HILO, Hawaii – During the first day of the contested case hearing in Hilo, Pua Case – a Hawaiian cultural practitioner and one of the original legal challengers of the Thirty Meter Telescope permit – asked planner Perry White if he believes Mauna Kea is sacred.

Case’s question followed a probe of how the construction of the $1.4 billion observatory would impact cultural practices near the northern plateau of the mountain.

White – one of the primary authors of the TMT conservation district use permit application – never answered the final question on sacredness. Hearing officer Riki May Amano stopped White from answering after sustaining an objection from the University of Hawaii, which offered White as its first witness.

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