Paperwork, politics conspire to block science at its best

Maybe we all just had stars in our eyes, but there was a time when Hawaii could boast of headlines like this one from England’s Daily Mail:

“World’s largest optical telescope gets go-ahead: 30m mirror will let astronomers look 13 BILLION light years away.”

That was back in April of 2013, but long ago in terms of how events since then have crushed any hope for Hawaii to be a space race winner.

An audience around the globe eagerly awaited the construction of Mauna Kea’s Thirty Meter Telescope, but bad times were coming.

Observers are calling it “Plan B” as last week TMT officials announced they would explore other sites in other countries, if they did not have state assurance of a permit to build in Hawaii by September 2017.

Who can blame them for having cold feet?

Native Hawaiians claimed that because Mauna Kea featured prominently in Hawaii creation myths, it was a sacred site and should not be disturbed. The protesters piled on.

Creation myths and jaw-dropping astronomy aside, nothing is as important to Hawaii’s Supreme Court as correctly doing the paperwork and in the case of TMT, the proper papers were not filed.

The state, the University of Hawaii, which leases the land, and TMT all were told by the Supreme Court to redo the paperwork for the needed permits from the state Board of Land and Natural Resources.

At the same time that TMT was being pecked to death by cultural and legal protests, there was a constant nagging fear that Gov. David Ige’s support was, at the most, just adequate.

After nearly a year of controversy — featuring protests, arrests, road barricades and hints of calling out the National Guard — when it was time for the Ige administration to announce the construction restart, it was in an almost-quivering press release issued by Mike McCartney, Ige’s chief of staff.

“We respect those who oppose the project and their right to peaceably assemble and to protest in an orderly and civil manner.

“The state of Hawaii’s primary concern is the health and safety of its people. The state and Hawaii County are working together to uphold the law and ensure safety on roadways and on Mauna Kea, while allowing the people their right to peacefully and lawfully protest,” said McCartney.

If there was a time to proclaim that the Ige administration wants nothing so much as the announcement of “First Light” from the $1.4 billion telescope, it was when it was readying a full campaign to build it.

Even the University of Hawaii, in reaction to the troubling Plan B from TMT, was stronger than what Ige has offered.

“It will be a cornerstone of the next generation of astronomy in Hawaii, one of the anchors of our research and innovation enterprise,” said UH.

But Ige, in his State of the State address last month, said he was committed to building on the mountain but “we will listen carefully to all, reflect seriously on what we have heard and, whatever we do in the end, we will do it the right way.”

With an endorsement like that, it is no wonder TMT dusted off Plan B.

Richard Borreca writes on politics on Sundays, Tuesdays and Fridays. Reach him at rborreca@staradvertiser.com.