Opposition to the Mauna Kea Observatories
Originally part of research begun by Gerard Kuiper of the University of Arizona, the site has expanded into the world's largest observatory for infrared and submillimeter telescopes.
He persuaded then-Governor John A. Burns to bulldoze a dirt road to the summit where he built a small telescope on Puʻu Poliʻahu, a cinder cone peak.
[6][13] Kuiper would abandon his site (the very first telescope on Mauna Kea) over the competition and begin work in Arizona on a different NASA project.
Testing also determined Mauna Kea to be superb for nighttime viewing due to many factors including the thin air, constant trade winds and being surrounded by sea.
It is very hard to fight a fear of this kind—a formless, baseless concern—except through the same kind of backwoods interaction, at a grassroots level.In Honolulu, the governor and legislature, enthusiastic about the development, set aside an even larger area for the observatory causing opposition in the main city of the Big Island, Hilo.
[14] Over the years, the opposition to the observatories may have become the most visible example of the conflict western science has encountered over access and use of environmental and culturally significant sites.
Once access was opened up by the roadway to the summit, skiers began using it for recreation and objected when the road was closed as a precaution against vandalism when the telescopes were being built.
[10] The Audubon Society objected to further development on Mauna Kea over concerns to habitat of the endangered palila, an endemic species to only specific parts of this mountain.
[17] A "Save Mauna Kea" movement was inspired by the proliferation of telescopes, with opposition believing development of the mountain to be sacrilegious.
[19] Today, Mauna Kea hosts the world's largest location for telescope observations in infrared and submillimeter astronomy.
A 2006 proposal for the Outrigger Telescopes to become extensions of the Keck Observatory was canceled after a judge's determination that a full environmental impact statement must be prepared before any further development of the site.
Environmental groups and Native Hawaiian activists were much stronger in their opposition this time than they had been in the past, but NASA went ahead with the proposal for lack of an alternate site.
The TMT has become a focal point for protests against further development of the observatory site, and a legal battle was fought through the Hawaii court system.
[4] The TMT project is a response to a recommendation in 2000 from the US National Academy of Sciences that a thirty-meter telescope be the top priority and be built within the decade.
[35] As of late 2021 construction of the Thirty Meter Telescope remains paused due to the controversy and ongoing effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
A July 2022, state law[39] responds to the protests by removing sole control over the master land lease from the University of Hawaii.
After a joint transition period from 2023 to 2028, control will shift to the new Mauna Kea Stewardship and Oversight Authority, which will include representatives from the University, astronomers and native Hawaiians.
