Stone altars halt progress of telescope construction

MAUNA KEA  >> Construction of the Thirty Meter Telescope remained on hold for a second straight day Thursday after two rock altars were discovered on the access road leading to the Mauna Kea summit.

State officials said they were still trying to figure out how to deal with the 4-foot Hawaiian altars, or ahu. In the meantime, officials said the road was too hazardous to allow access to anyone but essential summit personnel.

Chalk up another victory for foes of the $1.4 billion project, planned to be one of the largest and most powerful ground-based telescopes in the world when it becomes operational in 2024.

TMT officials said the setback left the project’s construction schedule up in the air.

“We are currently assessing the situation and our plans to restart,” TMT International Observatory board member Mike Bolte said in a statement. “We are concerned primarily about the safety of our team and everyone on the mountain.”

On the day after they repelled the TMT crews that were expected to relaunch the delayed project, the protesters spent a portion of Thursday removing rocks from the summit access road.

Four rock walls were built on the road closer to the summit, apparently during Wednesday’s conflict, which saw 12 arrests. The low-lying rock walls were built to create an obstacle course for vehicles.

The protesters, who call themselves protectors of the mountain, asked that they be allowed to remove the rocks in lieu of having heavy machinery do the work, and that’s what they did Thursday.

But they didn’t touch the altars.

“We are not going to go undermine anyone’s spiritual expression,” explained Andre Perez, a Mauna Kea protester from Oahu who was arrested during Wednesday’s struggle.

Kahookahi Kanuha, another leader who was arrested, said he told the state Department of Land and Natural Resources that the group would remove the rocks but wouldn’t touch the ahu.

“I did not build it, and I’m not going to disrespect the people who did,” Kanuha said. “It’s a spiritual structure, a sacred structure. I’m not going to be the one to disturb it.”

Two other ahu were built at the TMT construction site Monday and Tuesday, he said.

“Once you build an ahu, you make a commitment to protect it and feed it” with offerings in perpetuity, he said.

Kanuha said they will be visiting the ahu often to pray.

“There’s been a lot of wrong committed upon the mountain. We can physically try to stop it, but it’s going to take more than us. It’s going to take the akua who dwell on the mountain and who watch over us and provide life for us.”

On Wednesday, protesters used rocks and boulders as an effective weapon in the fight to fend off TMT construction — not to throw them, but to scatter hundreds of them over the roadway near the 10,000-foot level.

The obstacles proved too much for the convoy of construction workers, who turned back once they reached the rock-strewn road.

State officials said the rocks put the safety of those who work at the top of the mountain in jeopardy.

Kanuha said the tactic was not planned for Wednesday’s protest, and he apologized if it compromised anyone’s safety. He said public safety is paramount.

Some 40 to 50 protesters were allowed to go up to remove the rocks on the access road, which was closed to the public Thursday.

On Thursday the Mauna Kea demonstrators were feeling good about what they accomplished the day before.

“We are individuals, protecting this mountain, coming together in the best way we can as a collective ohana to stand for the mountain,” said Pua Case of Waimea.

Kanuha said a state official told him that he didn’t expect the TMT project to start up again Friday. But whenever it happens, the demonstrators say they will be ready.

“We’re going to continue to make a stand. We’re going to continue to resist. We’re going to continue to protect,” he declared.

The Mauna Kea visitor center, at the 9,200-foot level adjacent to the protester encampment, was closed Thursday.

Holly Manly, a tourist from Ojai, Calif., said she was disappointed to be locked out of the center.

“Politics shouldn’t get in the way of all the things the island has to offer, including the Mauna Kea visitor center.”