KAHEA's response to Supreme Court's decision to affirm Thirty-Meter Telescope Construction

We are disappointed by the state Supreme Court's majority decision to affirm the Land Board's approval of the University of Hawaii's permit to allow the Thirty-Meter Telescope corporation's project in a pristine area of Mauna Kea. The opinion wrongly relies on representations that there is "no evidence" of Hawaiian cultural practices on the specific acreage proposed for the TMT. Thousands of Hawaiian cultural practitioners have affirmed the sacredness of the entirety of Mauna Kea. Thousands more have supported the protection of Mauna Kea from the TMT project. The Court's opinion has done nothing to change this. We call on the University, Governor Ige, and TMT officers to put the well being of the people of Hawai`i first and to relocate their project away from Mauna Kea.