TMT pilloried at National Science Foundation meetings on the Big Island

Many of the same folks who blocked construction of the Thirty Meter Telescope atop Mauna Kea in 2015 and 2019 dominated the four meetings about the cutting- edge proposal held this week on Hawaii island.

Officials from the National Science Foundation, which is considering contributing $850 million to kick-start the stalled TMT, were told the astronomy project was rejected on Mauna Kea in the past and that nothing has changed.

“No. You cannot build anything on the mountain. Absolutely not,” kumu hula Pua Kanahele said to cheers at a meeting held Tuesday at the Grant Naniloa Doubletree Hotel in Hilo.

The meetings — punctuated by angry words, shouting, tearful pleas and Hawaiian chants and song — were held on consecutive nights Tuesday through Friday in Hilo, Naalehu, Kona and Waimea.

The meetings were designed to gather input about the scope of a newly proposed environmental impact statement for the $2.65 billion TMT, a process expected to take at least a couple of years.

NSF officials told their audiences they were considering four preliminary proposed alternatives:

>> Investment and operation of the TMT on Mauna Kea.

>> Investment and operation of the TMT on Mauna Kea with a plan to practice “responsible astronomy” in partnership with the new Mauna Kea Stewardship and Oversight Authority, the Maunakea Observatories, and “the affected Hawaiian community.”

>> Investment and operation of the TMT in the Canary Islands.

>> No action.

The vast majority of those who spoke at the well-attended meetings voiced a preference for the last.

“We’ve gone through this so many times so it’s really infuriating that we have to go through this again,” Kaho‘okahi Kanuha said during Thursday night’s meeting at the Outrigger Kona Resort & Spa’s Kaleiopapa Convention Center. “Because to even entertain this question, it allows you or anybody else to pretend that the last eight to 12 years never happened.”

Earlier in the meeting, the NSF’s David Boboltz was giving his opening presentation when he was interrupted by angry shouts, conch shell blasts and a Hawaiian chant. Several audience members said the presentation was running too long and that officials were there to hear what the people had to say.

The presentation was cut short but not before Boboltz added, “We’re a different agency. We’re not the TMT. In no way were we involved in the 2019 controversy on the mountain. We had nothing to do with it. This is a proposed project to the NSF.”

Officials ended up cutting out the opening presentation Friday night in Waimea.

During his testimony in Kona, Kanuha, who lead the Mauna Kea protests in both 2015 and 2019, asked those who oppose the TMT to step to the front of the hall.

Nearly everyone there, most of them wearing red “kia‘i” shirts, signifying their opposition to the project, gathered facing the NSF contingent behind an outstretched gold chain, a prop held by those in front.

“If, in fact, you decide to throw $850 million at this project, this right here is what you will be met with. This is what your $850 million will get you,” Kanuha said.

In Hilo, Office of Hawaiian Affairs Hawaii island trustee Mililani Trask delivered an impassioned speech against the TMT.

“Your (conservation district use application) permit is inapplicable. Your lease is terminating, you don’t have the time and you’re here to spin this?” said Trask, one of the kupuna arrested on the mountain in 2019. “My office won’t allow it. Mark my words, you will not build on Mauna Kea.”

Only a few people spoke in favor of the project at the meetings. One of them was Kekoa Alip, a Native Hawaiian who works for one of the Mauna Kea observatories. Speaking in Kona, he said he wanted to let the NSF know there are Hawaiians like him who support astronomy on the mountain.

“We are explorers by nature,” Alip said. “It’s in our DNA. Our ancestors were forward thinkers who navigated oceans way before anyone else on the planet. The world should be learning about astronomy from us, the kanakas.”

The NSF’s plan calls for the preparation of an environmental impact statement that complies with the National Environmental Policy Act and a formal consultation with Native Hawaiians as called for in Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act.

The foundation also has created a draft community engagement plan describing additional steps it plans to take to engage with the Hawaiian community and others.

A draft of the EIS is expected to be ready early next summer, officials said.