Opponents of the Thirty Meter Telescope say they will continue to pursue court actions to stop the $1.4 billion project and protest its construction following the disruption of its ground breaking ceremony Tuesday on Mauna Kea.
Opponents of the Thirty Meter Telescope say they will continue to pursue court actions to stop the $1.4 billion project and protest its construction following the disruption of its ground breaking ceremony Tuesday on Mauna Kea.
The protest appeared to be the first of its kind on the mountain.
More than 50 protesters, mostly Native Hawaiians, blocked the Mauna Kea Access Road near the summit as dozens of dignitaries and other attendees from five countries attempted to reach the ground breaking site. Some attendees chose to walk the rest of the way while others did not get through.
While a dramatic stand for a mountain many of the protesters consider sacred, the roadblock was not planned, according to Lanakila Mangauil, 28, of Honokaa.
Mangauil also said demonstrators weren’t planning to disrupt the ceremony, though they intended to make themselves visible.
A recording of the ground breaking showed him berating attendees for walking past the protest, saying they “slithered in like slimy snakes.” He also called them infidels.
Sandra Dawson, TMT spokeswoman, told Stephens Media Hawaii on Tuesday the event was disrupted before speeches could be delivered.
The incident was in contrast to a Native Hawaiian prayer ceremony conducted by TMT opponents that morning. Those who gathered there were urged to act respectfully.
“We’re not here to stop anything,” Kalani Flores told the group of about 200 people. “We are here to gather in aloha.”
Dawson said the incident didn’t deter those present from pursuing the project, which would create one of the word’s most powerful telescopes.
Doug Simon, Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope executive director, was at the ground breaking and said organizers did the right thing by allowing Mangauil to have his say and avoid arrests.
“The alternative would have been the TMT ground breaking would be remembered by people being handcuffed and hauled from the mountain,” he said. “That doesn’t help anybody.”
Simon also said attendees weren’t deterred from pursuing the project.
“It’s part of the process of this kind of development on a mountain everyone recognizes is a sacred site,” he said.
Mangauil said the blockade occurred after authorities kept protesters from reaching the ceremony site at the 13,150-foot elevation.
Mauna Kea rangers and a special duty Hawaii County police officer were restricting access to the road after its fork to the left toward the site of the ground breaking near the summit, he said. The road to the right of the fork, where most of the observatories are located, remained open.
Stephanie Nagata, Office of Mauna Kea Management director, said Tuesday there were no road closures.
Mangauil said protesters were also upset a ground breaking ceremony was occurring while the most recent legal appeals against the project haven’t been heard.
That includes appeals filed separately by four people regarding the project’s sublease in 3rd Circuit Court and an appeal of TMT’s conservation district use permit to state Intermediate Court of Appeals.
Petitioners previously challenged the permit in a contested case hearing and an appeal in 3rd Circuit Court.
The legal challenges have so far not been successful. No hearings on the other appeals have been scheduled.
Email Tom Callis at tcallis@hawaiitribune-herald.com.