Yes, there are many Hawaiians strongly opposed. Hawaiians have diverse, not monolithic views on the TMT project. ![]() They might wonder, as do many who live in Hawai’i, whether this actually “protects Maunakea.”īesides getting the facts wrong, the editorial board marginalizes the thousands of Hawaiian voices supporting the TMT. The editors would have also seen protesters occupying conservation land to block the TMT project, littering these special sites with abandoned tents, vehicles and refuse and damaging rare plant species. During the COVID-19 pandemic, they would have witnessed the TMT helping supply masks to protect frontline health care workers and social workers and aiding food-insecure families. When Kilauea erupted, destroying hundreds of homes on our island, they would have seen the TMT sponsor an educational camp for displaced children. If the editors were all from Hawai’i, they would also know that the TMT has provided more than a million dollars in funding for Hawaiian students through the THINK fund and other educational programs, and has supported the Akamai Workforce Initiative focused on Hawai’i-born students. It was open to the public, broadcasted and manifestly fair. The hearings process for the TMT included 44 days of testimony from 71 witnesses, spanning more than five months and documented in more than 6,000 pages of transcripts. ![]() The TMT project’s permit also requires the decommissioning of five older telescopes: a net reduction of telescopes on Maunakea. The TMT is a “green” facility and will pay rent to the Office of Hawaiian Affairs. Many Hawaiians, including recently departed Hōkūleʻa Pwo navigator Kalepa Baybayan, testified that the TMT project is consistent with their values and honors their cultural practices. ![]() These and other facts are thoroughly described in the Hawai’i Board of Land and Natural Resources’ decision to issue the TMT project a construction permit, which was upheld by the Hawai’i Supreme Court.Īs the record clearly shows, the TMT site is not affiliated with traditional cultural practices nor can the telescope interfere with long-standing practices elsewhere (for example, at Lake Waiau, Pu’u Poli’ahu). Local, unionized contractors - many of whom we know, many of whom are Hawaiian - will carry out the construction of the TMT. ![]() Its area is roughly equal to the UC system-supported Keck Observatory, minuscule compared to the adze quarry complex created by ancient Hawaiians on Maunakea and dwarfed by Maunakea itself.ĭespite the greater cost and technical challenge, the TMT project restricted its building height to only 19%-28% higher than some current 8-meter observatories on Maunakea, in accordance with community concerns. As shown in this figure, the site of the TMT project is a flat lava plain far away from culturally significant sites on Maunakea. The editorial begins with a highly incendiary illustration, implying that the construction of the TMT project either completely removes a pu’u (cinder cone) on Maunakea or the top of the mauna itself (with conspicuously white hands). However, the editorial opposing the Thirty Meter Telescope, or TMT, project massively misinforms readers and marginalizes the voices of Hawaiians and lifelong and recent Hawai’i residents who support this telescope, despite pressure to stay silent - voices like ours. We agree with The Daily Californian’s editorial board that astronomy on Maunakea is an important topic for the UC system.
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