TMT foes march to University of Hawaii president’s home

Dozens of opponents to the Thirty Meter Telescope project on Mauna Kea walked by the University of Hawaii president’s Palolo residence in a display against the telescope project.

On Tuesday afternoon about 70 or so opponents, also known as “protectors,” of the project gathered at Palolo Valley District Park to mark 2,400 days since heavy equipment first arrived at Mauna Kea in 2015, but it also served as a starting point for a procession that ended at UH President David Lassner’s residence about a mile away.

“That’s why we’re in Palolo, because someone who has the power to stop (the TMT) lives here — David Lassner,” Healani Sonoda-Pale of Ka Lahui said to the group at the park.

Participants — most wearing red and yellow, the colors of the popular “Ku Kiai Mauna” movement that has led the fight against the TMT — sang and chanted as they walked from the park to Lassner’s home.

Lassner stepped out into his driveway when they reached his home and listened to some of them speak to him directly.

“We won’t give up. We’re not done,” Nani Peterson, a Waianae resident, said to Lassner. “We stand for our precious mauna (mountain) no matter what, because it’s us, it’s who we are.”

Lassner acknowledged the group but did not speak to them.

The procession, along with another anti-TMT demonstration that was held last week at the UH campus, coincided with a public forum for the university’s draft master plan for Mauna Kea, which reaffirms its plans to decommission some of the observatories already on the volcano’s summit.

But opponents, many of whom are Native Hawaiian, say their voices continue not to be heard when it comes to decisions about the telescope.

“UH has come out with this draft master plan and has not been very good at listening to our concerns,” Sonoda-Pale told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. “The process is very limited and not transparent.”

Ka Lahui said in a news release that UH, which is leasing land at Mauna Kea, has not properly managed the land and has ignored Native Hawaiians’ pleas to stop construction.

UH is accepting public input on the draft until Tuesday.

Both opponents and proponents of the telescope are asking the public to provide comments.

“We hope everyone reads the new master plan and provides comments, including our opponents,” UH spokesman Dan Mei­senzahl said in a text message to the Star-Advertiser. “We want everyone to understand exactly what it is and how it will be used to improve our stewardship of the mauna. Public participation is critical to the process because the end result will be a better plan.”

Construction of the $2.4 billion TMT project has been stalled since 2015, when protesters first blocked construction equipment from reaching the summit of Mauna Kea. Legal battles and protests have continued to delay construction, which probably won’t begin for another two years or so.

In the meantime, other parts of the TMT project are moving forward. The team is also waiting for recommendations from the federally sponsored Decadal Survey in Astronomy and Astrophysics, which evaluates which projects and programs to prioritize in the coming decade.

“TMT’s focus is a renewed effort to connect more meaningfully with the Hawaii community. We are engaged in conversations and learning from those experiences,” Kerry Slater, TMT chief of staff and vice president of communications, said in an email statement. “We also continue to await the outcome of the Astronomy and Astrophysics Decadal Survey (Astro2020), which will shape the future of astronomy for the years to come. In the meantime, our partners continue to make good progress advancing the different components of the telescope.”