Mauna Kea road cleared as protesters shift focus

MAUNA KEA >> The Mauna Kea Access Road was finally cleared of tents and protesters Saturday for the first time since mid-July, but the opponents of the Thirty Meter Telescope vowed to shift the focus of their protest campaign to the mainland during a two-month pause in the standoff on the mountain.

The Onizuka Center for International Astronomy Visitor Information, better known as the Hale Pohaku Visitor Center, reopened on the access road Saturday for the first time since June, and the access road itself was fully reopened to all traffic except for construction equipment to work on the TMT project.

>> PHOTOS: Mauna Kea Access Road reopens to public

The state closed the access road on July 15, and the TMT opponents set up barricades on the road to block construction of the TMT, which they contend would be a desecration of a mountain that many Hawaiians consider to be sacred. For more than five months they protested by dancing hula and camping on the paved, two-lane road.

Law enforcement officials arrested 39 protesters on July 17 for obstructing the road during the nonviolent protests, but made no other attempt to physically clear it. Astronomers and other work crews have been allowed up the road in recent months to service the existing observatories and other facilities on the mountain.

That stalemate continued until Thursday, when Hawaii County Mayor Harry Kim gave his personal guarantee there would be no attempt to move TMT equipment up the mountain to start construction in January or February.

Kim also promised there would be no police effort to sweep the protesters off the mountain during the next two months, and asked the TMT opponents to move their tents and other equipment off the access road for the next two months.

The kupuna or protest elders agreed, and the tents were finally moved to the west side of the road with the help of county workers shortly before sunset on Friday evening, according to Kim’s executive assistant, Maurice Messina.

A crew that included 15 employees from the county Department of Public Works also hauled in loads of cinder and cold planing asphalt material to cover lava alongside the road to level out the new campsite for the protesters, he said.

The tents are now 10 feet from the road and are separated from traffic by barricades. The county also plans to install some speed bumps on the access road near the protest camp, but the campsite will be restored to its original condition once the protest ends, Messina said.

County police and state law enforcement officers also returned to the site Friday afternoon to help control traffic while the tents and barricades were removed. By Saturday morning, a light flow of tourist cars was headed up the mountain to the visitors’ center at the 9,200-foot elevation, and in some cases to the summit.

Kim visited the access road at 9 a.m. Saturday and spoke with the protesters, who call themselves “protectors” of the mountain.

“I’m more than satisfied,” Kim said after that meeting. “I don’t care what the difference is, we’ve got to find better ways to resolve it.”

“Hopefully, this is a start,” he said. “I keep telling people, the movement and clearing this road is only the beginning of where we’ve got to go on this issue here, and hopefully this is the start of that.”

“The next step would be to get people together to truly have a good discussion on where we go,” Kim said.

There have been some talks between the protesters and TMT representatives, but neither side will say whether those talks have been helpful. The protesters have said publicly they will not allow the $1.4 billion telescope to be built, while supporters of the TMT say the project obtained all of the necessary state and county permits, and has the right to proceed with construction.

Noe Noe Wong-Wilson, one of the protest leaders, said Saturday the pause in activity on the mountain offers TMT opponents an opportunity to engage in “a campaign to influence decision making” on the TMT issue on the mainland and in Hawaii. The stand-down on the mountain is “a welcome thing for us,” she said.

Among other activities, the TMT opponents are planning a major demonstration at the Hawaii state Capitol in Honolulu when the 2020 legislative session begins on Jan. 15.

Wong-Wilson said the protesters also will welcome visitors to Mauna Kea at the protest camp in an effort to teach tourists and others about the cultural significance of the mountain. That will include brochures that the TMT opponents plan to distribute.

“We think this is a great opportunity for us to educate everyone,” she said.

Activity on the mountain could taper off over the next 60 days, but Wong-Wilson said the TMT opponents are certain their supporters will respond if any attempt is made to resume construction.

“When and if we ever put out the call again for them to be here, they will be back in numbers,” she said. “We’re confident about that.”