No new permits needed for Thirty Meter Telescope, University of Hawaii says

Heading off the potential of an expired permit and further delay for the Thirty Meter Telescope, the state has given the developer of the planned cutting-edge observatory credit for its construction activities in 2019.

In doing so, the University of Hawaii formally acknowledges that construction has begun on the $2.4 billion telescope, a requirement within two years of issuance of the project’s permit, officials said Friday.

The TMT’s conservation district use permit was initially issued in 2017, but the permit’s two-year start-work condition was extended by the state Department of Land and Natural Resources in 2019 for two years because of the delay caused by the protesters who blocked attempts to move equipment to the construction site near the summit of Mauna Kea.

The condition requiring the start of construction was scheduled to expire in September, but the project appears to be unlikely to start by then as it is awaiting word about additional substantial funding from the National Science Foundation.

The university announced the determination that TMT construction had started in a news release issued Friday afternoon.

Opponents of the project were not happy.

“This seems kind of shady,” said Mauna Kea Hui leader Kealoha Pisciotta, who has led the legal fight against the TMT. “This is the kind of thing that makes people lose faith in the integrity of the process.”

Kiai — “protector” — leader Noe Noe Wong-Wilson said the move by UH appeared to be “sketchy” and “suspect.”

“It doesn’t make sense to me,” she said. “It looks like they’re conjuring up ways to satisfy the permit.”

According to the permit’s General Condition No. 4, “Any work done or construction to be done on the land shall be initiated within two years.”

In its release the university said it reviewed the project activities shared with it by the TMT and then notified the DLNR that the requirement to commence construction was satisfied based on activities in June and July 2019.

Those construction activities included removal of unpermitted structures, on-site GPS verification of locations and coordinates, a construction kickoff meeting with the civil contractor and subcontractors to review procedures and safety protocols, locating and surveying on-site underground fiber-optic and electrical lines, inspections of construction equipment for invasive species, and the mobilization of 18 vehicles and equipment to the worksite.

The project’s work vehicles and equipment were prevented from reaching the construction site for months by thousands of opponents starting in July 2019.

Wong-Wilson, one of the people who stood guard on the mountain from mid-July 2019 until the pandemic shut down everything in March 2020, said it appears UH and DLNR are agreeing to follow a broad definition of what it means to start construction. She said they may be setting an unwanted precedent.

“They’re redefining what is construction,” Wong- Wilson said. “There were no shovels in the ground.”

Gordon Squires, TMT vice president of external affairs, said the organization is grateful for approval of the work permit.

“We will continue to work respectfully with the Hawaii community to find a path forward that honors the culture, tradition, and environment of Hawaii while supporting humanity’s quest to expand knowledge of the Universe,” he said in a statement.

The permit requires construction to be completed within 12 years of its original 2017 approval date.

Asked whether the organization has enough time for construction, considering its original 10-year timeline, Squires responded, “We continue to find a way forward, and will follow and respect the process as we have always done.”

The project continues to wait on the recommendations of the Astronomy and Astrophysics Decadal Survey (Astro 2020), sponsored by NASA, the National Science Foundation and the Department of Energy, which will prioritize projects for future major U.S. funding. A report is expected later this year.

If the TMT figures prominently in the report, it likely will lead to a much-needed influx of cash — a reported $850,000 — for a project whose price tag has risen by a billion dollars due to construction delays, inflation and other costs.

But federal dollars could mean more regulatory hoops to jump through and additional delay, but that’s unclear at this time.

Meanwhile, the fabrication of the telescope’s components continue by the project’s partners around the globe.

Based in Pasadena, Calif., the TMT International Observatory nonprofit is a coalition made up of Caltech, the University of California and the government science agencies in Japan, China, India and Canada.