Turmoil atop Mauna Kea stymies Ige administration

How much further do the protests atop Mauna Kea have to go before Hawaii’s reputation as a location for serious science has been ruined?

So far the protesters vowing to block construction of the $1.4 billion telescope have twice successfully stopped construction of the planned largest telescope on earth.

On Thursday, the protesters arrested for blocking construction crews the day before had posted bail and returned to the 13,796-foot mountain.

Since protests over construction of the state-of-the-art Thirty Meter Telescope resurfaced, the administration of Gov. David Ige has tried to appease both scientific community and the Native Hawaiian groups demanding that the telescope not be built.

Hawaiian protesters say building on the mountain is disrespectful because they consider it to be central to Hawaiian creation stories. Astronomers say Mauna Kea’s heights offer some of the best positions in the world for viewing the heavens.

While agreeing with the TMT officials that they have every right to build the structure that has already gone through seven years of government review, Ige negotiated an agreement with the University of Hawaii, which controls the state land atop the mountain, to restrict use of the area, reduce the number of telescopes and give Native Hawaiian groups more say in operations.

Obviously, both sides cannot win, but that hasn’t stopped the Ige administration from encouraging TMT to continue construction, while continually promising protesters that their rights to protest will be upheld.

"The arrests are unfortunate, but the state’s No. 1 priority is the safety of the people on Mauna Kea — from TMT workers to protestors who are exercising their First Amendment rights to peaceably assemble and protest in a civil manner," said Mike McCartney, Ige’s chief of staff, after last week’s first round of civil disobedience.

Interestingly, McCartney has had to face his own Hawaiian protests and he was quick to get out of the line of fire.

In 2013, while heading the Hawaii Tourism Authority, McCartney ordered that a huge mural built into the walls of the Hawaii Convention Center be covered up because a woman who has led several lawsuits over Native Hawaiian bones said she and others were offended at the depiction of bones buried in the sand.

The work of art had been on display for 17 years before McCartney ordered it covered. The artist said the woman misinterpreted the mural and McCartney’s action was censorship. McCartney eventually blinked again, took down the black curtain, kept the mural and, according to news reports, personally apologized to the artist, Hans Ladislaus.

As for the battle on Mauna Kea, the biggest and most prestigious astronomical society, the International Astronomical Union, is bringing some 4,000 astronomers and scientists to the convention center Aug. 3-14 for an international convention that has been planned since 2009.

This is a really big deal. The convention is held once every three years.

The convention is also offering a special trip for delegates: a tour of Mauna Kea, described as "the home to the world’s foremost astronomical observation site, where the largest collection of telescopes on Earth point skyward."

The travel brochure for delegates also notes that the mountain is "known in Native Hawaiian creation stories as the first-born mountain son of Wakea and Papa, who were also progenitors of the Hawaiian race … Please be respectful of this sacred cultural site."

When the scientists come, what will Ige tell the astronomers?

Is Mauna Kea a mountain that leads to discoveries unimagined today, or a part of Hawaii he covered by a black curtain in the face of protests?