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posted by martyb on Tuesday November 01 2016, @10:15AM   Printer-friendly
from the change-in-scope dept.

The board of governors for the Thirty-Meter Telescope has chosen an alternate site for construction that could allow it to cut its losses in Mauna Kea:

The Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) could move to La Palma, in Spain's Canary Islands, if opposition from Native Hawaiians prevents the next-generation observatory from being built atop the Hawaiian mountain of Mauna Kea as planned.

The decision, announced on 31 October by the TMT International Observatory's board of governors, creates an alternative path forward for the troubled mega-telescope. Its opponents blocked access to the Mauna Kea site in April 2015, halting construction, although work on the telescope's components continues at sites around the world. Native Hawaiians regard the decision to build the TMT on Mauna Kea as the continued desecration of a sacred mountaintop that hosts 13 other telescopes, some of which are being decommissioned.

In December, Hawaii's state supreme court nullified the permit that would have allowed the TMT to proceed. A fresh round of hearings began this month, with TMT officials seeking a new permit from the state's Bureau of Land and Natural Resources.

Previously:
Thirty Meter Telescope Considering Move as Hawaii Officials Open Hearing
Hawaiian Court Revokes Permit for Construction of Thirty-Meter-Telescope
Protests Temporarily Halt Thirty-Meter Telescope's Construction in Hawaii


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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by julian on Tuesday November 01 2016, @04:24PM

    by julian (6003) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday November 01 2016, @04:24PM (#421294)

    Native hawaiians are the poorest ethnic group in their own homeland.

    So let's have that conversation then, because blocking this telescope will not lift any of them out of poverty.

    In fact, if they succeed totally and cast out every pale-faced scientist, throw out the Navy, get rid of the government-funded health clinics, and embrace their newfound sovereignty they would quickly fall to an even lower level of poverty similar to other "independent" Polynesian island nations.

    But hey, at least their sacred mountain will only have 13 instead of 14 telescopes. Can't put a price on that kind of victory.

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  • (Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 01 2016, @04:32PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 01 2016, @04:32PM (#421299)

    > So let's have that conversation then, because blocking this telescope will not lift any of them out of poverty.

    Save the concern trolling for people who agree the poor deserve to be poor.

    You don't like the way they are going about clawing back some of their rights? What are you doing to help then?

    > In fact, if they succeed totally and cast out every pale-faced scientist,

    Nice strawman. Is your place at the top of heap so fragile that you can't conceive of negotiation?

    • (Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Tuesday November 01 2016, @07:35PM

      by Grishnakh (2831) on Tuesday November 01 2016, @07:35PM (#421367)

      How exactly is getting rid of the telescopes going to help them?

      And what exactly is there to negotiate? If the mountaintop is sacred, that means you can't build anything there at all. So it's telescopes, or no telescopes. What do you think they're going to negotiate? That they should move the telescopes to somewhere else on the island? Like right next to one of the cities maybe? Telescopes are only useful when they're on high mountaintops, far from civilization and light pollution.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 01 2016, @08:31PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 01 2016, @08:31PM (#421390)

        > How exactly is getting rid of the telescopes going to help them?

        Wow, so now you think this about getting rid of the telescopes that are already there. Where the fuck did that come from?

        > If the mountaintop is sacred, that means you can't build anything there at all.

        Jesus christ, since when is that true?

        Do you consider yourself a rational, informed person? If so, how do you rationalizing just making up bullshit like that?