TMT

From time to time, we look at the status of the Thirty-Meter Telescope (TMT) project on Hawaii. UC is involved in the project, along with other institutions. The issue sometimes comes up at public comments during UC Regents meetings. Perhaps it will at the upcoming July meetings. As blog readers will know, the project was stalled by local opposition

From Hawaii News Now: Dozens of people — including tribal leaders, members of Mauna Kea Education and Awareness from Hawaii Island and others — delivered a petition... opposing construction of the Thirty Meter Telescope on Maunakea to the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation in Palo Alto, California, which had committed $250 million to the project. The group also delivered a copy of a cease-and-desist letter that had been sent to TMT. “Over 500,000 people are here with us today in the spirit of saying no TMT on Maunakea,” Pua Case of Mauna Kea Education and Awareness told Hawaii News Now.

“Should the Thirty Meter Telescope be considered for the Caltech decommissioned site or back to the northern plateau, we are asking them to halt any further funding for the Thirty Meter Telescope and because they’re the largest single donor funder. That’s why we’re here,” Case said...

The petition comes as TMT is looking at another site on Maunakea. TMT’s project manager told the UH [University of Hawaii] Board of Regents last month the project is looking at the site where the Caltech Submillimeter Observatory was decommissioned and removed in 2024. “We have taken a preliminary look of whether we can possibly build TMT on the decommissioned site scientifically, engineering-wise technically and we believe this is very preliminary, of course, and we believe we can,” said Dr. Fengchuan Liu, TMT International Observatory project manager...

Full story at https://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/2026/06/27/tmt-opponents-deliver-petition-major-funder-california/.