Mauna Kea Protest: Sacred Land, the TMT Fight, and the 2019 Standoff

The Mauna Kea protests are a decades-long Native Hawaiian movement to stop construction of the Thirty Meter Telescope on the summit of Mauna Kea, a mountain considered among the most sacred sites in Hawaiian culture. The conflict has produced mass arrests, landmark court rulings, a new state management authority, and, as of 2026, a telescope that still has not been built on the mountain and may be built in Spain instead.¹

Why the Mountain Is Sacred

In Hawaiian tradition, Mauna Kea — Mauna a Wākea — is the firstborn son of Wākea (Sky Father) and Papahānaumoku (Earth Mother), the ancestral progenitors of the Hawaiian people. The summit is the piko, the umbilical cord connecting the land to the heavens.² It is classified as wao akua, the realm of the gods, and is associated with deities including the snow goddess Poliʻahu.³ Traditionally, only specialized ritual practitioners accessed the summit, which holds ancient burial sites, shrines, stone altars, and a historically significant adze quarry.⁴

For many Native Hawaiians, protecting the mountain is a matter of kuleana, an ethical responsibility tied to the broader value of aloha ʻāina, love and care for the land.³ Thirteen telescopes already stand on the summit, built over decades under state leases that opponents say have repeatedly failed cultural and environmental standards. A 1998 state audit concluded that the University of Hawaiʻi, the lessee, focused primarily on astronomy development while failing to protect the mountain’s natural and cultural resources, and follow-up audits in 2005, 2014, and 2017 documented continued problems.⁵ The protest movement’s position is that a fourteenth telescope — the largest yet — would compound decades of desecration.

The Thirty Meter Telescope and the Permit Fight

The Thirty Meter Telescope is a proposed observatory backed by an international consortium, originally estimated at $1.4 billion and now estimated at $3.5 to $4 billion.¹ It selected Mauna Kea as its preferred site around 2009. The Board of Land and Natural Resources issued a construction permit in 2011 without first holding the contested case hearing that opponents had a legal right to request.⁶

A coalition of challengers known as the Mauna Kea Hui, led in part by Kealoha Pisciotta of Mauna Kea Anaina Hou and KAHEA: The Hawaiian-Environmental Alliance, invoked constitutional protections for traditional and customary Native Hawaiian practices and the state’s public trust obligations.⁷ A central point in their case: the university itself had conceded the project would have adverse, significant, and substantial impacts on the mountain.⁸

In December 2015, the Hawaiʻi Supreme Court rescinded the permit, ruling that the BLNR had violated due process.⁹ The state then held a 44-day contested case hearing and reissued the permit in September 2017.¹⁰ In October 2018, the Hawaiʻi Supreme Court upheld the new permit 4-1. Justice Michael Wilson dissented, arguing the approval ignored a cumulative “tipping point” of adverse impacts on sacred resources.⁶

The 2019 Standoff on the Mountain

Direct action on the mountain had been building since 2014, when kiaʻi (protectors) blocked a TMT groundbreaking ceremony by occupying the access road. Thirty-one people were arrested in April 2015 blocking the road to the summit.⁶ But the defining confrontation came in 2019.

After the BLNR issued a notice to proceed in June 2019, authorities announced construction would begin July 15. Hundreds of kiaʻi blocked the Mauna Kea Access Road. On the morning of July 17, law enforcement from the county, Honolulu, Maui, the Department of Land and Natural Resources, and the sheriff’s department arrived in riot gear with a sound cannon.¹¹ Governor David Ige issued an emergency proclamation closing parts of the mountain.¹²

Thirty-eight kūpuna — elders — were arrested after refusing to move. Officers zip-tied their hands and led them to vans; some were taken away in wheelchairs or with canes.¹¹ Among them was OHA Maui Trustee Carmen Hulu Lindsey.¹²

Police withdrew after about three hours. The protest grew into a sustained encampment, Puʻuhonua o Puʻuhuluhulu, with a cafeteria, daycare, and medical tent. Daily chants and hula were performed three times a day under the principle of Kapu Aloha, a commitment to nonviolent action.³ Over fifty flags from indigenous nations were flown at the camp, and the movement drew public support from figures including Jason Momoa and Dwayne Johnson.¹¹ Protesters and TMT representatives reached an agreement to clear the road in December 2019, and most participants left after the COVID-19 pandemic began in early 2020.¹³

What Happened to the Arrested Elders

The 38 arrested elders faced petty misdemeanor obstruction charges. In August 2021, four — Keliʻi ʻIoane, Marie Alohalani Brown, Maxine Kahaulelio, and Ranette Robinson — went to trial before Hilo Judge M. Kanani Laubach, who found all four not guilty. The judge reasoned that because the access road was closed and no permits for vehicle movement existed at the time, there was no “unreasonable inconvenience or hazard” to obstruct.¹⁴

The other 30 cases were dismissed after the Hawaiʻi Supreme Court ruled authorities had used an incorrect procedure for filing the criminal complaints. In January 2023, Attorney General Anne Lopez announced the state would not refile any charges, saying “the continued pursuit of these cases is not in the best interests of the people of the State of Hawaiʻi.”¹⁵

A New Authority Takes Over the Mountain

The most significant structural outcome of the protests is Act 255, signed by Governor Ige in 2022. It created the Mauna Kea Stewardship and Oversight Authority (MKSOA), a new state body designed to replace the University of Hawaiʻi as manager of the summit lands.⁹

The MKSOA has eleven voting members, including Native Hawaiian cultural practitioners, a lineal descendant of traditional practitioners, representatives of the county and the university, and members with expertise in land management and education. At least three must reside on the Big Island, and the UH Hilo Chancellor sits as a nonvoting member.¹⁶ Two leaders of the 2019 protests, Lanakila Mangauil and Noe Noe Wong-Wilson, serve on the board.¹⁷ In February 2024, the authority confirmed John De Fries, former president and CEO of the Hawaiʻi Tourism Authority, as executive director. De Fries has described his approach bluntly: “The mountain is above the governor… because ultimately… we’re all accountable to Maunakea.”¹⁸

The MKSOA began a joint management period with the university in July 2023. Act 53, signed in 2026, pushed the deadline for the authority to assume full control to December 2029 and added a reversion clause: if the MKSOA misses key deadlines, management reverts to the university.¹⁹

The Office of Hawaiian Affairs challenged Act 255’s constitutionality in a January 2024 lawsuit, arguing the law shielded the state and UH from accountability for past mismanagement.¹⁷ OHA withdrew the suit in June 2025, saying litigation had “not yielded justice or meaningful progress” and pledging to support the Native Hawaiian leaders on the MKSOA board instead.²⁰

Two More Court and Agency Wins

On May 30, 2024, the Hawaiʻi Supreme Court ruled in Pualani Kanakaʻole Kanahele v. State of Hawaiʻi that the state had illegally taken control of the Mauna Kea Access Road. The case was brought by Hawaiian Homes Trust beneficiaries, including two of the kūpuna arrested in 2019.²¹ The court found the Department of Transportation had improperly designated the road, which crosses Department of Hawaiian Home Lands property, as a state highway in 2018 without the required consultation with DHHL beneficiaries and without compensation. The justices called it a “blatant disregard” of the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act and a breach of the state’s fiduciary duty.²² The case was sent back to a lower court on damages.

On March 27, 2025, the National Park Service listed Mauna Kea on the National Register of Historic Places as a Traditional Cultural Property and District, following a two-year nomination effort by KAHEA, Huliauapaʻa, and Mauna Kea Anaina Hou.²³ The listing does not transfer ownership or block development, but any party seeking government permits or federal funding must now evaluate the impact of proposed projects on the mountain’s cultural and historic significance.²⁴

Where the TMT Stands Now

Construction of the Thirty Meter Telescope has never begun on Mauna Kea. The project lost its bid for National Science Foundation funding in May 2025. In July 2025, Spain offered €400 million to host the telescope at the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory on La Palma, contingent on it being built there instead of in Hawaiʻi. TMT Executive Director Robert Kirshner has said the project is in active discussions with Spanish officials but the board has not decided to leave Hawaiʻi.¹

Governor Josh Green and Hawaiʻi’s full congressional delegation sent an October 2025 letter supporting a path forward on sites where older telescopes have been decommissioned.²⁵ Any new construction would still need MKSOA approval, including a community engagement process estimated to take at least eight months.²⁶ With total project cost now estimated between $3.5 billion and $4 billion, and a funding gap exceeding $1 billion even with the Spanish offer, the TMT’s future on Mauna Kea remains unresolved.¹

What the Movement Changed

Activists describe the Mauna Kea protests as having unified the Native Hawaiian community more effectively than previous formal sovereignty efforts.¹³ The encampment at Puʻuhonua o Puʻuhuluhulu became a site of education and cultural revitalization, with an informal “university” offering classes on Hawaiian knowledge and native rights.²⁷ The movement is tied to longstanding questions about the 1893 overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom and control over roughly 1.8 million acres of ceded lands the state holds in trust, and it drew solidarity from indigenous groups worldwide, including the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. Leaders including Walter Ritte have pushed to channel the energy into voter registration and electing Native Hawaiian officials; others focus on cultural identity and the broader question of self-determination.

1
Science. Giant Telescope Project Long Planned for Hawaii Gets Cozy With Spain
2
University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo. Maunakea Culture
3
University of Virginia Religion Lab. Kū Kiaʻi Mauna: Protecting the Sacred and the Thirty Meter Telescope
4
Cultural Survival. Hundreds Continue to Gather at Mauna Kea
5
Office of Hawaiian Affairs. Mauna Kea
6
NPR. Hawaii Supreme Court OKs Construction of Giant Telescope Despite Native Objections
7
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8
DLNR Office of Conservation and Coastal Lands. Minute Order, Case HA-22-02
9
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10
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11
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12
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13
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14
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15
Big Island Now. Hawaiʻi Ends Prosecution of Kūpuna Who Protested TMT on Mauna Kea
16
State of Hawaiʻi. Act 255, Session Laws of Hawaiʻi 2022
17
Honolulu Civil Beat. OHA Challenges Constitutionality of New Mauna Kea Oversight Authority
18
Ka Wai Ola. Maunakea in Transition
19
Honolulu Star-Advertiser. Bill Gives Maunakea Authority More Time to Assume Management
20
Office of Hawaiian Affairs. OHA Withdraws Maunakea Litigation
21
Hawaiʻi Public Radio. Hawaii Supreme Court Rules State Broke Law Taking Control of Mauna Kea Access Road
22
Findlaw. Kanahele v. State of Hawaiʻi, SCAP-22-0000268
23
Ka Wai Ola. Maunakea on the National Register of Historic Places
24
Hawaiʻi Public Radio. Maunakea Federally Recognized on National Register of Historic Places
25
Honolulu Star-Advertiser. State Leaders Support Alternate Mauna Kea Sites as Option for TMT
26
Honolulu Civil Beat. New Mauna Kea Authority Has Difficult Task Ahead and Limited Time
27
University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo. Maunakea