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.