The state Supreme Court heard oral arguments in one of two cases affecting the Thirty Meter Telescope on Thursday in Honolulu.
The court will decide whether E. Kalani Flores has a right to a contested case hearing regarding the $1.4 billion project’s sublease with the University of Hawaii.
TMT International Observatory lost the sublease in December 2016 when Hilo Circuit Judge Greg Nakamura ruled a contested case should have been granted. The state appealed the ruling to the Supreme Court.
If another contested case, a quasi-judicial hearing, is ordered, that could delay the project by another year or two, assuming it isn’t relocated to the Canary Islands.
Oral arguments have not been set in the appeal of the project’s land use permit by project opponents.
The Land Board approved that permit last year following a second contested case.