Page 28 - ARUBA TODAY

A28 SCIENCE
Wednesday 7 august 2019

Still blocked from Hawaii peak, telescope seeks Spain permit

By JOSEPH WILSON and Kealoha Pisciotta, who decided “to proceed with tal impact evaluations. mon ground among Na-
CALEB JONES has helped organize the the request to seek a build- “Our mountains are not sa- tive Hawaiian leaders,
Associated Press protest on Mauna Kea. It ing permit” for the island of cred,” he added. protesters and telescope
HONOLULU (AP) — The stakeholders, said it would
group behind a $1.4 billion be a loss for his island and
telescope planned for Ha- the state if the telescope
waii is applying for a permit was built in Spain.
to build in Spain as ongo- “I thought this could be
ing protests and a human a good thing for Hawaii if
blockade prevent them done the right way,” Kim
from starting construction said.
on Mauna Kea, Hawaii’s But the mayor also ac-
highest peak that some knowledged that injustices
people consider sacred. against the Native Hawai-
The plan to start construc- ian community need to
tion of the Thirty Meter be addressed. “Part of the
Telescope on the Big Is- right way is a recognition
land has been thwarted of wrongs of past,” he said.
for more than three weeks The mayor said his responsi-
by a group of Native Ha- bility is to find a better way
waiian activists who say forward that addresses the
the construction will further many complicated issues
desecrate a mountain that involved with the battle
already has more than a over the telescope, includ-
dozen observatories. ing the economics for the
Thirty Meter Telescope Ex- Big Island.
ecutive Director Ed Stone He said he doesn’t want his
said in a statement Mon- In this July 15, 2019, file photo, demonstrators block a road at the base of Hawaii’s tallest mountain, county’s entire economy
day that the group still in Mauna Kea, Hawaii, to protest the construction of a giant telescope on land that some Native to be based on tourism like
wants to break ground on Hawaiians consider sacred. Associated Press it is on the other islands in
Mauna Kea, but they need Hawaii.
to have a backup plan. would “be a win for every- La Palma. Scientists selected Mauna On “Maui, Kauai, and
“We continue to follow one.” “We are observing what is Kea’s summit because the Oahu, the vast, vast ma-
the process to allow for But she said there is no trust happening in Hawaii with weather and air conditions jority of those people on
TMT to be constructed at between the activists, who the maximum respect,” there are among the best those islands and counties
the ‘plan B’ site in (Spain) call themselves protectors said Rebolo, the point man in the world for viewing the can no longer own a home
should it not be possible to of the mountain, and tele- for the alternative site in skies. because of what has hap-
build in Hawaii,” Stone said. scope officials. Spain’s Canary Islands. The telescope would give pened economically,” he
“Mauna Kea remains the Kaho’okahi Kanuha, an- “Our position is that we researchers a view back to said.
preferred site.” other protest leader who are here if the TMT project the deepest reaches of the “If this opportunity is lost,
But Native Hawaiian activ- has been arrested several needs us,” he said in a tele- universe and allow them and I do mean it, there will
ists say they will not budge times trying to block con- phone interview. to examine the time im- be a sadness on my part,”
until the project moves struction, said he hopes of- After years of protests and mediately following the Big Kim said. “Not only be-
elsewhere. ficials make the “right deci- contentious legal battles, Bang. cause of science and ed-
Protest leaders, who say sion” and move the project the Hawaii Supreme Court Once built, scientists are ucation and opportunity,
they are not against sci- to the Canary Islands. last year ruled the tele- expected to use the tele- part of my responsibility is
ence or astronomy , told “We remain committed scope permits were valid, scope to explore funda- to try to find ways to make
The Associated Press that to protecting Mauna Kea clearing the way for the mental questions about the a better economic base
the Spain permit is a posi- from further desecration, construction to proceed. universe , including wheth- for this island.”
tive development, but it’s no matter how long it Thirty Meter Telescope of- er there’s life outside our Gov. David Ige did not
not enough for them to end takes,” he said. ficials first announced the solar system and how stars respond to a request for
their blockade of Mauna Canary Islands Astrophys- backup location in the Ca- and galaxies formed. The comment.
Kea’s access road, where ics Institute Director Ra- nary Islands in 2016. large size of the telescope’s Last week, Spain’s science
more than 2,000 people fael Rebolo told the AP on Rebolo said local officials mirror means it would col- minister, Pedro Duque, re-
have gathered at times. Monday that he received who would have jurisdic- lect more light, allowing it iterated the government’s
“There’s lots of good sci- a letter from the head of tion over a building permit to see faint, far-away stars full support for the Canary
ence to be done from the Thirty Meter Telescope on La Palma solidly back and galaxies. Islands as a secondary
the Canary Islands,” said saying its board recently the project and that the Big Island Mayor Harry Kim, site for the telescope and
observatory site has al- whom Hawaii’s governor said the country is well-pre-
ready passed environmen- tasked with finding com- pared to host it.
“We have all the neces-
sary plans at all levels —
the people, the speed, the
systems, absolutely every-
thing is ready if they want
to come,” Duque said.
The Canary Islands archi-
pelago, located west of
Morocco in the eastern
Atlantic Ocean, is already
home to several powerful
telescopes.q