Letter: No choice but to stop construction of TMT

Hawaiians have been asking the state to stop building telescopes on Mauna Kea for decades. Cut to the present day. Anyone who has visited the anti-Thirty Meter Telescope protest site will see that building this telescope, or any more telescopes on the mountain, is a futile exercise. If the state proceeds with the TMT, it will alienate a sizable group of native people in their homeland — to instant, worldwide condemnation.

Not building the TMT would not threaten the status quo. Current jobs would be preserved. The way forward is compromise, and there really is only one currently available to the state. The TMT project must be canceled. In return, the protesters would allow astronomy to continue on the mountain. Obsolete observatories would be demolished. When the last observatory has ceased to serve a purpose, it, too, would be removed; the mountain would return to its natural state, to be managed by the people currently demanding that right.

To build the TMT is folly. Just drive up the Saddle Road and see for yourself.

Kevin O’Leary

Kalihi Valley

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