HONOLULU – A battle is poised to unfold on a Hawaii mountain where one of the world’s largest telescopes is set to be built on what protesters say is sacred land for native residents.
As work resumes Wednesday on the Thirty Meter Telescope atop the Big Island’s Mauna Kea, protesters will try to peacefully stop the construction.
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Work was put on hold for two months after the arrests of 31 people blocking access to the site. On Saturday, telescope officials announced construction would start again Wednesday.
Opponents say the $1.4 billion project that will be 18 stories high will desecrate land believed by Native Hawaiians to be the home of deities. Some say it’s time to curb development on the mountain, where 13 other telescopes sit.
Partners for the non-profit building the telescope include India, China, Canada, Japan and the Thirty Meter Telescope Observatory Corporation, which was formed by the University of California and the California Institute of Technology.
Gov. David Ige has said Hawaii must do a better job of caring for the mountain, but he said Thirty Meter Telescope has a right to proceed with construction.
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Astronomers like the site because its summit is well above the clouds, and it provides a clear view of the sky for 300 days a year. There’s also very little air and light pollution.
The protesters will be respectful, said Kahookahi Kanuha, who was among those arrested.
“When the public looks at Mauna Kea, what you see are telescopes. So the assumption is that this mountain belongs to foreign scientists,” Kanuha said.
Mauna Kea was selected as the site for the observatory over Chile’s Cerro Armazones mountain in 2009.
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