Common ground for the peak

On one side is the righteousness of protecting sacred ground. On the other is a monumental quest to unlock the mysteries of our universe.

For now the battle for Mauna Kea looks hopelessly deadlocked as Native Hawaiians stand their ground and the construction of the $1.4 billion Thirty Meter Telescope remains at a standstill.

Is there really a way out of this stalemate?

Doug Simons thinks so, and he’s pushing for a new campaign to find some middle ground that will allow the TMT, which will be one of the largest telescopes in the world, to move forward.

"It can’t go on like this forever. There’s no doubt about it," said Simons, the executive director of the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope, one of 13 observatories that populate the summit of Hawaii’s tallest mountain.

The people of Hawaii island, racked by division over the TMT issue, are in need of an extended exercise in community dialogue, an effort that could go on for months and maybe a year or longer, he said.

A series of community meetings is being planned so that both sides can hear each other. One is scheduled for Tuesday at the Laupahoehoe Community Public Charter School cafeteria, sponsored by the Hilo Hamakua Community Development Corp.

The genesis for the effort came April 24 in a public meeting Simons arranged at the Honoka‘a People’s Theatre. More than 400 people attended a three-hour discussion about Mauna Kea, Native Hawaiian culture and astronomy. The meeting brought both sides together during the height of the conflict, and the result was a passionate yet civil discourse that gave Simons hope there can at least be an ongoing discussion.

"For at least that one moment, the top came off the pressure cooker and released some pressure from the situation," Simons said. "For me that was really gratifying. I got a lot of hugs and there were a lot of tears."

Simons won praise for the event from both sides.

"I had no idea — it could have blown up in my face. But I was so frustrated by social media and this wall that had been erected in the community. The risk of going forward was more desirable than the risk of giving it a shot. We lucked out."

Simons, who has been working on the mountain for 30 years, is predicting that over time more voices will join in and the nature and type of discussion will evolve to the point where it will be more than just two camps knocking heads.

"We have some pretty passionate people on the Big Island who so far haven’t weighed in. I’m waiting for that to happen," he said.

Simons said he has no expectation that hard-liners will be won over. But he does expect many people who are avoiding the controversy to eventually chime in, building a chorus of "moderate" voices that will drown out the strident few.

"I count myself as a moderate in the whole thing," he said. "I’m looking to find some common ground."

One of the chief opponents of TMT, Kealoha Pisciotta, said that while she agrees a community conversation should continue, the Thirty Meter Telescope is "off the table."

"We’re not going to negotiate that at all," she said.

Simons said many people now don’t understand the consequences of losing TMT.

"The collateral damage will be huge," he said. "I’m not exaggerating. That’s a serious issue."

Big-time federal dollars are at stake. The next big project on the summit after TMT is the $250 million Maunakea Spectroscopic Explorer project that will transform the current 3.4 meter mirror at the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope into a 10-meter mirror. The current footprint will accommodate the new mirror with only the existing dome expanding to within 10 percent of its size now.

"It’s the most benign way to overhaul a telescope. There will be no concrete pouring, and most people wouldn’t even know it would be a new facility," Simons said.

Also at risk, he said, is another major overhaul planned for the Subaru telescope, which is looking to take on a supporting role for the TMT.

"The lifeblood of these observatories is new instrumentation," he said, but all of that could be in jeopardy if the TMT doesn’t go forward and funders lose confidence in Hawaii.

Simons said he’s ultimately looking for some sort of community-embraced vision for Mauna Kea that is reflected in a new state Mauna Kea master lease, which is up for renewal in 2033.

Some TMT foes are already hoping to take aim at the lease, which, if not renewed to UH, will mean all the telescopes will have to come off the mountain.

"I’m playing long ball," Simons said. "I see TMT and the master lease as both requirements."

At the same time, however, he expects to see a major rewrite of the master lease in which the Native Hawaiian community not only participates in but drives the future of Mauna Kea.

"I think we seriously have to look at that," he said.

In the 1990s, following the release of a highly critical state audit, the University of Hawaii was under great pressure to improve its oversight of the Mauna Kea summit region. A comprehensive management plan and the Office of Mauna Kea Management grew out of community pressure, resulting in improved management.

The blueprint included a decommissioning plan for aging telescopes and mandated that the TMT is the last site on which a new telescope can be built. If any new telescopes are proposed, they must go in place of an existing observatory.

"Back in the ’90s it seemed hopeless but somehow good things emerged," Simons said. "So we gotta get out of this mind-set that we’re all screwed. That mind-set will only get you that, and we have to have some level of optimism."

Going forward Simons sees a lot of changes and "a lot more things put on the table."

"If I were to guess, I would think there will be a much higher emphasis on the cultural component of the future of Mauna Kea, and I think that’s a good thing."

One example might include the construction of a new visitor center. The current one is small and spartan.

"I would love to see that replaced with a much more capable and elaborate facility with Native Hawaiian culture side by side with the astronomy, like ‘Imiloa (Astronomy Center in Hilo)."