Still blocked from Hawaii peak, telescope seeks Spain permit
BARCELONA, Spain — The group behind a $1.4 billion telescope planned for Hawaii is applying for a permit to build in Spain as ongoing protests and a human blockade prevent them from starting construction on Mauna Kea, Hawaii’s highest peak that some people consider sacred.
The plan to start construction of the Thirty Meter Telescope on the Big Island has been thwarted for more than three weeks by a group of Native Hawaiian activists who say the construction will further desecrate a mountain that already has more than a dozen observatories.
Thirty Meter Telescope Executive Director Ed Stone said in a statement Monday that the group still wants to break ground on Mauna Kea, but they need to have a backup plan.
“We continue to follow the process to allow for TMT to be constructed at the ‘plan B’ site in (Spain) should it not be possible to build in Hawaii,” Stone said. “Mauna Kea remains the preferred site.”
The development bolsters the Native Hawaiian activists, who say they will not budge until the project moves elsewhere.
Protest leaders, who say they are not against science or astronomy , told The Associated Press that the Spain permit is a positive development, but it’s not enough for them to end their blockade of Mauna Kea’s access road, where more than 2,000 people have gathered at times.
“There’s lots of good science to be done from the Canary Islands,” said Kealoha Pisciotta, who has helped organize the protest on Mauna Kea. It would “be a win for everyone.”
But she said there is no trust between the activists, who call themselves protectors of the mountain, and telescope officials.
Kaho’okahi Kanuha, another protest leader who has been arrested several times trying to block construction, said he hopes officials make the “right decision” and move the project to the Canary Islands.