declined to directly address questions about their impending departure, although they did say they remain committed to the mission of monitoring Kīlauea, Mauna Loa and other active sites across Hawaiʻi.
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