Hawaii Ruling Blocks Mega Telescope Construction

The move to build a huge telescope at the top of Mauna Kea, the highest point in the state, was met with a massive uproar from native Hawaiians who don’t like the idea of the huge construction project on what they consider to be sacred lands.

Native Hawaiians believe that the mountain is the revered home for several deities and as such, they are claiming that the mountain should be used only for religious ceremonies. “In California, Canada, China, Japan and India, work is being conducted to develop and build various components for the observatory, and we look forward to the day when it will come together”. Research teams have been manufacturing pieces of the observatory for some time. The University of Hawaii would sublease the land in exchange for time in the observatory.

In 2003, UC, Caltech, and NASA faced similar scrutiny from Native Hawaiian groups in court after the partnership proposed the Outrigger Telescopes Project on the same mountain. However, the construction permit was released before the protesters’ contested hearing was scheduled. Today’s high court decision overturns that ruling. Historically the tops of Hawaii’s volcanoes are seen as sacred sites, and protestors are also concerned that they damage the local ecology.

This led the state Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) to enforce a strict emergency policy restricting anyone from accessing to the mountains without due permission especially at night hours.

TMT has consulted with many Native Hawaiians and cultural practitioners since 2004, according to Michael Bolte, a UC Santa Cruz professor who sits on the TMT board.

“Quite simply, the board put the cart before the horse when it issued the permit before the request for a contested case hearing was resolved and the hearing was held”, the court’s 58-page opinion held. Accordingly, the permit can not stand. It means the court recognizes that TMT was not issued the permit properly by the (Board of Land and Natural Resources), and it means they have to start over.

Kealoha Pisciotta, president of Mauna Kea Anaina Hou, one of the appellants in the case and a longtime critic of the telescope project, said she just received word about the ruling when the Tribune-Herald reached her for comment. “They absolutely, immediately have to remove all their stuff”. But the University of Hawaii has managed the land as an astronomical reserve ever since the 1960s, constructing 13 telescopes since then – although none of them would be almost as big as the Thirty Meter Telescope, which would tower 18 stories into the sky.

Storing large equipment on the mountain is not consistent with conservation district use, said Richard Naiwieha Wurdeman, the attorney representing the permit challengers. At the time, the protesters arguing against the construction had the right to participate in a contested hearing.

But Hawaiians were celebrating the blocking of the telescope’s construction.

“I think people are going to want to go (up to the summit) and rejoice and we support that”, Pisciotta said.