The new controversy and uprising of protests over the building of the world’s biggest telescope atop Mauna Kea will neither go away nor be easily resolved.
According to Native Hawaiian tradition, Mauna Kea is about the creation of the Hawaiian islands.
Although in geographic terms, the Big Island is the youngest island, in cultural terms it is the beginning point of a culture.
"According to Native Hawaiian tradition, the ‘Kea’ in Mauna Kea is an abbreviation for Wakea, the great sky god, who along with Papa-hanau-moku, the Earth mother, and various other gods and natural forces, gave birth to the islands," explains the preface of the 2010 University of Hawaii environmental impact state for the construction of the 30-meter telescope on the mountain.
And according to the same EIS, for scientists hoping to use the telescope, this is not just another telescope.
Mauna Kea’s proposed new telescope could "enable discoveries about the nature and origin of the physical world from the first formation of galaxies in the distant past and distant regions of the Universe to the formation of planets and planetary system today in our own Milky Way Galaxy."
Building this telescope is an important marker in what has been called a "150-year-long leadership position in astronomical research, discovery, and innovation by leveraging the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) partners’ existing astronomy facilities in Hawaii."
Besides the actual ability to look back to the dawn of universe, the TMT gives some practical benefits. Hawaii island would get money and jobs. UH would get a better reputation, money and jobs.
On a political level, the EIS sounds like a politician’s promise come true.
"The project could add a point of focus … that could form the basis for technology-based, innovation-driven, job-producing activities around complementary activities in energy, agriculture and information technologies and scientific research and support," the EIS says.
If that was the good-cop EIS, the same 376-page document (http://goo.gl/uKYDaP) also offers up a bad-cop warning.
"The existing level of cumulative impact on cultural, archaeological, and historic resources is substantial, significant and adverse," the report states.
Already, past construction has moved more than 10,000 cubic yards of material that has graded and flattened mountain ridges and changed the views from the summit.
"They are altering the images of our deities because puu’s are being leveled and the telescopes are being built on top of her," one critic said.
But all of this is not just the fault of the TMT. While putting a road up to the summit helped build the telescopes, it also brought up the public.
The EIS says the mountain has been adversely affected, not only by astronomy, but by all the public and commercial activities, including snow play.
Hilo residents freely acknowledge that going up Mauna Kea during the short snow season is an annual tradition.
The UH study neatly divides how the enormous project is viewed. Both the Hawaiian culture and the astronomy community can co-exist on Mauna Kea and impacts can be mitigated — or any development on Mauna Kea will result in a significant adverse that cannot be mitigated, the report says.
So far Gov. David Ige has twice called for a halt to construction for the estimated $1.4 billion project on the mountain while he meets with all parties involved.
But, no "try wait" timeout will solve this. It is not about picking between dismissing the creation of a culture or rejecting scientists’ ability to view the dawn of creation; this decision is either go or no go, period.
Richard Borreca writes on politics on Sundays, Tuesdays and Fridays. Reach him at rborreca@staradvertiser.com.
