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Hawaii Supreme Court rules in favor of TMT

Hawaii’s Supreme Court today upheld by a 4-1 vote the construction permits of the consortium building the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) on Mauna Kea.

In its own press release, the TMT consortium said that it “will move forward with fulfilling the numerous conditions and requirements of [the state’s permit] prior to the start of any construction.”

The comments by one of the the telescope’s opponents at the first link are revealing.

Kealoha Pisciotta, one of the main leaders against the telescope, said she’s doesn’t know what their next steps will be, but she’s not hopeful that more legal wrangling will help. “The court is the last bastion in democracy,” she said. “The only other option is to take to the streets. If we lose the integrity of the court, then you’re losing normal law and order, and the only other option is people have to rise up.” [emphasis mine]

Let me translate: We didn’t get our way, so we’re now going to throw another tantrum! Expect more protests and attempts to block construction. Expect the Hawaiian government, dominated almost entirely by Democrats, to fold to those protests. Expect more delays. For example, do you really think the permit process was really done?

State Department of Land and Natural Resources Chairwoman Suzanne Case said the next steps involve telescope builders submitting construction plans. The department will review the plans before issuing permission to proceed.

This was all done almost a decade earlier, and was exactly what the Supreme Court ruled on. To bring it up now suggests the state government is still quietly looking for loopholes to stop the construction, even though the public supports construction and the protesters are a decided minority.

Genesis cover

On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.

 
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.


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"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News

7 comments

  • Nick P

    I hope you’re wrong in your pessimism but admit, you may be right.

  • Phill O

    Never give up: Never, never, never never give up.

    Winston Churchill’s slogan can be taken wrongly as is here.

    Street violence is just what Hitler’s crew used to get their way. It is the Democrat way now.

  • FC

    A quick Googling suggests that Kealoha Pisciotta is an obsessive former employee of the observatory.

  • wayne

    FC–
    Thanks!
    Her given name is Kimberly. She has quite the progressive nut-job resume.

  • Jay

    I sometimes have to fly to Oahu to do work and I remember the first time I arrived a few years ago, I saw the protestors against the TMT. The protestors were mixed with another group protesting some land development south of Honolulu as well. I have been watching this for a few years now and I see the state of Hawaii playing both sides.
    Whenever the TMT group talks about moving to South America, the state changes its tune and wants the TMT to stay. When the TMT group are ready to break ground, the protestors ratchet up their game and the state government goes on their side. Manu Kea is a great location, but I hate to say this, the only way the TMT will be built is if the protestors and government are paid off.

  • Orion314

    Yeah, pay ’em off with a prison sentence.

  • Orion314

    Just early voted , btw…

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