Earlier this week, the Hawaii Supreme Court issued an order effectively blocking the resumption of construction a the Thirty Meter Telescope site on Mauna Kea by temporarily lifting the permit issued by DLNR for the TMT project.
The order was in response to an emergency motion filed on Monday by the attorney for plaintiffs seeking to block the TMT project from proceeding. You can read the emergency motion and supporting documents here.
The motion seems relatively thin on substance. It consists of a repetitious review of the legal history of the case, and accuses the TMT of a “blatant disregard and disrespect of the legal process” by attempting to take any steps prior to the court’s pending decision on the lawsuit challenging the original decision by DLNR to issue a permit for the TMT.
The matter was a little complicated, because the project is actually being built by the TMT Observatory International Corporation, made up of a consortium of institutions sponsoring the telescope. The corporation was not named as a defendant in the lawsuit, so the court couldn’t simply order the corporation to stop any work. The workaround taken in the motion was to ask for the permit to be temporarily stayed, which the court agreed to do.
I have to agree that the attempt to start any work related to the project prior to the court’s ruling on the case was a mistake. It’s hard to see that several weeks would make any difference in the long run.
But one has to wonder whether “respect for the legal process” will still be the order of the day for the Mauna Kea “protectors” if the Supreme Court’s ultimate decision falls short of fully blocking the TMT from moving forward. That’s obviously going to be the next political test.
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Protect the Land!!!!
The motion is particularly bad, making strong accusations without substance. TMT has shown proper respect for the process, waiting patiently for the courts every time. All they wanted to do this week was send a small crew up to do maintenance on the equipment that has been sitting up there for seven months, not resumption of construction. This is something that should be done to safeguard the environment and the safety of personnel. TMT let everyone know that they were going to do this, even though it is a trivial task. This is called honesty and transparency.
I have little respect for the TMT opponents who make strong accusations and abuse the legal system like this. How can you deal honorably with someone who makes such accusations over a non-issue?
It’s almost as if TMT folks You say the Appellants’ motion for an emergency stay was “thin on substance”, but apparently five (5) Justices certainly agreed that grounds were sufficient for an emergency order.
And Irony of Ironies: Andrew Cooper accuses Appellants of “abusing the legal system” by filing a legal motion. Isn’t it truthfully that it is TMT who abused the legal system by re-starting construction while supposedly awaiting the Court’s decision? “Honesty and transparency”? “Respect for the process?”
Pardon me while I laugh. How is it honest or transparent to go behind the Court’s back and pretend this construction is not the topic in dispute?