No refuge for the thirty-meter telescope

summary

Hawaiian indigenous protesters blocking the construction of the 30-meter telescope (TMT) atop Mauna Kea seem to have settled for the long-term. After two months of demonstrations, their camp on the access road to Mauna Kea houses shops, a cafeteria and meeting spaces. The deadlock between astronomers eager to build one of the world's next big telescopes and their opponents, many of whom believe the site is sacred, has shifted the focus to TMT's "plan B" , an alternative site located in La Palma, one of the Canary Islands, Spain. But La Palma is starting to look like another bed of nails for the project. Astronomers say the site is lower for observations. Some TMT partners are reluctant to take the initiative and could withdraw from the $ 1.4 billion project. And a determined environmental group in La Palma is already fighting the TMT in court.