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Thirty meter telescope 20217/23/2023 ![]() ![]() Now, astronomers want to build the TMT, which would become the largest visible-light telescope on the mountain. However, many native Hawaiians don’t want it there for a multitude of reasons: There are already 13 observatories on the summit plateau. That high altitude, combined with the mountain’s dry, still air and its extreme darkness at night, make it an ideal place for astronomy. Mauna Kea is the tallest mountain in Hawaii, towering over the Pacific at nearly 14,000 feet. Since then, the move has been protested by native Hawaiians, as described on Science Friday: 26, 2021.Īs LFW reported back in 2013, the Hawaiian Board of Land and Natural Resources (BLNR) granted a permit to the TMT project to build and operate the next-generation observatory near the summit of Mauna Kea in Hawaii. The Department of Land and Natural Resources granted this extension until Sept. At the request of TMT, the University of Hawaii asked for a two-year extension of the Conservation District Use permit deadline for the initiation of construction. The time has come to build a new pathway forward that considers all people and is respectful of our host culture. This is the kind of justice we want to see for our kūpuna, who stood up for what they believe in - their culture and their ancestors. I will work to find a way forward together.On July 30, 2019, the governor of Hawaii, David Ige, announced that the state granted an extension of a key permit to the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT). ![]() Josh Green said in a statement: “I appreciate the Attorney General’s decision to dismiss the charges against our kūpuna who peacefully protested at Mauna Kea three years ago. The protests led to Hawai’iʻs State Legislature forming the Mauna Kea Stewardship and Oversight Authority, a new governing body for the mountain. “So we have made a decision that we will be withdrawing our personnel so that they can enjoy the holidays with everyone else.” The protesters said they were “protectors” of sacred Mauna Kea in 2019. “We have been informed that the Thirty Meter Telescope will not be proceeding with construction at this time,” Ige said in a press conference that began a little after 11 a.m. They opposed the $1.4 billion project that they said would desecrate sacred land on 13,803-foot Mauna Kea, Hawai’i’s tallest peak. Thirty-eight people, mostly Native Hawaiians, were arrested for blocking the road and preventing construction vehicles from driving up the mountain. Inouye Highway (formerly known as Saddle Road) and the Mauna Kea Access Road. On July 17, 2019, day 3 of the protests and the day of the arrests, an estimated 1,000 people were at the intersection of the Daniel K. New Hawai’i State Attorney General Anne Lopez said in a statement: “After extensive litigation in the original prosecution, dismissal of the cases in 2022, and careful consideration of the benefits of re-prosecution to the State of Hawaiʻi, I have decided that the continued pursuit of these cases is not in the best interests of the people of the State of Hawaiʻi.” Kūpuna and others protest the construction of the Thirty Meter Telescope on Mauna Kea in 2019. The State of Hawai’i announced on Tuesday it will not refile charges against more than two dozen kūpuna who were charged with obstructing the Mauna Kea Access Road in 2019 during a protest of the construction of the Thirty Meter Telescope on sacred land to Native Hawaiians.
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