https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/yw9apy/thirty-meter-telescope-permitted-on-sacred-volcano-rules-hawaii-supreme-court > After four years of controversy, Hawaii’s Supreme Court ruled in favor of building the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) atop Mauna Kea, a volcano that is considered sacred in Hawaiian culture. A 4-1 ruling released Tuesday backed a decision by Hawaii’s department of land and natural resources (DLNR) to grant a construction permit for the $1.4 billion project, which will be one of the largest and most sophisticated observatories on Earth once it is completed. > Tensions over the telescope resulted in peaceful protests at the TMT groundbreaking ceremony on October 7, 2014. Demonstrators reiterated that Mauna Kea is a profoundly important cultural heritage site, and said their wishes to protect the mountain from further development had been ignored when the permit was granted in 2011.