Hawaiian campaigners who oppose a massive telescope on their sacred mountain say they’ll continue to fight the project despite approval by the supreme court this week.
The fight over the 18-storey Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) has been going on for years, pitting scientists against Hawaiian conservationists.
Those in favor of building the telescope stress that it will be among the largest of its kind in the northern hemisphere, providing images of space that are 10 times sharper than the Hubble space telescope. The technology “will allow us to reach back 13bn years to answer fundamental questions about the advent of the universe,” says the telescope’s website.
Two comparable telescopes are already under way in Chile and some astronomers have said that if it isn’t constructed, the US could lose its edge in astronomy.
Meanwhile, Hawaiians say that Mauna Kea is sacred land that has been damaged and polluted under University of Hawaii’s management. The university leases the land – an inactive volcano – from the state and so far, 13 telescopes have already been built on the mountain.
Bianca Isaki, the board secretary for the Hawaiian-Environmental Alliance, told the Guardian: “The (court’s) opinion wrongly relies on representations that there is ‘no evidence’ of Hawaiian cultural practices on the specific acreage proposed for the TMT.” But, she said, “thousands of Hawaiian cultural practitioners have affirmed the sacredness of the entirety of Mauna Kea.”
The state agency that represents Hawaiians has also become involved. “After 50 years of empty promises to the mauna [mountain] and our community, the state needs to be held accountable,” said the Office of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA) in a statement Tuesday.
OHA said the supreme court’s ruling demonstrates an urgent need to protect cultural traditional and customary practices.
In 2017, OHA, a semi-autonomous state agency, filed a lawsuit against the state and university. In its arguments, the agency brought up the results of several audits of the mountain which suggested that there have been “adverse” cultural, archaeological, historical and natural resource impacts on Mauna Kea since the first telescopes began being built.
The agency said this week that talks with the state had broken down, and it intended to continue with the lawsuit.
Isaki said that although the state’s decision marks the end of this legal battle, there are still options for halting the telescope. The University of Hawaii’s lease on the mountain runs out in 2033 – only six years after the telescope’s planned completion date.
“Our position is that [the university] should not be granted a new lease because they have not adequately demonstrated the ability to care for and protect the cultural and natural resources of Mauna Kea,” she said.
Other opponents said they were not ready to share their plans, but would continue to oppose the telescope. In the past, protesters have blocked the road to the observatory sites.
“All I can say is that nothing has changed for me,” said Joshua Lanakila Managauil, who has been involved in protests against the telescope and other ventures that affect the state’s natural resources. “It’s still my kupuna [ancestor] mountain. I will always protect my kupuna.”
Work on the telescope originally began in 2015, but was halted when the Hawaii supreme court invalidated the work permit, saying that opponents of the project had not been given adequate time to voice their concerns in a public forum.
What followed was 44 days of testimony. The hearings concluded in March 2017, after which the state conservation district reissued the permit and the supreme court gave its approval.
The group in charge of the telescope project said that it will not begin construction until it has had a chance to coordinate with state and local officials.
