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An international consortium that wants to build the world's biggest telescope on the Big Island of Hawaii says it's deciding what to do next, after the state's Supreme Court invalidated the project's building permit.


The consortium "will follow the process set forth by the state, as we always have. We are assessing our next steps on the way forward," said Henry Yang, chairman of the 

Thirty Meter Telescope International Observatory

, the court said the Hawaii Board of Land and Natural Resources had erred by issuing a permit before a contested hearing could be held on the controversial project:


The consortium, which is led by the University of California and the California Institute of Technology, wants to build a $1.4 billion telescope on a 5-acre site on Mauna Kea, Hawaii's largest mountain.

 about protests over the plan to build the giant telescope on Mauna Kea, which is considered sacred by many native Hawaiians:


The group Mauna Kea Hui, which brought the lawsuit against the telescope, says it will continue to oppose the project.


"We anticipate several years of litigation, and my clients and I are ready for the battle," said Richard Naiwieha Wurdeman, the group's attorney, as quoted by 

.
David Callies, a professor of law at the University of Hawaii, said the court's ruling doesn't mean the end of the telescope. "It doesn't stop the proceedings at all," he said. "It does delay it, and the delay could be anywhere between one and a couple of years."  Copyright 2019 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Effort to build world's biggest telescope hits a big snag

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