Mauna Kea is further a critical part of the ceded lands trust that the State of Hawai’i must protect and preserve. While the relationship with the community is cited as a reason for the delay, the necessity for additional funding and the wait for the results of the federal Decadal Survey are likely the main causes for the postponement of construction.Īccording to the Office of Hawaiian Affairs’s website, Mauna Kea is a deeply sacred place that is regarded as a shrine for worship, as a home to the gods, and as the piko of Hawaii Island. Despite stating a desire to heal the relationship with the community, the plans for construction are still projected to continue on following the delay, regardless of the concern of Indigenous peoples for the intrusion on and destruction of sacred land. The chief of staff of TMT cited the need to heal the relationship with the community and to recover from the delays caused by the pandemic the project also needed additional funding from the US government to proceed.

In late 2021, the construction of the Thirty Meter Telescope on Mauna Kea was delayed for a couple of years. It is important to highlight that the official website’s timeline glosses over the reasonings behind the construction delays, stating in 2016 “new contested case hearing begins in Hawaii” and in 2019 simply citing “efforts to restart construction stall.” Although the TMT website does not detail the protests that occurred at the Mauna Kea construction site, they are well-known and well-documented from various news outlets. It instead only describes a temporary stand-down issued by the Governor of Hawai’i in 2015, and the selection of La Palma as an alternate site in 2016. The protests against the Thirty Meter Telescope in Hawai’i are not mentioned or included in the timeline provided by the TMT’s website. The founding of the TMT corporation happened in 2003, and in 2009, following approval from the State of Hawai’i Land Board the dormant volcano of Mauna Kea was chosen as the preferred site for the construction of the telescope. The Thirty Meter Telescope is a new class of extremely large telescopes that is expected to enable new scientific discoveries with its abilities to observe deeper into space. In July 2019, 300 protestors gathered in support of the TMT project outside the Hawaii State Capitol in Honolulu.Hawaiian cultural practitioner Joshua Lanakila Mangauil and other protectors discuss their blockade of the road to Mauna Kea, part of protests of the Thirty Meter Telescope project, with Mayor Billy Kenoi, October 7, 2014. Photo Occupy Hilo, CC BY-SA 2.0 Paul Coleman, who in 2015 said 'Hawaiians are just so tied to astronomy I cannot, in any stretch of the imagination, think that TMT is something that our ancestors wouldn't just jump on and embrace'. Notable native Hawaiian supporters include Peter Apo, sitting trustee of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, and leading University of Hawaii professor and astronomer the late Dr. The controversy has led to considerable division in the local community with residents choosing support or opposition. On October 30, 2018, the Court validated the new construction permit. The TMT corporation then removed all construction equipment and vehicles from Mauna Kea, and re-applied for a new permit, meant to respect the Supreme Court's ruling. The court ruled that due process was not followed. The project was expected to be completed by 2024, nearly simultaneously with the 39-meter Extremely Large Telescope being built in Chile however, on December 2, 2015, the Supreme Court of Hawaii invalidated the TMT's building permits. While opposition against the observatories on Mauna Kea has been ongoing since the first telescope, built by the University of Hawaii, this protest may be the most vocal. Opposition to the project began shortly after the announcement of Mauna Kea as the chosen site out of 5 proposals. Mauna Kea was announced as TMT's preferred site in 2009. The TMT, a $1.4 billion ground-based, large segmented mirror reflecting telescope grew from astronomers' prioritization in 2000 of a thirty-meter telescope to be built within the decade.

Protest thirty meter telescope