The state’s response to the ongoing protests at Mauna Kea Access Road finally took the inevitably more-aggressive tack on Wednesday, with more than 30 arrests and the closure for several hours of Daniel K. Inouye Highway, leading to the access road.
Gov. David Ige also on Wednesday signed an emergency proclamation to enable law enforcement to close off more areas, on the highway as well as on Mauna Kea. These actions were clearly warranted by safety concerns and the imperative that the state honor the validity of a permit to construct the Thirty Meter Telescope, upheld by the Hawaii Supreme Court.
Many supporters of the controversial telescope project would argue that the state should have moved more swiftly to clear the throngs of Native Hawaiians and others who oppose TMT due to its location at a mountain summit considered sacred to them.
But others would make the stronger case that a degree of latitude was necessary, even extending to the prolonged negotiations over how to proceed beyond the initial standoff.
There is value in keeping communication channels open, in hopes that dialogue will help in the project’s ongoing implementation, even though how that will unfold remains unclear. This will be an issue of contention for months, even years, so there’s wisdom in taking the long view.
It’s also prudent to avoid the combative confrontations more characteristic of the protests of 2015. Those merely fuel the inflammatory narrative about police-state behavior that reverberated through social media and enlarged the conflict.
It was a relief to see that protesters and state and county officials alike have maintained a relatively calm demeanor. Whether or not this was part of a strategy on either side or simply a determination to keep the peace, it was the right thing to do.
How things move along from here is still foggy and will depend on how well this attitude is maintained.
For example, it was not a welcome sight for Honolulu commuters to see traffic stopped on the H-1 Freeway by sympathy protesters. This is the last thing the Honolulu Police Department needed to see. Its resources are already strained, with a contingent dispatched to Hawaii island to assist.
A spokesman for TMT International Observatory has said private security has been hired to secure its property, personnel and equipment, but added that there are no plans to cover government law enforcement as well. Clearly, the state must get the situation in hand, quickly.
The state Department of Transportation reopened Daniel K. Inouye Highway Wednesday afternoon once officials felt confident protesters would stay to the side of the road and let cross traffic through. But officials also rightly asserted their willingness to re-establish the closure should circumstances deteriorate again.
The route is plainly needed for transporting the construction equipment to the staging area near the summit. It should be closed to the public if needed to accomplish that, but it’s unfair that Hawaii island residents and visitors should be deprived of this critically important highway for any longer than necessary.
Some of the activists have compared the Mauna Kea protests to those decades ago that successfully stopped the bombing of Kahoolawe in Navy training exercises. They are not comparable. TMT has followed state laws to develop a portal to scientific knowledge, something that most Hawaii residents support.
By law and policy, the state embraces the rights of Native Hawaiians to access naturally and culturally important areas and to practice traditional religious observances. However, there are other rights — including TMT’s right to build — and those must be protected, too.
