Slashdot Mirror


Hawaii Supreme Court Approves Thirty Meter Telescope On Mauna Kea (hawaiinewsnow.com)

Applehu Akbar shares a report from Hawaii News Now: After years of legal wrangling and protests, the Thirty Meter Telescope got a green light Tuesday from the state Supreme Court. In a 4-to-1 decision, the state's highest court ruled in favor of the telescope's construction atop Mauna Kea, effectively ending all legal avenues for contesting the controversial project unless the U.S. Supreme Court takes up the case. In a statement, TMT International Observatory Board of Governors Chairman Henry Yang said the body is "grateful" for the ruling and "committed to being good stewards on the mountain." Slashdot reader Applehu Akbar adds: "Green anti-science organizations, such as Deep Green Resistance and Sierra Club, have been trying to stop TMT construction for years, in an expanded version of an earlier campaign to halt the construction of large research telescopes in southeastern Arizona. As in Arizona, their excuse was at first endangered species on the construction site, and subsequently native rights.

"TMT is an advanced world-class telescope designed to investigate and answer some of the most fundamental questions regarding our universe, including the formation of stars and galaxies after the Big Bang and how the universe evolved to its present form. Native Hawaiians will also be included in other direct benefits from the TMT," the court wrote. "Thus, use of the land by TMT is consistent with conservation and in furtherance of the self-sufficiency of the state."

1 of 177 comments (clear)

  1. Re:“Green anti-science”? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Catholic here. We regularly get confused with fundamental christians. It's a bit tiresome, but to a lot of people, there is no difference between the various christian sects. People like the GP would probably shit themselves if they knew how many mormons worked in engineering.

    The absolute worst ones though are the converts later in life. My sister in law was born in a strict pro-science atheist family, she converted to non-denominational christianity later in life. On a trip with her once she insisted on visiting the creation museum and really does believe that the world is only 6000 years old. I personally find it embarrassing to be around her when she gets going. And there really is no discussion on the matter, it's best to just ignore her, correct things with her kids and carry on with your life.