HILO, Hawaii (AP) - The case of whether or not an astronomical observatory can be built on land claimed to be sacred by Native Hawaiians is on its way back to the state Supreme Court.
The high court accepted an appeal earlier this month of a lower court ruling that vacated the Thirty Meter Telescope International Observatory’s sublease for 6 acres on Mauna Kea.
The state Land Board denied Native Hawaiian cultural practitioner E. Kalani Flores’ request for a contested case hearing for the sublease in 2014 before approving the sublease with the University of Hawaii at Hilo. A Hilo Circuit Court judge ruled in December that the state Land Board should have granted the hearing to Flores.
An alternative site for the telescope has been talked about in the Canary Islands, which Canadian scientists have been skeptical about.
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