Editorial: Inaction on TMT has consequences

The state seems to have fallen into a campaign of attrition with the opponents of the Thirty Meter Telescope. With every passing day, the chances of that approach succeeding grows dimmer.

Managing the crowds gathered at the base of Mauna Kea grows costlier every day, too. Hawaii County police have spent an estimated $3 million-plus already on the protest, after more than a month; the statewide total reportedly tops $4.1 million.

And now there are parking citations being issued at the junction of Daniel K. Inouye Highway with the Mauna Kea Access Road, which for over five weeks has been blocked by protesters, who describe themselves as kiai (protectors). Given the two serious accidents on record for the area, enforcing traffic violations is the very least that should happen.

But to what end? Safety, sure. However, if it’s a “waiting game” intended to significantly winnow the throngs on the site, this strategy won’t have the desired effect. That would be a misreading of the resolve the opposition is showing, resolve hardening into complete intransigence.

Hawaii County Mayor Harry Kim and particularly Gov. David Ige, who remains the primary authority on the TMT controversy, will have to make a more definitive move. Short of that, the TMT consortium, and the general public, will lose faith that the state can meet its responsibility to honor the telesope’s permit, finally issued after a decade-long, grueling review process.

In the past, was Mauna Kea poorly managed from an environmental and cultural perspective? Yes. But that has improved, and certainly, must continue to do so.

It also should fall to other elected leaders to make a clear statement on the project — especially the congressional delegation. U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz, a TMT supporter in the past, has been less outspoken lately.

Two have visited the site. U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard voiced more sympathy for the protesters, concluding that the project should remain on hold while both sides “determine the best path forward.”

U.S. Sen. Mazie Hirono arrived on Monday, but commented only vaguely.

“I believe in the rule of law and that there has been an appropriate process,” she said, “but I also believe that people have a right to civil disobedience.”

On top of being noncommittal, that assessment is off-base. The “civil disobedience” of freedom fighters such as Mohandas Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. is described as peaceful resistance to unjust laws.

There is no intrinsic lack of justice in the process that reviewed TMT. The Native Hawaiian opponents to the telescope applied the law themselves, arguing in the contested case hearing and in court through the 10-year legal battle. The project has prevailed and has the right to proceed. Opponents simply do not accept the result.

U.S. Rep. Ed Case is more straightforward in his support of the project, and restated that position this week in a meeting with the Star-Advertiser editorial board. The Hilo-born Case remembered that astronomy was pursued as a means of rescuing Hawaii island’s economy after the 1960 tsunami devastated the town; it plays to Hawaii’s strengths, he said.

“I think it would be a tragedy to lose that.”

Case added, rightly, that any compromise that denies TMT its permit will fatally damage trust in this state’s institutions, and have a corrosive effect on its diverse communities.

Another important voice heard this week was that of Chad Kalepa Baybayan, the former Hokule‘a captain and navigator-in-residence at the ‘Imiloa Astronomy Center of Hawai‘i. In a “Tech View” interview, he reflected: “As a Hawaiian, I recognize that I am a descendant of some of the best naked-eye astronomers the world has ever known. It is culturally consistent to advocate for Hawaiian participation in a field of science that continues to enable that tradition and a field of work in which we ought to lead.”

Hawaii has many competing interests, but paramount is the interest of finding a path that serves all its people. One must exist that is both culturally respectful and forward-looking. And at the end, it can lead to TMT.