HILO – Richard Ha, a well known farmer and businessman in East Hawaii, spoke out on Monday concerning the current blockade of the Thirty Meter Telescope on the Mauna Kea Access Road.
Ha supported the TMT project in its early stages of site planning. He is one of the first to speak up on camera to Big Island Video News since the effort to stop the construction of the $1.4 billion observatory became a global cause.
“A lot of people feel intimidated, you know they’re scared,” Ha told us. “Whether they should be or not, I don’t know, but it makes them very uncomfortable.”
Thirty Meter Telescope officials have thus far been unresponsive to our proposals for an on camera interview, but Ha granted our request without hesitation. He said the heightened level of activity on the mountain has him concerned about safety. “I’m hopeful that (the leadership) is doing the right thing as far as trying to be careful and make everybody safe.”
Ha noted that since the We Are Mauna Kea movement went viral, “we are starting to see people on the mountain that we do not know.”
“As long as it was predictable I felt comfortable, but once it starts to get more and more and more people from outside the island, you’re not really sure.”
He said TMT has followed the process and now it has the right to build. “To put the sovereignty thing on top it, it’s confusing. I don’t think it’s proper. If they wanna go through the process that’s not a problem, go through the process.”
Ha stressed that the project will be a benefit to education, with its one million annual THINK fund contribution.
Ha also had some very precise words for the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, which appears to be reconsidering its previous support of the TMT project in the face of the current outcry, saying the OHA trustees should act like “parents and kupuna.”
“I’m not happy, frankly,” Ha said.
There will be a special meeting of the UH Board of Regents on Thursday in Hilo. Mauna Kea is on the agenda. Ha said he plans to attend.
Nice level headed man. One of the 99% of the people in favor of the telescope.
https://www.change.org/p/governor-david-y-ige-stop-tmt-construction-and-arrests-of-mauna-kea-protectors
These people are really sick. Can hawaii Johns put their portable potty on your ohana grave? Uh promised to remove tmt in 30 years and get rid of some of the others. Looks like they scrambling for their mana back. Sounds pretty desperate to me. What part of sacred hawaiian land don’t you understand? You all have lost your common sence. Acting like vultures and saying this will educate the keiki o ka aina. Yeah step on the kids too for $. Wow what have this island come to. Outdated politicians talk circle to us no more this is the new age. No you will not rip us off anymore. We will see through the lies and deception and your voice will not be heard. EA!
http://www.angelfire.com/big09a/TreatyOfAnnexationHawaiiUS.html
http://www.angelfire.com/big09a/TreatyOfAnnexationHawaiiUS.html
http://www.hawaiilibrary.net/articles/Overthrow_of_the_Hawaiian_Kingdom
I support the TMT, and not superstitious beliefs or imagined environmental hazards.
Richard – I’m really tired of your self-important ramblings. Ive been to enough meetings to know your family story by heart. God knows why you think you are so important,’but perhaps you should,’for once, consider other points of view. Like that its not all about money. Maybe a mountain really can be sacred? Or does that not fit into your business model?
Please give it a rest, Richard, and leave some room for the younger people,of this island. Stop talking please and start listening.
Can someone please explain to me how putting a telescope on Mauna Kea will “destroy” Mauna Kea?
There are no environmental consequences. The mountain is so high up there is
basically no rain, that’s why the TMT will be up there in the first
place, and as for flora and fauna, well, I’ve heard the summit of the
mountain described as ‘barren as the surface of the Moon’.
Furthermore, the TMT will pay 1 MILLION DOLLARS in rent annually, and most of that
money will go towards the ENVIRONMENTAL PRESERVATION OF MAUNA KEA).
As for cultural objections, I don’t see the problem researching the
beginning and fate of the universe, stars and planets like our own and
other topics of astronomy and cosmology on Muana Kea when Mauna Kea is
considered a place of origins and is important to Hawaiian cosmology. It
seems to be complementary “A sacred science on a sacred mountain”.
Also, if you say that the TMT will be ‘building over the graves of ancestors’, please show me a map showing all the ancient burial places on Mauna Kea alongside the planned location for the TMT.
In order that Hawaiian astronomy and
cosmology can benefit from the telescope, at least 15% of the research
time on the TMT should be reserved for Hawaiian universities. In
addition, the data from the telescope should be made publicly available
so that ordinary Hawaiians and non-Hawaiians can benefit from the TMT.
In addition, the astronomers who do research at the TMT should simplify
and explain their results to the public, so we can all learn about our
place in the universe.
I signed a petition to support the TMT and I
see no reason to protest against it. It is a benefit to Hawaii and the
world and needs to be built. If I lived in Hawaii I would be protesting
against the protestors. There is no reason not to build the TMT.
Here is the petition:
http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/wesupporttmt.html