The planned Thirty Meter Telescope landed on the meeting agenda of the University of California Board of Regents on Thursday as invited Native Hawaiian speakers on both sides of the hot topic argued their cases before a key TMT partner institution.
Several regents appeared to be empathetic with the concerns of the project foes, including Chairman John
Perez, who said he would likely bring the matter back to the board as an action item.
“I think we have some new facts here (to consider),” Perez said near the conclusion of the virtual online Zoom meeting.
He didn’t say specifically what action might be proposed, but three TMT opponents urged the board to vote immediately to divest from the $2.4 million project.
Mauna Kea Hui leader Kealoha Pisciotta said the TMT is the legacy of racist and colonial paradigms that continue to allow for the desecration of land held sacred by an indigenous people. It’s a path, she said, that isn’t working and that the whole world is rejecting.
“The time for one culture achieving greatness at the expense of another is over,” added Laulani Teale, coordinator of the Ho‘opae Pono Peace Project.
Veteran educator Noe Noe Wong-Wilson warned the board that project costs will escalate as each phase is met with galvanized resistance requiring a protracted law enforcement operation throughout the decadelong construction.
“This project continues to tear at our community, and no amount of money will fix the permanent and generational damage you cause,” she said.
But Mailani Neale, an applied physics and astronomy student from Kona, said TMT detractors do not represent the views of all Hawaiians. She said there are many who not only support it for its revolutionary science, but for what it can do for the economy.
“TMT represents a future for us here on the islands that won’t be reliant on tourism,” she said.
Master navigator Kalepa Baybayan said the TMT fits perfectly with the traditional Hawaiian study of the stars for navigation, and Mauna Kea is big enough for every Hawaiian to share.
“The protesters have the right to protest, but they have to respect the law,” he said. “I’ve always urged that the state has to restore law and order to the mountain. And all sides need to be respectful of the process because the TMT has earned the legal right to proceed.”
Also addressing the regents were the university’s representatives on the TMT International Observatory governing board, including TMT Chairman Henry Yang, chancellor of UC Santa Barbara.
Yang told the regents that the TMT organization worked particularly hard to accommodate the concerns of the local people and is committed to being the best possible steward of the mountain. If it is built, Yang said, the TMT will be a cutting-edge instrument that will expand our understanding of the universe in the interest of humanity.
TMT board members said they are committed to delaying construction until the spring but are hoping to obtain nearly $1 billion from the National Science Foundation. That will mean a further delay of up to two years because federal involvement triggers environmental impact statement and National Historic Preservation Act consultation obligations, they said.
“It will lead to very significant outreach, another opportunity to listen and learn and a renewed opportunity to seek solutions that are acceptable to all in Hawaii,” said Michael Bolte, UC-Santa Cruz astronomy professor.
