After being closed for more than a month, the Mauna Kea Visitor Information Station reopened its doors Friday alongside Thirty Meter Telescope opponents who continue to camp across the road despite recent arrests.
Construction of the telescope has been the center of tensions between state officials and protesters, who say they are maintaining vigil for a sacred mountain, since late March.
Citing strains placed on resources and staff, officials with the University of Hawaii, which manages the visitor station and much of the mountain, shut it down June 25, a day after protesters used rocks to block construction vehicles.
The Office of Mauna Kea Support Services confirmed the facility was open, though questions emailed to a UH spokesperson were not returned by deadline.
The reopening came a week after state Department of Land and Natural Resources officers and Hawaii County police raided the camp at night to enforce new emergency rules on the mountain.
The state’s Land Board adopted the rules following reports of threats and disruptive activity by some protesters.
The arrests didn’t deter TMT opponents who continue to stay overnight at the unauthorized camp.
Protesters, who are mostly Native Hawaiian, say the camp is being used as a spiritual site where they carry out cultural practices.
Lakea Trask, one of the protest leaders, said the group at the campsite has been kept small recently to limit its impact.
On Thursday, DLNR Director Suzanne Case spoke with protesters briefly while visiting the area and picking up trash, the department confirmed. She was joined by First Deputy Kekoa Kaluhiwa.
“This was simply a spontaneous goodwill gesture while they were on the Big Island and had a bit of time,” said DLNR spokesman Dan Dennison.
Trask said they appreciated the visit and offered them coffee.
“I think their takeaway was we’re not planning to leave,” he said.
“We’re not going anywhere. We’re staying put, and we’re seeing this thing through because our mountain requires it.”
Dennison said no additional enforcement actions have been conducted.
Protesters have stopped workers attempting to clear the construction site at 13,150 feet above sea level three times.
TMT’s grubbing and grading permit was set to expire Aug. 30, but Hawaii County recently agreed to extend it for a year.
Email Tom Callis at tcallis@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
