TMT is slipping away, and we should all be sorry

While the contested case hearings on the Thirty Meter Telescope state permits have been dragging on interminably, TMT management has been seeking an alternative site in the Canary Islands off the coast of Africa. It is pretty apparent now that the protests, delays and lack of enthusiasm by the state government will continue on past a final date in April 2018 that has been set by TMT to start construction.

As a consequence, the TMT will very likely be located under the jurisdiction of Spain on an inferior site rather than in the United States. It seems shameful that a high tech scientific project that was originated and the technology developed in the US would be relegated to a foreign country with a second class site. The loss of high quality jobs, educational opportunity and prestige it would bring to Hawaii is very substantial. While the observing quality of the Spanish site is not comparable to Mauna Kea, the tremendous Spanish government interest and cooperation is a stark contrast to the tepid government support and the cultural protesters here in Hawaii. The implications of this outcome for Hawaii as a location for major projects is also profoundly negative.

The TMT has been actively working to get permits to build on Mauna Kea for nearly nine years. The corresponding process in Spain has taken less than a year and the TMT recently signed an agreement with Spain to build the observatory on the site in the Canary Islands. This still remains officially a backup plan, if permitting is not approved in time for Mauna Kea. However as time goes by with minimal progress in Hawaii, it is becoming more and more the inevitable outcome. Unfortunately, it seems that Hawaii is just not competitive enough to get things done on a reasonable time scale anymore.

Even so, we should remember that in the era before the naysayers, the UH and the state cooperated in the development of a great asset in the astronomical facilities currently on Mauna Kea. Until the next generation of great telescopes are operational, (in the next seven to 10 years) Mauna Kea will remain No. 1 in the world with the scientific contributions from the Keck, Subaru and Gemini telescopes. TMT on Mauna Kea would have made Hawaii the best for the foreseeable future.

However, we need to be very careful not to let protesters diminish what we have. They may get more aggressive with their successful opposition to TMT. While the protesters claim that telescopes desecrate the mountain it is really the protesters, who circulate false information and can only look backward, that are the true desecrators.

The mountain is not just for astronomy or culture but for all the citizens who wish to visit and maintain the environment. We should be proud of the knowledge and modern culture, of which Mauna Kea is now a part, instead of falling back on a culture that prevents progress.

Sadly, it is time to recognize this great scientific facility that desperately tried to locate in Hawaii will be lost to Spain because our state government was not up to the job.

Jerry Smith is a resident of North Kohala