Aloha all you wonderful people of who have turned out on so many occasions and have helped in so many ways to demonstrate support for our commitment to get an EIS on the Hawaii Superferry before it is allowed here with cars and passengers. Our cause is just and the Hawaii Supreme Court has agreed with us. Without all of you it could not have succeeded to our present level of victory. There is still much to do, and we can't afford to become passive. There are no words to express our appreciation for your support, but the feelings in my heart go out to all of you.
Much Love,
Rich Hoeppner
The People for the Preservation of Kaua’i believes that Hawaii Superferry has not given the people of Hawaii complete information about its purposes and has not addressed crucial environmental challenges. We are committed to peaceful legal action and are actively pursuing the requirement for an Environmental Impact Statement in relation to the Endangered Species Act and the Marine Mammals Protection Act. We are grateful to be receiving pro bono legal services, but we need help with associated costs. Please consider making a donation. Donate.
Insist on an Independent Environmental Impact Study (EIS).
State Government officials have argued that there are no grounds for requiring an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the Hawaii Superferry has argued that other ship lines haven’t been required to undertake an EIS as a condition for engaging in maritime activity and it would be unfair to require an EIS for Hawaii Superferry.
However, these ships generally move at a speed that is much safer for whales; the high risk by the Superferry for Humpback Whales, a federally protected Endangered Species, and for other protected marine mammals should warrant an EIS. Moreover, the Hawaii Superferry, which will move thousands of cars as well as other vehicles between islands, will have a far greater cumulative environmental impact than do the other ships. In addition, Hawaii Superferry received a $140 million loan guarantee from the US Department of Transportation Maritime Administration (MARAD), which should have automatically triggered an Environmental Impact Statement under the National Environmental Act of 1969, while State taxpayers are funding an additional $40 million in harbor improvements in support of the Superferry operations, which also should have triggered an EIS under the Hawaii Revised Statutes.
The public has consistently requested an EIS, a formal request having been made as early as the Public Utilities Commission hearing of November, 2004. Litigation began in March 2005. In 2006, the County Councils on Kaua’i, Maui, and the Big Island, all passed unanimous resolutions asking for an independent EIS. The Maui County Council also directed county attorneys to join in a lawsuit against the state. Citizens have taken every know path of peaceful civil protest, including testifying in State Senate hearings on concerns about the Superferry.
In August this year, the Hawaii Supreme Court ruled unanimously that the state was wrong to bypass an environmental study for Hawaii Superferry improvements at Kahului Harbor as a matter of law. This decision overturned a previous ruling by the Maui Circuit Court, and the case was referred back to Maui for interpretation as to whether the ferry could run before the EIS was completed. After four weeks of testimony, Maui Circuit Court Judge Joseph Cardoza ruled that an EIS was indeed required. He cited, as the basis for his ruling, the fact that Hawaii’s environmental laws are designed to protect the environment, not to protect corporations doing business here. In his closing remarks, he stated, “There is a real possibility of irreparable damage to the environment…”
A new state law, Act 2, was passed rapidly by the state legislature enabling large-capacity vessels such as the Hawaii Superferry to skip the process of conducting an environmental review. In an executive order to implement the act, Governor Lingle placed conditions on ferry operations, but without an environmental assessment, there is no information to support the effectiveness of these conditions. The Sierra Club, Maui tomorrow, and the Kahului Harbor Coalition, represented by Isaac Hall challenged the constitutionality of the law on the grounds that it provides special treatment for the Superferry. However, Judge Cardoza declined to overturn the law, and he lifted his order preventing the Superferry from using the Kahului Harbor.
The insistence by the Governor and other state officials that the Superferry should be permitted to sail without an EIS has sparked deep seated and growing concern amount many in the community. These concerns are shared with groups on Maui and on the Island of Hawaii, and the number of protests is growing. The story is by no means over.
The People for the Preservation of Kaua’i believe that the Hawaii Superferry is not what it seems to be, and we encourage citizens to ask questions about what is really being planned and what the impacts will be. Please read the information provided below about the potential impacts of the ferry.
We are grateful to Senator Gary Hooser and Representative Mina Morita for doing what is right in respecting environmental law integrity; their high level of integrity is deeply appreciated.
For more information, read on.
DO WE WANT TO EXPERIENCE MORE TRAFFIC CONGESTION?
Kapa'a, Kaua'i traffic at 2pm. Imagine an additional 280+ cars unloaded from the Superferry daily: two additional miles of traffic. The traffic in Kapa’a and elsewhere already is severely backed up, causing everyone’s journeys to become longer and longer. Is the option of another means for inter-island travel worth the increased delays that we will experience daily?
The Hawaii Superferry developers tell us that they have done their own traffic studies and have adjusted arrivals times to avoid the busiest traffic hours. However, it is scheduled to arrive in Nawiliwili Harbor daily at 5:30 p.m., the peak of rush hour. What impact will this have on our daily journeys?
Hawaii has never seen a vessel like this twin hull, 350-foot craft traveling at speeds up to 40 knots. Just last month, a cruise ship in Alaska was fined $750,000 for killing a pregnant humpback whale while traveling at a speed estimated at only 17 to 20 knots. It is not a matter of if the Superferry will hit whales and their calves and leave them broken to die, but when and how often. See our letter written in September 2005 expressing our concerns to the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary Advisory Council. We have not had a reply. Other federally protected endangered species, including monk seals and sea turtles, are at even greater risk.
Dr. Lee Tepley has created this 10-minute video, "Will the Hawaii Superferry Kill Humpback Whales?" to explain the high risks for whales.
A Sperm Whale near the Canary Islands, killed by a high-speed superferry.
This whale was killed by a ferry similar to the Hawaii Superferry. Sperm whale deaths in the region went from one every two years before high-speed ferries, to approximately 7 per year after. Researchers feel that the number may have been higher but that after being killed, the whales may have drifted to the bottom of the seabed before they could be counted.
Especially during the winter whale migration season, the Superferry, traveling by day and by night at a high speed of up to 37 knots or about 43 mph in open Hawai’i waters would pose a high risk to whales
Although Hawaii Superferry has developed a 'Whale Avoidance Policy', it does not provide real protection: 1) Reducing speed to 25 knots (faster than the top speed of other ship lines) in waters of 100 fathoms is woefully inadequate; even male Humpback whales moving at top speed swim can only move at about 15 knots; baby whales, swimming with their mothers just below the surface of the sea cannot swim this quickly; the NOAA recommended safe speed is 13 knots 2) The original plan to use sonar to detect whales has been abandoned because the sonar level needed to be effective would exceed legally permitted harassment levels. 3) The plan for visual observation offers inadequate protection since mother and baby whales often swim just below the surface and cannot be seen even with image-stabilized binoculars.
Many people are concerned about the fact that Terry O'Halloran, Director of business Development for Hawaii Superferry, is serving as Chair of the Sanctuary Advisory Council, while Terry White, Chief Operating Officer of Hawaii Superferry, is also a member of the Sanctuary Advisory Council. We believe that this represents a clear conflict of interest.
The Sanctuary Advisory Council press release of July 2005 announced that the Council had approved the Hawaii Superferry Whale Avoidance Policy, and Terry O'Halloran noted: "The Council members recognise that no policy will guarantee that a vessel will not interact directly with a whale, however we feel that these measures represent the best that can be done to avoid whales with the current technology." He added, "We also realize that the policy was not able to propose measures for avoiding whales during nighttime operations." The Hawaii Superferry now is posing to operate at night during two of its inter-island routes: from Kauai to Oahu and on the service to the Big Island, which is due to start in 2009.
The simple technology for protecting whales and other marine mammals is to reduce the speed of the vessel to 13 knots. The Hawaii Superferry will pass through a national preserve for endangered species. The very same whales spend the summer in Alaska, and in the Glacier National Park, NOAA has instituted a 13 knot speed limit. Why is there no speed limit in the Hawaiian waters?
Kaua’i is blessed with a rich variety of low nesting birdlife, which will be rapidly destroyed if mongoose arrive on the island on one of the vehicles transported by the Hawaii Superferry. The mongoose eats the eggs and chicks of low nesting bird species. The much-loved Nene, or Hawaiian goose, nearly became extinct due to mongoose predation. Nene still nest on Kaua’i as do the Albatross and Shearwater, but they could be decimated rapidly. Can we be assured that Superferry inspections of an average of 30 seconds or less per vehicle will keep mongoose from traveling on the cars?
DO WE WANT TO RISK INCREASED DRUG TRAFFICKING AND CRIME?
Drugs can easily be concealed in the hubcaps or undercarriage of cars traveling on the Superferry, and stolen property can be loaded into vans and transported to other islands for sale.
Although Hawaii Superferry assures us that law enforcement and agricultural inspections will be stringent, the time allotted for vehicle inspection will be insufficient to conduct adequate security screening due to the sheer numbers of vehicles loading and off-loading the giant ferry. Having 250 cars loading in 15 minutes leaves 3.6 seconds to thoroughly inspect each vehicle. With even six inspectors, that leaves 21.6 seconds per car. Do the police have the resources needed to handle this?
Are we prepared to accept the risk to our children and out homes?
DO WE WANT TO RISK THE ARRIVAL OF INVASIVE SPECIES?
Miconia is a very serious threat to Hawaii's ecosystems. In Tahiti it is called "the brown tree snake of the plant world" because it can choke out many native plants.
Miconia, Koster' curse and Koster's curse are just a few of the plants that could easily be spread from island to island and that would be hard to eradicate.
Each of the Hawaiian islands has its own unique and fragile ecosystem. Invasive species can easily spread from one island to the next, traveling on the undercarriages of cars transported on the Hawaii Superferry or (in the case of seeds) in the treads of tires. The Superferry is to have cleansing stations portside and to carry out inspections, but how can we sure that the inspections are effective when the projected time will only allow a few seconds to check each vehicle or random checks.
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Cleaning cars will not stop the worst of the threats: Coqui Frogs. The extremely tiny and damaging coqui frog could spread rapidly to all the islands, traveling on cars on the Hawaii Superferry. There is simply no way of stopping these creatures from hopping on board. Because of the penetrating nighttime noise that they create, the coqui frog is a substantial threat to tourism and to the state's overall economic health. Already, coqui frogs are spreading by the millions to infest new areas of the Big Island daily. It has no natural enemies in Hawaii. Possessing an almost unfathomable rate of reproduction, this pest spreads like wildfire, and where it spreads, property values drop
ARE WE COMFORTABLE WITH THE MILITARY USE OF THE FERRIES? "A man generally has two reasons for doing a thing: one that sounds good, and a real one."
~ J.P. Morgan, American Banker/Industrialist
Light Armor Military Transport, Private Contracting for the Defense Industry
Hawaii Superferry is advertised as a passenger ferry, but there are active military connections. John F. Lehman, former Secretary of the Navy under President Reagan chairs the Hawaii Superferry Board of Directors; his private equity firm, J.F. Lehman & Co., has invested $71 million in Hawaii Superferry; five of the other 11 members of the Hawaii Superferry Board have ties to J.F. Lehman & Co. The Superferry design is the same as vessels being used by WestPac Express who transport military personnel and equipment in Japan.
The use of the ferries for military purposes is covered in their PUC application and also in the DOT Harbors and Hawaii Superferry agreement. Visit Juan Wilson's website www.islandbreath.org for more information and read the article he wrote in the Garden Island News in response to the Director of the Hawaii Department of Transportation.
We think that the following quotes from an interview with John F. Lehman in the Pacific Business News (April 8, 2005) says it all. Perhaps because of its controversial nature, this article is no longer available through the Pacific Business News online archive:
‘As for the military being able to use it, there’s a great advantage to being able to travel between Oahu and the training ranges on the Big Island. There’s going to be regular usage by platoons of Stryker vehicles. Armored personnel carriers can travel as a unit and drive on to a ferry, the unit members can go into the passenger area that’s set up so that it will be a conference or briefing area. These units can do training sessions on the way over. When they arrive at Kawaihae Harbor they can get into the Strykers and drive away. I would foresee units of three or five going at a time. That might take up room of 15 cars on board the ferry. It’s a big advantage to the military. It makes it much cheaper and more efficient for them to train soldiers.’
Has the government given the citizens the information that they need to understand what is really going on?
