The state Supreme Court today heard oral arguments in a case that could have major ramifications on whether the Thirty Meter Telescope is built in Hawaii.

The court must decide whether a Hilo man was denied the right to have a contested case hearing on the approval of a sublease the University of Hawaii intended to enter with the TMT International Observatory LLC near the summit of Mauna Kea.

The state Board of Land and Natural Resources denied a formal petition for the hearing from E. Kalani Flores, who was also a petitioner in the recently concluded contested case hearing regarding the TMT’s conservation district use permit. That case is also before the state Supreme Court.

Flores appealed to the Environmental Court of the Third Circuit, which ruled that BLNR’s denial infringed upon Flores’ constitutional right to due process. The state then appealed to the high court.

If the Supreme Court rules that Flores is entitled to a contest case hearing, the process could delay the project for a year or two and effectively drive the $1.4 billion project to the Canary Islands.

TMT officials have maintained that they want to decide by April whether to build the cutting-edge telescope on Mauna Kea or on a mountain on La Palma island in the Canaries.

“It could be a huge step or a minor footnote,” UH spokesman Dan Meisenzahl said of the high court decision, depending on the outcome.

The justices today asked pointed questions on both sides of the issue and didn’t seem to signal which way they are leaning.