On Tuesday, Governor David Ige said a project to build a huge telescope near the summit of Mauna Kea can move forward, but Hawaii has failed the mountain in a lot of ways.

Due to the protests and arrests of opponents, who blocked the construction workers from accessing the site, construction was halted since previous month on the $1.4 billion Thirty Meter Telescope.

Ige added that it's the nonprofit telescope company that has to decide when the construction will resume. He mentioned that they will be supporting and enforcing their right to do so.

A longtime Big Island critic of the Thirty Meter Telescope, Kealoha Pisciotta, said she's disappointed by Ige's comments, which according to her lacked substance. She said it has resulted in an illusion that they are going to do something without really doing much. She said Ige's words are not going to prompt protesters to leave the mountain.

Regarding telescope construction, she said he has affirmed that they will move forward. She expressed her worries that their people will be arrested. Telescope officials haven't mentioned when construction will resume.

In a statement, Henry Yang, chair of the TMT International Observatory Board, said, "We appreciate that there are still people who are opposed to the project, and we will continue to respectfully listen and work with them to seek solutions".

Ige has also promised that there will be major changes in stewardship of Mauna Kea, held sacred by Native Hawaiians. He said that the University of Hawaii, which leases the land, must do a better job in its stewardship, while pointing towards 10 actions that he had asked the university to take.

While reading a prepared statement to media, university President David Lassner said that they agree the university can and must do better and apologized for where their efforts have fallen short.