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OHA’s neutral stance maintains hope for TMT
Last week’s decision by the Office of Hawaiian Affairs to rescind its support of the Thirty Meter Telescope went down as a clear win for opponents of the project.
The project developers no longer can claim support by OHA to offset the Native Hawaiian critique.
But even for those who champion the astronomy development and wanted OHA to stand firm behind TMT — including this editorial board — the outcome of Thursday’s OHA trustees’ meeting could have been much worse.
Trustees argued that asserting a neutral stance gives OHA some leverage in discussions, assuming the project moves forward. It also recognizes that its beneficiaries are divided.
Even if that’s a tepid stance, it’s at least defensible.