The Board of Regents of the University of Hawaii has begun proceedings to hear testimonies from people who support and oppose plans to build the controversial Thirty Meter Telescope.
Sixty-one people testified in opposition of the University of California and the California Institute of Technology plan to construct the giant telescope on what is considered conservation land at Mauna Kea. Only one person testified in support of the proposed project.
Roughly half of the total 120 people who were scheduled to testify were able to give their statements because according to a spokesperson for UH, some members of the board had to fly back to their home islands, while the others had to attend a conference at Hawaii's main island. Another hearing is being arranged to allow the rest of the people to raise their sentiments on the matter.
After the hearing, however, the UH Regents did not cast votes or take any action regarding the telescope project. The special meeting was conducted to hear from the local community after the construction of the telescope was interrupted due to protests. More than 30 protesters were arrested during the incident at volcano slopes.
"It is a part of us as we are a part of it," Cyrus Johansen, one of the 61 people who testified against the project, said. "I would like to see every single telescope taken off that mountain as it is desecration of our native land. It is our right ... to stand up against such things"
The members of the UH Board of Regents listened to the arguments of those opposing the project while also being blasted with Hawaiian songs, chants, conch shells and cheers from people.
Many of the regents who were at the hearing were not present on the all-volunteer board when the telescope project was approved in 2009.
"Thirteen telescopes are enough," Moanikeala Akaka, a former Office of Hawaiian Affairs trustee, said. "Take down the obsolete ones and replace them if you must."
Jasmine Cabanilla, another opponent to the project, argued that the proposed 130 permanent jobs for the 300,000 inhabitants of the islands cannot justify the construction of the 30-meter telescope on conservation land.
The one person who testified in support of the telescope, astronomer Mark Chun of the University of Hawaii, explained that scientists around the world understand the value of Mauna Kea as a site for telescopes.
"We can choose to disengage Hawaii from the science and technology or we can choose to lead the world," Chun said.
Chun is a part the UH Hilo Institute for Astronomy and has spent 17 years living on Hawaii Island.
Chun's colleague, Andre Chene, also considers the benefit the telescope can bring to the science community.
"Mauna Kea is where different countries, even countries that disagree with one another, agree to invest in something that's going to define this century," Chene said.
