TMT environmental review delayed by voluminous comments

The National Science Foundation is already behind in its effort to evaluate whether the stalled Thirty Meter Telescope project should be reinvigorated with $850,000 or more in public funds.

The agency announced that the timeline for its environmental review — expected to last at least a couple of years — has been amended due to the large volume of comments it received during the effort’s opening public comment period.

An NSF spokesperson told the Honolulu Star-­Advertiser that verbal and written comments provided during the initial public meetings in August, as well as comments submitted online, by email and by mail during the July 19-through- Sept. 19 scoping comment period continue to be evaluated.

All told, there were some 2,500 individual submissions, with the total number of comments estimated at 7,000.

“These comments require careful consideration,” NSF spokesperson Martha Clinck said in an email, noting that while there is no updated timeline yet, “it’s reasonable to expect that near-term milestone dates will be extended by several months.”

The NSF was originally expected to have evaluated all of the comments from the scoping phase by now and begin to conduct studies and prepare a draft environmental impact statement.

The funding agency was also expected to have completed an evaluation of comments on a proposed Community Engagement Plan, as well as publish and implement the final document in 2022, according to its timeline.

In addition, the timeline indicates that NSF was scheduled to have identified historical properties as part of the Section 106 consultation process and to host a two- to three-day workshop to create a plan to define and practice responsible astronomy in Hawaii.

This workshop, as described in the draft Community Engagement Plan, is intended to be interactive and focused on fostering collaboration between the Hawaiian and astronomy communities with a mutual connection to Mauna Kea.

The current NSF timeline calls for publishing a draft environmental impact statement by early summer, with release of the final EIS planned for a year later.

Four public scoping meetings about the environmental review were held by NSF in August, during which the project was loudly criticized by an audience dominated by those who have opposed its construction for years. The same largely Native Hawaiian folks who blocked construction in 2015 and 2019 vowed to do it again if necessary.

Meanwhile, TMT International Observatory Executive Director Robert Kirshner struck a tone of optimism in the latest TMT Insider Newsletter, saying the organization over the past two years has been working to improve its relations with the local community, especially Native Hawaiians.

He also noted that the state has created the Mauna Kea Stewardship and Oversight Authority with representation from Native Hawaiians and cultural practitioners, among others. The authority this year is scheduled to take control of the summit astronomy precinct from the University of Hawaii during a five-year transition period.

“Our task in the coming months and years will be to work in a constructive way with MKSOA,” he said.

While polling indicates a majority of Hawaii residents support the next-generation telescope, the project has been a source of protest and legal dispute for the past decade. Unable to start construction, the project’s price tag has risen from an estimate $1.4 billion to at least $2.6 billion.

The 2020 decadal survey by the U.S. astronomy community recommended NSF investment in both the TMT and its sister project, the Giant Magellan Telescope, and described their construction as the highest priority for ground-based projects.

The survey recommended that NSF get a 25% share in each of the large telescopes in order to give more U.S.-based users access. And if only one is built, the NSF should up its investment to a 50% share in only one of them, it said.

NSF, which has also launched a preliminary design review of TMT, said it will post on its website (beta.nsf.gov/tmt) updates to the environmental review timeline and the draft community engagement plan once they are available.