Thirty Meter Telescope opponents agreed to remove a tent from their campsite on Mauna Kea shortly before a deadline Thursday.
Thirty Meter Telescope opponents agreed to remove a tent from their campsite on Mauna Kea shortly before a deadline Thursday.
The state Department of Land and Natural Resources on Tuesday issued a notice that gave the Native Hawaiian protesters, who have been on the mountain for 177 days, until 6 p.m. Thursday to remove the illegal structure. If the tent remained after the deadline, it would have been considered abandoned and removed at the owner’s expense.
In a statement Thursday afternoon, Kuuipo Freitas, a media coordinator for the group, said their presence on the mountain had been fulfilled for the time being and they were assured there was no “imminent surprise threat” of the TMT International Observatory trying to resume construction of the large telescope atop Mauna Kea, which the protesters consider sacred.
“We are hopeful that the TMT construction will not proceed before a verdict is given by the Supreme Court” on legal challenges to its construction permit, she said.
Freitas noted the protesters are voluntarily complying with the removal of the tent, but they object to what they see as selective enforcement of emergency rules on the mountain.
“We are taking this opportunity to engage our community,” she said. “We are still maintaining an eye on the mountain and will continue to kupaa ma hope o ka aina.”
DLNR spokesman Dan Dennison said the tent was illegal before the emergency rules, which specifically restrict camping and the nighttime presence of anyone in the area who isn’t transiting on the road, were adopted in July.
The agreement doesn’t address a small hale, which the protesters call their “spiritual house,” at the camp.
Dennison said that will be left in place for the time being, but noted it also is an illegal structure since it was built on public land without a permit.
Asked why the notice wasn’t given earlier, he said the department has been trying to “exercise great patience and also enforce the existing rules as much as we can.”
Protester Lakea Trask, who regularly visits the camp, said prior to the agreement that they were removing personal items from the tent early Thursday in anticipation of an enforcement action.
He said they weren’t planning to resist as long as the hale remained intact. The tent, Trask said, belongs to an independence group calling itself the “Lawful Hawaiian Government.”
“If DLNR comes for our hale, that would provoke a standoff for sure,” he said. “Our people are not going to let that be taken down without a fight.”
DLNR’s Division of Conservation and Resource Enforcement has twice made arrests at the camp at night, most recently on Sept. 9.
Dennison said such arrests could occur again if protesters continue to stay overnight at the site in violation of emergency rules.
Email Tom Callis at tcallis@hawaiitribune-herald.com.