Better care of Mauna Kea is necessary

As an awaited Hawaii Supreme Court decision looms large over the proposed Thirty Meter Telescope, encouraging strides are being made in the management of the current landscape atop Mauna Kea.

This week, the University of Hawaii set a third telescope on the path for decommissioning, fulfilling Gov. David Ige’s call to remove a quarter of the telescopes atop Mauna Kea, which some Native Hawaiians consider sacred.

Better management of Mauna Kea by the state and UH will help defuse continuing controversy over the $1.4 billion TMT; diligent stewardship had not always been the case despite a Mauna Kea Comprehensive Management Plan. This renewed, active adherence to the caretaking of Mauna Kea is a timely and necessary reminder that respect must come to bear in all aspects at the site.

The UKIRT Observatory, formerly known as the United Kingdom Infrared Telescope, is now on the path to dismantling by the year 2024.

Until then, though, it will continue to contribute richly to astronomical learning for the next several years, operating under a partnership among UH, University of Arizona and the Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company, Advanced Technology Center.

Research areas include orbital debris studies and observation and cataloging of near-Earth objects — and UH promises UKIRT will remain “highly productive” for the duration of its life.

In fact, the Hawaii island observatories together make Mauna Kea the most scientifically productive site for astronomy in the world, a significant achievement for our state.

For now, an uneasy but needed truce has occurred where just months ago, there had been protests and late-night arrests, human blockades and rocks perilously toppled as summit roadblocks.

A state Department of Land and Natural Resources emergency rule tried to keep protesters off the summit road overnight, for worker safety reasons, but that was struck down in court earlier this month.

A motion has been filed to dismiss charges against protesters arrested under the DLNR ruling, the rightful way to proceed given the court decision.

All this has delayed start of TMT construction, despite the telescope’s international consortium having secured permit approval after an arduous seven-year process that involved enviromental reviews and public hearings — plus opposition and much support along the way.

The TMT will be able to see far more distant and much fainter objects than any other existing telescope and to study them in greater detail; it is a human-enriching enterprise that would enable pioneering work into the understanding of our universe. It remains a prestigious, relatively low-impact project that deserves Hawaii’s support.

Amid protests that went global thanks largely to social media, Ige announced in May that 25 percent of the 13 existing telescopes atop Mauna Kea must be removed before the proposed TMT comes on line. Already, the Caltech Submillimeter Observatory has ceased operations and decommission planning has begun, and UH-Hilo has begun decommis- sioning for its Hoku Kea telescope.

Crucial to the future path is that no new observatories will be built on these sites.

It’s been nearly two months since Hawaii’s Supreme Court heard oral arguments in a lawsuit filed by Native Hawaiians against DLNR, for what they claim was a flawed process resulting in TMT’s permit to start construction in March.

For now, the TMT researchers seem to have a self-imposed building pause pending the high court’s ruling.

For the sake of all involved, it’s hoped that the ruling comes soon — and that it favors the noble quest for knowledge about our place among the stars.