A rendering of the innards of the Thirty Meter Telescope, what will be the most advanced telescope in the world. The red beam is part of the adaptive optics system, which allows the telescope to correct for atmospheric distortion and produce images sharper than the Hubble space telescope. - Photo rendering: Courtesy TMT

WHAT WILL BECOME OF MAUNAKEA?
E aha 'ia ana 'o MAUNAKEA?
A proposed telescope reignites discussion of
the future of astronomy on the piko of Hawai'i Island

By T. Ilihia Gionson / Ka Wai Ola

WHEREVER IT IS BUILT, the Thirty Meter Telescope will be the largest, most advanced telescope on earth.

A consortium of U.S. and Canadian universities would like to spend more than $1 billion building the world's largest astronomical observatory, either on Maunakea or in a Chilean desert. But if the consortium building the Thirty Meter Telescope decides to build it on Maunakea, Hawaiians are divided between heralding it as a huge step in diversifying Hawai'i Island's economy and as the largest injustice yet to the sanctity of Maunakea.

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With a mirror measuring 30 meters – or about 33 yards – in diameter, TMT would be able to see planets and stars much farther away from Earth than the largest telescopes in existence now. Because of this, TMT would make it possible to view astronomical objects in earlier stages of development, going back 13.3 million years to the origins of the universe. Thanks to an advanced adaptive optics system, which shoots a guide laser into the atmosphere to measure turbulence, the images seen by TMT could be many times clearer than those from the Hubble space telescope.

Rising nearly 14,000 feet above the Pacific, far from cities with bright lights and air pollution, the summit area of Maunakea is inarguably the best site for astronomy in the northern hemisphere. Thirteen telescopes have been built on the summit since the 1960s, and many Native Hawaiians say enough is enough.

Maunakea is significant spiritually, culturally and environmentally. It is the mountain of Wākea, the piko of Hawai'i Island, the realm of the gods, and the site of many iwi kūpuna. Many families continue the tradition of taking the piko of newborn children to various sites on Maunakea. It is also the source of much of Hawai'i Island's fresh water.

Further deepening the discussion, a Comprehensive Management Plan for the mountain has yet to be completed. The document will guide all future developments, including the TMT. Add to that the expiration of the University of Hawai'i's lease on the mountain in 2033, a short 25 years from now, and it's obvious that the discussion of Maunakea's future is at a crux.

Hawai'i versus Chile

It's down to Maunakea or Cerro Armazones, Chile, for TMT Observatory Corp., a partnership between the University of California, the California Institute of Technology, and a group of Canadian universities that is building the scope. A site will be selected next year.

Almost everything is ready to go on super-arid Cerro Armazones in Chile's Atacama Desert. Native Chileans never lived in or used the area, and the Chilean government found that TMT would have no cultural or environmental impacts. The Chilean government is even pushing for TMT to be built there. But Cerro Armazones is much less accessible than Maunakea, requiring 14 hours of flying and two hours of driving to reach the site from California.

By contrast, Maunakea already has the infrastructure, roads and a nearby university. TMT supporters prefer a location in the northern hemisphere since there are plans to build even larger telescopes in Chile. Gordon and Betty Moore, major financial backers of TMT, also live on Hawai'i Island.

But in addition to the cultural, spiritual and environmental significance of Maunakea, the biggest concern about building the TMT there may be more benign.

Although Maunakea is conservation land held by the state, the Mauna Kea Science Reserve, comprised of most of the land above the 12,000-foot elevation, is leased at no charge to the University of Hawai'i by the Department of Land and Natural Resources. UH then subleases the land to the outfits operating each telescope.

But UH's lease will expire in 2033. Even if the planning and construction process goes according to the project's most optimistic timetable, TMT would not be operational until late 2017. Without a lease extension, that leaves at most 16 years.

“The telescope, in principle, could have a lifetime of 50 years,” said Anneila Sargent, an astronomy professor at Caltech, one of the partners in the TMT project. But it would be up to the conditions of each potential site to determine the longevity of the observatory.

DLNR spokesperson Deborah Ward says as a state agency UH is entitled to negotiate the lease directly with DLNR, but there has not yet been any such discussion.

“There are different pros and cons for each of these sites, but before we move forward, the most important thing for us to do is to figure out the extent of the impact on each site. This is just the beginning of this process,” said Sargent.

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Some of the stronger Native Hawaiian mana'o regarding the TMT project should come as no surprise to two of the three partners. UC and Caltech were partners in the cancelled Keck Outriggers project, which proposed in 2006 to build small scopes around the existing Keck observatory on Maunakea.

The project was opposed in court by Mauna Kea Anaina Hou, the Sierra Club's Hawai'i chapter, the Royal Order of Kamehameha and cultural practitioner Clarence Ching. In August 2006, third Circuit Judge Glenn Hara revoked the permit that the state Board of Land and Natural Resources had granted to the Outrigger project. Hara didn't rule against the project, but rather required a Comprehensive Master Plan to be completed before any new construction on Maunakea could occur. Although Hara directed the BLNR to complete the plan, it is DLNR's understanding that UH, the lessee, is responsible for preparing the plan. “It could be accepted, rejected or modified by the Board of Land and Natural Resources,” said DLNR spokesperson Ward.

The CMP has yet to be completed, and public meetings presenting draft management guidelines will be held this month. The plan will guide all future development on Maunakea, including TMT.

A community divided

At an October meeting to gather comment on what should be examined in TMT's EIS, people gathered in the Keaukaha School cafeteria were deeply divided between welcoming TMT and opposing any new development on Maunakea.

“There really isn't any legal justification for building any more,” said Kealoha Pisciotta, president of Mauna Kea Anaina Hou. She said that, as ordered by the court, the CMP should be competed by BLNR – not the University of Hawai'i or its consultant, Ku'iwalu.

“The NASA EIS (for the Outriggers project) found that… 30 years of astronomy has resulted in adverse, significant, substantial impacts to the natural and cultural resources of Maunakea,” Pisciotta said. “The BLNR is not supposed to give permits to projects in conservation zones that have adverse impacts.”

TMT opponent Hanalei Fergerstrom of the Temple of Lono brought his own copy of the NASA EIS. “It seems like we're doing this again and again,” Fergerstrom said of the EIS process. “If we need to keep arguing, we'll keep arguing.”

TMT site studies manager Sandra Dawson maintained that TMT is committed to a new paradigm of development that is more respectful of the 'āina and Kanaka Maoli. “We're looking for input on the design and siting, where other projects have just come in with an idea of where they wanted it and what it would look like. We also intend to make a significant investment in education on the island,” Dawson said.

“Education through desecration isn't education at all,” declared Paul Neves, Ali'i 'Aimoku of the Royal Order of Kamehameha. Neves opposes the project because of the many burials on Maunakea. “How about we build a TMT on Homelani cemetery? Knock down all those 'Blessed Mothers' (headstones) in the name of economic progress?”

Dawson assured, “We're doing… studies and will not build anywhere near a shrine or burial ground.”

And Sargent, the Caltech professor, said: “We do want to be careful stewards and approach this in a very open way. That's why we had these scoping meetings, and we are listening. We will respond to everything that everybody said. We are very committed to doing the right things.”

For Damien Silva, an operating engineer from Keaukaha, things are not so clear-cut. Silva sees both sides of the debate, but supports the project with faith that it can be done in a respectful way that can enrich the community. “As a Native Hawaiian, I am torn,” he said. “I am torn between Mauna Kea as a special place for the Hawaiians and their culture,” and “as a Native Hawaiian man trying to make a living for his family.”

I MAOPOPO IĀ 'OE MANA'O A view of Maunakea from Hilo. - Photo: - T. Ilihia Gionson Why is Maunakea spelled as one word? By Larry Kimura Hawaiian names, both personal and place names, are usually made up of several root words combined together to represent the person or place. Hawaiian tradition is to write these roots words together as a single word, for example, Kamehameha not Ka Mehameha, Kalākaua not Ka Lā Kaua, Waikīkī not Wai Kīkī, Keauhou not Ke Au Hou. The Hawaiian tradition is different from the English one, as in English the parts of a place name are sometimes written separately, e.g., Mount Vernon, New York, Red River Valley. It is also common in English to write “native” names as separate words: Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse, Red Cloud. The Hawaiian tradition is based in the Hawaiian grammar of the oral language that marks separate words differently from names. In the case of two mountains on Hawai'i Island that scientists from outside Hawai'i have come to dominate, Maunakea and Maunaloa, American English spelling traditions have been imposed on earlier Hawaiian spelling traditions. The earlier Hawaiian spelling traditions can be seen in places with the same name where American scientists have not had as much of an influence, e.g., Maunaloa on Moloka'i, Maunakea Street in Honolulu, and the Maunakea family name. Older Hawaiian writings also include examples of Maunakea and Maunaloa written as one word when referring to the mountains on Hawai'i. Larry Kimura is an assistant professor at Ka Haka 'Ula O Ke'elikōlani College of Hawaiian Language, University of Hawai'i at Hilo.