Hawaiian leader seeks construction pause at sacred summit
HONOLULU (AP) — Scientists hoping to see 13 billion light years away, giving them a look into the early years of the universe, are facing opposition from Native Hawaiian groups who say the construction site of a new telescope is on sacred land.
On Friday, a Native Hawaiian leader called on the state and the University of Hawaii to adopt a moratorium on construction after dozens of protesters were arrested the day before.
Peter Apo, a trustee for the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, said he’s asking Gov. David Ige and University of Hawaii President David Lassner to bring people together during a 30-day moratorium to work out a long-term solution.
“Hawaiians absolutely believe in science. How that plays out on this mountain is going to be a matter of getting the right set of people in the room to negotiate some sort of compromise that everyone can live with,” Apo told reporters.
http://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/nation/clash-over-telescope-at-sacred-hawaiian-site-intensifies/
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Is this a cultural issue, or a religious one? No matter.
The summit of Mauna Kea is one of the best sites on the planet for observational astronomy. That is why there are so damned many world class telescopes there. The only other site on the planet that is likely better is the Atacama desert high in Andes, arguably the driest place on the planet.
I cannot believe that these protests would be taken seriously given that the summit is already festooned with world class telescopes.
Where were the complaints when the first observatory was planned in the 1960's? Or the multitude of others built since then?
The Thirty Meter Telescope will be an awesome instrument and will be a feather in the cap for both astronomy and for Hawaii.
(Artist rendition)
The ignorance of these people is appalling.
The Mauna Kea summit has been a world class astronomy site since the 1960's. There is only one other site on the planet, the Atacama desert high in the Andes, which is arguably better. That one is in the Southern Hemisphere. So Mauna Kea is basically golden ground for high end astronomy in the northern hemisphere.
That is why they've been building world class optical telescopes there for decades. This is the first time I've heard of any protests. If people wanted to preserve the summit, they are quite a few decades late.
I don't have much sympathy for their pleas.
