A new $1.4 billion telescope will be built atop a Hawaiian volcano indigenous people consider sacred. The team of scientists fighting for the telescope won approval from Hawaiian officials on Thursday after selecting the site and applying to build there in 2009. Reuters reports: The Hawaii Board of Land and Natural Resources voted 5-2 to allow construction of the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) on the summit of Mauna Kea on Hawaii’s Big Island, state officials said in a statement. Astronomers consider the summit one of the world’s best places to view the cosmos, while Native Hawaiians say the project would disturb holy ground crucial to their connection with ancestors and the heavens. A consortium of scientists initially received construction permits from state officials in 2011. In 2015, the Hawaii Supreme Court voided that decision, saying officials did not follow the proper procedures for a “contested case hearing.” That forced the state board to re-evaluate the proposal with more input from opponents. The project calls for building one of the world’s largest telescopes atop the dormant volcano.

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Source: Slashdot – Hawaii Approves Telescope On Volcano Sacred To Indigenous People