Editorial: Impasse bad for TMT, scopes, state

Things are relatively quiet on the mountaintop, which is great news for those aligned with the Thirty Meter Telescope opposition, encamped at the base of the Mauna Kea Access Road.

However, for the 50 to 75 employees whose scientific work and livelihood depend on regular access to the existing 13 telescopes at the summit — those who depend on state officials to have their back and ensure their legal right-of-way to their observatories — the silence is deafening.

Something, as one of the scientists has said, has to change. Namely, Gov. David Ige must reassert the state’s authority, starting with clearing the road and ensuring secure access to the telescopes by the people who work there.

It’s been about a month since the kia‘i (“protectors”) began assembling at the junction of the access road and Daniel K. Inouye Highway, determined to stop the TMT builders from exercising their construction permit, finally upheld as legal after years of courtroom and administrative proceedings.

Shortly after the early phase of what is now a full-scale movement, Ige issued — and then retracted — an emergency declaration that would give the executive branch greater control over access to Mauna Kea.

Ige certainly never made full or wise use of that declaration and ultimately yielded to protests over that move. He met with the protest leaders then handed off the tough problem to Hawaii island Mayor Harry Kim to handle further negotiations.

That has gone nowhere, and it now appears that the ones at the controls are the kia‘i.

One leader, Andre Perez, told Honolulu Star-Advertiser writer Tim Hurley that there shouldn’t be complaints because “we’ve been flexible” and have agreed to nearly all requests for access the observatories submit.

The TMT is a state-of-the-art facility that can bring high-level educational and career opportunities to Hawaii, including its indigenous people. Why that asset and its developers are being cast in the villain’s role, and without a significant defense being raised by the Ige administration, is mystifying and frustrating.

But setting that argument aside to focus on the existing telescopes: The protesters should not be in a position to grant or deny requests for access by people who have established jobs at the astronomy complex. That is just wrong.

The limited access provided for maintenance of the telescopes has not enabled real work to resume, according to the observatories. There is a lot at risk for those employees — not to mention liability for the state should valuable work and data be lost.

The governor may be rightly worried about the optics of contending with the kia‘i leadership. It’s undeniably an uncomfortable, precarious and sensitive situation, and managing it while avoiding injury may be impossibly complex.

But Ige should think about the loss, upheaval and reputational bruising Hawaii would endure should TMT pull up stakes, or should the other observatories take the state to court over its breach. Those aren’t good optics, either.

This impasse has degenerated into a paralysis that has set in among the state’s top officials. They are doing little to move toward a solution. Meanwhile the taxpayers continue to foot the bills for security and other costs, with no indication that any strategy is in play.

Worse, public sympathy for a new telescope is starting to erode in the corrosive atmosphere of a dispiriting controversy. That is not fair to TMT, which is a worthy project.

Ige is in a tough spot, but that’s the job. Step up to the plate, governor: If you do stand behind the TMT and the working telescopes, Hawaii’s majority who also support them would like to know.