The National Science Board recently announced that it will choose to fund either the Thirty Meter Telescope or the Giant Magellan Telescope. This choice will be discussed at the National Science Board’s May 2024 meeting, with funding and support coming from the National Science Foundation (NSF) as part of the US Extremely Large Telescope Program. Let your voice be heard to protect Mauna Kea by informing NSB you're OPPOSED to funding the construction of the TMT on this sacred mountain.

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I/We oppose NSF funding the construction of the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) on Mauna Kea for the following reasons.    

• Nearly 500,000 individuals from around the world have signed a petition (bit.ly/3IMXUif) supporting the protection of Mauna Kea against further desecration and demanding there be no TMT construction on this sacred mountain.
• TMT has never received the free, prior, and informed consent of Kanaka Maoli (Native Hawaiians) to be built on their sacred mountain. The importance of consent is affirmed in the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. 
• The proposed TMT would adversely impact the open space, view planes, and cultural landscape where hundreds of ahu (shrines) and sites are located.
• There are serious programmatic risks that can’t be remedied or mitigated such as multiple pending lawsuits and future legal challenges concerning the proposed TMT construction on Mauna Kea.
• TMT construction has been shut down for over a decade due to the resistance by thousands of Native Hawaiians and their supporters.
• Any attempts at TMT construction on Mauna Kea will result in another mass standoff and front-line actions to protect and safeguard its sacred landscape, fragile ecosystems, and Native Hawaiian rights and customary practices.