There seems to be a problem on Hawaii. Scientists want to build a telescope to see
the stars, native protesters wish to protect their sacred mountain Mauna Kea. There are already a number of observatories
on the mountain, operated by a number of countries in addition to the US, but
this new observatory will be significantly bigger than the rest. Most of the current telescopes range in size
from .9 to 10 meters, the new one would be 30 meters.
The state politicians, including the Democratic Governor
David Inge, are on board. Writers for
the New York Times have thrown their support behind the effort. The only thing slowing it down is protest of
the effort as an affront to the sacred mountain, led by native Hawaiian
protestors in Hilo and the state’s Supreme Court who halted the development in December
2015 when they invalidated the construction permits.
Recently, the state land use board approved
the $1.4-1.6 billion dollar project, while promising to be sensitive to the concerns of the indigenous people.
They promise all the construction workers will undergo cultural sensitivity
training before they drive their bulldozers and use their blasting equipment on
this sacred mountain, while the consortium will “donate” millions of dollars to
the educational programs on the big island.
For some reason, I don’t think we’ve heard the last of this
story, but at the same time I don’t think the media will routinely report on the
protests unless a Republican politician is involved, but that’s not likely
since we all "know" Republicans are anti-science, but then again Republicans are all anti-indigenous people as well.
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