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December 4, 2007
Honolulu Advertisor
Hawaii Superferry postpones Thursday relaunch
By Christie Wilson
KAHULUI, Maui — Hawaii Superferry is postponing the relaunch of its Maui-to-Honolulu service until the state can repair pier damage at Kahului Harbor caused by yesterday's high surf.
The company planned to resume service Thursday, and has yet to announce the postponement and a new start date, but Michael Formby of the Department of Transportation said the 350-foot high-speed catamaran would not be able to use the harbor for at least three days.
The time is needed to replace two bollards that were ripped from Pier 2 and to inspect the state-owned barge that will be used to load and unload vehicles from the ferry. The barge also must be realigned to accommodate ferry operations.
Formby said swells within the harbor yesterday were measured at 6 feet. He called the conditions the worst in recent memory.
http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2007/Dec/04/br/br2458196370.html |
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December 2, 2007
Honolulu Star Bulletin
Maui residents protest Superferry
Hawaii Superferry postpones Thursday relaunch
By Gary T. Kubota
WAILUKU » More than 30 east Maui residents protested the impending return of the Hawaii Superferry, saying the interisle service threatened their livelihood.
Officials of the Eastside Hui, an organizer of yesterday morning's demonstration, said they fear their rural Hawaiian subsistence lifestyle is in jeopardy, including catching fish to help provide food for their families.
Holding signs saying, "Cuz, No Take Superferry" and "Abuse of Power," the group walked a block from the parking lot fronting Ah Fook's Supermarket to a sidewalk fronting Longs Drug Store and the harbor.
The group plans to join other groups in demonstrations at 9 a.m. on Thursday, the scheduled restart of Superferry travel between Oahu and Maui, and again on Saturday.
Eastside Hui spokesman Kema Kanakaole said east Maui has limited mountain and ocean resources and he doesn't want people from Oahu loading their vehicles with fish and depleting resources in the way they have on their island.
"Out in the country we're not set up for massive amounts of people," said Kanakaole. "We want to protect our resources."
Kanakaole said his advice to Oahu people who want to come to Maui to do coastal fishing is to "go home and take care of their ice box, so they get fish."
Kanakaole said he's not about to violate federal laws by entering security zone waters because he has family responsibilities, including raising six children.
But he said he's sure there are other people willing to go that far and he supports them.
Steven Ho'okano, another organizer, said the state, including Gov. Linda Lingle's administration, hasn't been doing their job of protecting resources in east Maui by having enough conservation officers.
Eastside Hui officials have noted the absence of conservation enforcement, especially since a conservation officer who lived in Hana retired.
Ho'okano said that while the Superferry has received $40 million to improve Kahului Harbor, there has been inadequate funding to protect the traditional and customary rights of Hawaiians, as guaranteed by the state Constitution.
"The state of Hawaii is to blame," he said.
Randy Awo, the Maui chief for state conservation enforcement, said his branch could use more staffing to be more effective.
Awo said even when it had a conservation officer living in the Hana district, the officer was sometimes assigned to duties outside of the region.
Awo said the branch is adding several conservation officers.
http://starbulletin.com/2007/12/02/news/story04.html |
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November 24, 2007
Maui News
Superferry’s Kahului barge breaks loose
By HARRY EAGAR, Staff Writer
KAHULUI – If things had happened as scheduled, the Hawaii Superferry Alakai would have had several months of smooth sailing before having to cope with Hawaii’s boisterous winter seas.
As it is, the Alakai’s resumption of service will coincide with the onset of winter swells.
Although the mooring barge at Kahului Harbor has broken its cable twice already, Superferry President John Garibaldi says he expects the ferry to be able to operate 99 percent of the time, despite weather and swells.
The barge design is intended to cope with swell heights in the harbor of up to 1.43 feet. That was based on a 14-month study by the Harbors Division that included two winters’ worth of waves.
With a conservative margin added in, that should cover all but 1 percent of the time.
“One percent of 365 days is 3.65 days,” Garibaldi said Friday. However, he cautioned, that is “just an analytical number.”
Only experience will show just how badly Kahului’s notorious surge will inhibit ferry operations.
If 1.43 feet seems small, the effective height is expected to be double that – 2.86 feet, counting from the trough to the peak of a swell.
Swells can get a lot bigger in the harbor – five times bigger, at least.
Joe Almony, Superferry’s director of engineering, says the hope is that the barge-ferry-pier combination will be able to handle a little better than 2.86 feet of swell.
“There should be some dampening effect” once the two pieces are married together, he says.
Predicting the arrival times of swells is not an exact science, either.
The National Weather Service and a variety of other sources publish swell estimates, based on activity monitored by buoys far out at sea and other information.
Because of Kahului Harbor’s orientation, a north swell causes the most trouble, while most winter storms come from the northwest.
“A few degrees east can make a big difference,” says Almony.
Superferry has retained an oceanographer to refine the analysis of wave action.
Since the ferry will leave Honolulu for Maui at 6:30 a.m., there will be a problem in alerting customers that weather or high wave action will prevent docking in Kahului.
Weather-related operational adversity “always happens,” says Garibaldi, a former airlines manager.
Superferry plans to use a variety of means to alert passengers about cancellations, including e-mails, text messages and telephone calls.
Garibaldi admitted that telephone calls at 4 o’clock in the morning probably won’t be used, but the reservations system is set up to collect contact information from passengers.
“We will work this out,” he says. “It would be a perfect world if we could get this out to everyone.”
Superferry has also alerted the state that its schedule will have to be adjusted if weather forces it to take a more sheltered route.
Second Circuit Judge Joel August has ordered that traffic control for the Kaahumanu-Puunene avenues intersection be in place from 90 minutes before the ferry docks until 90 minutes after.
The company announced Friday a schedule that has the ferry arriving at Kahului at 10:15 a.m. and departing at 11:15 a.m.
However, if the ferry has to take the route south of Molokai – that is, within the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary – then conditions imposed by Gov. Linda Lingle will limit its speed to 25 knots, instead of its 37-knot cruising speed. The sanctuary waters comprise 1,400 square miles of ocean largely within the five channels of Maui County and including the Penguin Banks of the Kaiwi Channel between Molokai and Oahu.
That would add 45 minutes to the trip and push the traffic impact on Kahului roads that much later in the day.
The route north of Molokai is expected to generally have rougher seas, but it also has fewer whales, so that is the preferred route during the peak of the humpback whale season from January through April.
Like predicting swells in the harbor, predicting how many days the ferry will be either unable to sail or be forced to sail south of Molokai is difficult until the operation gets some actual experience.
http://www.mauinews.com/news/2007/11/24/02ferry1124.html |
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November 23, 2007
Honolulu Advertisor
Maui ferry zone may block surfing, fishing
During northeast swells, a surfbreak in Kahului Harbor attracts surfers, bodyboarders, paddlers, kayakers and others.
By Christie Wilson
KAHULUI, Maui — The U.S. Coast Guard is expected to announce an expanded security zone at Kahului Harbor in anticipation of the Dec. 1 return of the Hawaii Superferry.
Coast Guard Lt. John Tichen said the zone would be similar to emergency rules imposed at Nawiliwili Harbor on Kaua'i after protesters jumped into the water in an attempt to block the 350-foot, high-speed ferry from docking in late August.
Those rules prohibited boats, swimmers, kayakers, people on surfboards and anyone else from being in harbor waters 60 minutes prior to the vessel's arrival until 10 minutes after its departure. The rules set aside an area for protests.
The Superferry's Maui schedule calls for a 9:30 a.m. arrival from Honolulu and an 11 a.m. departure.
If a harborwide security zone is put into effect, the Coast Guard may see more resistance from surfers and fishermen than from environmentalists.
During northeast swells, a surfbreak in Kahului Harbor attracts surfers, bodyboarders, paddlers, kayakers and others. The surf spot is popular because it's just a couple minutes from work and schools, allows easy access to waves, has ample parking and is suitable for surfers of all skill levels.
The harbor also is home to two major canoe clubs and a newly renovated small-boat ramp used by commercial and recreational fishermen.
All could be prohibited from entering the water under a security zone similar to the one applied on Kaua'i.
"The surf is here only certain times. That would be a drag," said surfer Milton Yamashita of Kula, rinsing off after enjoying the Kahului Harbor surfbreak on Wednesday. "I don't see a point to it."
Yamashita said he doesn't have a problem with the Superferry but feels an expansive security zone would be another example of how the ferry has been "shoved down our throats."
"I'm fine with the ferry, but they just keep jerking us around. Stuff like that is a waste of our time," he said.
Sam Ahoon of Kihei said he goes out fishing a couple times a week, using his catch to make money and feed his family. Ahoon usually heads out of the harbor between 3 and 8 a.m., which shouldn't be a problem with the ferry's 9:30 a.m. arrival. But he still fears the potential impact of the security zone on his fishing trips and on other boaters.
"The best time to go out is early morning. It would be stopping Hawaiian people and locals from gathering fish for their 'ohana. That's their job, that's their work," he said.
If the security zone is in effect longer than a few days and stretches into Christmas vacation, it also could affect the high school canoe paddling teams that train and race at Kahului Harbor.
Tichen said the Maui security zone is still under discussion, and the Coast Guard will meet today with state and county enforcement officials to further examine potential restrictions.
"We will take that into consideration and try to find a balance for other recreational users," he said.
The federal agency hopes to be able to announce the security rules next week, in plenty of time to alert the public before the ferry's arrival, according to Tichen.
Protesters who fail to comply with orders pertaining to the security zones, purposely injure or threaten to injure an enforcement officer or attempt to destruct or interfere with vessels may be punished by imprisonment for up to 10 years and may be fined up to $32,500. Any vessel used to violate a security zone, including surfboards, kayaks and canoes, may be immediately confiscated and forfeited.
Tichen said how long the security zone remains in effect will depend on the reaction to the Superferry's return, which comes in the wake of a pitched court battle and emotional public debate. So far on Maui there have been minor sign-waving protests, but those demonstrations took place in the context of a pending legal case that ended in favor of groups pushing for an environmental review before the ferry service could start.
Since the ferry's last formal visit to Maui on Aug. 27, the Legislature and Gov. Linda Lingle passed a new law during a special session that essentially overturned the court rulings that had grounded the Hawaii Superferry.
"We're hopeful that people will recognize the law and demonstrate in a peaceful manner," Tichen said.
Officials with the Sierra Club and Maui Tomorrow, who participated in the court case, have said that if they organize protests, they will be conducted lawfully. Some members of the Kahului Harbor Coalition, the third group involved in the case, are calling for sign-waving.
http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2007/Nov/23/ln/hawaii711230369.html |
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November 22, 2007
Maui News
Harbors chief: Superferry can handle surge
By HARRY EAGAR, Staff Writer KAHULUI – When the Superferry docking barge broke one of its mooring lines on Nov. 14, it was the second time in about a month that had happened.
State Harbors Director Mike Formby said Wednesday that it probably wouldn’t have happened the second time if the injunction against ferry operations hadn’t still been in place.
He said an interim mooring solution to answer Kahului Harbor’s surge problem will be in place before ferry service resumes a week from Saturday.
A permanent solution is being studied.
Hawaii Superferry officials could not be reached to comment about how ocean swells in the harbor will affect their operations.
After the first break in a wire cable – which happened when swells were not affecting the harbor – additional “soft” mooring lines were installed as a backup.
Soft lines – in other words, ropes – worked, said Formby. With more give than wire cables or chains, they snubbed the barge, so that it never got entirely free from the pier. Two tugs eventually corralled the barge and shifted its berth.
Formby said that ordinarily Superferry workers would have taken steps to preserve the moorings – perhaps by shifting the barge – when the surge began to cause trouble.
The state owns the barge, but Hawaii Superferry is required by its operating agreement to maintain it, which includes moving it when it becomes a danger to Pier 2.
However, when 2nd Circuit Judge Joseph Cardoza enjoined the ferry from operating at Kahului Harbor, he also voided the operating agreement. Cardoza, responding to a new law, Act 2, had ruled on Nov. 14 that the injunction was dissolved and the operating agreement was no longer void.
His ruling from the bench came right before the cable snapped, but his decision was not yet written up and signed, and Superferry employees were not authorized to act to shift the barge’s berth.
Once the cable snapped, Harbors Division employees and crews of two privately-owned tugs took measures to restrain the barge. Later it was shifted to berth 2B, which usually is less affected by swells.
Formby said he is confident that in the future, Superferry employees will be able to keep the barge from breaking loose.
When the cable broke, a bollard also was sheared off. By Dec. 1, there will be more mooring lines and more bollards to attach them to, Formby said.
A winch arrangement will allow the barge to be eased away from the pier, except when the ferry is in port, when it will be snugged up in order to marry the ramps of the two vessels.
The fact that the barge broke a line in a small swell raises the question of how big a swell the barge-ferry-pier system can manage during loading and unloading.
Also, how much reliance can be placed on forecasts of swells and surge in Kahului.
Formby said the decision on when the ferry can sail safely to Kahului is for Superferry to determine.
“It’s the captain’s call,” he said.
Superferry officials have said from the start that there would be days when the weather would prevent sailing.
Swells in the harbor are mostly independent of local weather. The troublesome ones typically originate in distant winter storms far to the north of Hawaii. In addition to more mooring cables and bollards, the state is planning to place more rubber fenders (old tires from construction equipment) to protect the pier.
When the barge was not fully under control, it banged a dent in its side, but the damage will not affect its operation, Formby said.
State engineers also are looking at a long-term solution for a stable mooring system, and they were meeting with Coast Guard officers Wednesday.
The Coast Guard is not responsible for approving the mooring arrangements, because as a semi-permanently fixed piece of equipment, the barge is not classed with moving vessels.
However, the state has asked the Coast Guard for advice.
http://mauinews.com/news/2007/11/16/01supk1116.html |
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November 16, 2007
Maui News
Superferry’s Kahului barge breaks loose
By HARRY EAGAR, Staff Writer
KAHULUI – Just after a Maui judge said the ferry Alakai could soon resume operating in Kahului Harbor on Wednesday, the docking barge that serves the ferry snapped a mooring cable and began pounding the end of Pier 2.
Only minor damage was inflicted before harbor tugs were able to first stabilize the barge and then move it up against the side of Pier 2, away from the end of the dock where an early-winter swell apparently was more than it could handle.
The incident opened a question about the viability of the ferry operations at Kahului, which is subject to severe north swells during the winter months.
Hawaii Superferry’s operational plan had recognized that swells and surge in the harbor can be troublesome at times, and that the docking barge would occasionally have to be shifted away from its semipermanent home at berth 2C.
The occasions were reckoned to be few.
But the huge barge got in trouble in the first north swell it encountered, and it wasn’t a big swell.
On Wednesday, northwest swells generated by a pair of north Pacific storms were running 3 to 5 feet on Maui’s north shore – 6 to 10 feet if using the National Weather Service standard of measuring full wave faces from trough to peak.
“People were surfing in the harbor,” said Rowland Lee, the Kahului manager of Young Brothers/Hawaiian Tug & Barge, which shares Pier 2 with the ferry.
About 4 p.m. Wednesday, a steel chain and cable holding the barge in place snapped. Other mooring lines kept the barge under partial control, but it was swinging and pounding against the pier, according to Scott Ishikawa, spokesman for the state Department of Transportation.
Several surfers and paddlers at the harbor Wednesday evening said a tugboat first responded by pushing against the barge to hold it against the dock until a second tug could assist in swinging the dock away from berth 2C to berth 2B, where the Superferry itself would normally be docked for unloading.
The tugs Pacific Spirit and Daniel K. Akaka were involved in moving the barge to berth 2B, which is more sheltered from a northwest swell running down the harbor entrance channel.
Lee said the changes had no effect on YB operations Thursday.
Ishikawa said the side of the barge suffered some scrapes, and the pier lost some of its rubber fenders.
No serious damage was reported, although a bollard at berth 2C appeared to have been cracked.
Last December, when swells were much bigger – estimated 10 to 15 feet – ships tugging at their lines ripped four huge bollards off two of the piers.
Steve Pfister, the harbor master, said then that if something is to fail, he would prefer to lose a bollard rather than have it hold and finally drag off a chunk of pier with it.
Pfister was away Thursday, but last year he had called berth 2C “the worst place to park” when the water in the harbor is surging hard.
Hawaii Superferry officials deferred comment to the state, which owns the barge.
Ishikawa said a bollard sheared off Pier 2 Wednesday as well.
“The swells weren’t that huge,” he said.
He said the state would monitor the situation but he could not say what the event implied, if anything, for daily operations. The company said it would announce its plans for resumption of service today.
The ferry is being allowed to operate under a new state law requiring the state Department of Transportation to prepare an environmental impact statement on harbor upgrades that allow the ferry to use the harbors – and to mitigate any environmental or social impacts.
On Wednesday afternoon, Maui Circuit Judge Joseph Cardoza lifted an injunction he had issued on ferry operations, saying the new law superseded his decision
With the first ferry, Alakai, Hawaii Superferry plans daily round trips between Honolulu and Kahului and Sunday-to-Friday service from Honolulu to Nawiliwili on Kauai.
The Kahului run would dock at 9:30 a.m. and depart at 11 a.m. under the company’s schedule. But the 90-minute stopover could be in jeopardy under an order from 2nd Circuit Judge Joel August that only two vehicles a minute can be allowed to exit from the ferry terminal to Puunene Avenue.
Attorneys for the state and the Superferry say the time limit would hamper the ferry’s ability to maintain its schedule, and a motion to lift the order is scheduled for a hearing by August on Monday.
The Kahului barge and a similar one in Honolulu Harbor serve as ramps so cars can drive off the ferry decks, which are higher than the pier. At Nawiliwili, no barge is necessary.
http://mauinews.com/news/2007/11/16/01supk1116.html |
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November 15, 2007
Hawaii News Channel
Coast Guard Set To Secure Harbors
HONOLULU -- Hawaii Superferry is expected to announce on Friday when it plans to resume operations -- two days after a Maui judge dissolved the injunction barring the ferry from going to the Valley Isle.
The Coast Guard said it is looking at setting up a much larger security zone at Kahului Harbor.
KITV's Keoki Kerr reported that the Coast Guard expanded the security zone around the Superferry for the harbor on Kaua'i already, which now may happen on Maui.
The Coast Guard, the Superferry, the state and counties want to avoid a repeat of when protesters on surfboards and bodyboards blocked the ferry from entering Nawiliwili Harbor on Kauai in August.
"We're not necessarily gearing up for a confrontation. We're expecting things to go in an orderly manner, and hopefully, that will be the case," State Transportation Director Barry Fukunaga said.
Now that a judge has allowed the Superferry to sail to and from Maui again, the Coast Guard is looking at expanding the security zone from the 100-yard radius around the vessel, which is difficult to enforce.
A Coast Guard spokesman said a portion or all of Kahului Harbor could be included in the security zone.
"We'd have to make sure that whatever is done is done in a manner that doesn't create a bigger problem than it actually should," Fukunaga said.
The Coast Guard said it will meet with other harbor users, like barge and tug operators, canoe clubs and cruise ship companies, to try to minimize their inconvenience, while setting up an enforceable area that's off-limits to protesters while also creating places on shore where protesters can assemble legally.
"We're at the point now where a lot of people understand what has been done. The law has been passed. The judge has ruled. We don't expect any really significant problems either there or at Nawiliwili," Fukunaga said.
On Kauai in August, protesters in the water out-maneuvered Coast Guard vessels. Now, the Coast Guard said there's a "good possibility" it will bring in personnel and small boats from the mainland to both Maui and Kauai to ensure protesters don't block the ferry.
The Coast Guard said if it extends a security zone at Kahului, it will announce the plans with enough time before the Superferry's sail date to give harbor users time to adjust to the changes.
http://www.thehawaiichannel.com/news/14611934/detail.html |
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November 15, 2007
Honolulu Advertisor
Judge lifts injunction on Hawaii Superferry
By Christie Wilson
Advertiser Neighbor Island Editor
A Maui court has cleared Hawaii Superferry to resume service, but attorney Isaac Hall says foes are "not going to stand by and take this."
WAILUKU, Maui — Hawaii Superferry is expected to announce a relaunch date by week's end, after yesterday's court ruling that cleared the new interisland ferry to sail.
Hawaii Superferry President and CEO John Garibaldi described the lifting of a Maui court injunction that had kept the ship from using Kahului Harbor as "a new beginning for us."
The company will take about two weeks to rehire 250 furloughed workers and gear back up to provide service between Honolulu, Maui and Kaua'i, Garibaldi said. The only other pending requirements are notifying the state Department of Transportation, the Coast Guard and other regulators of the company's plans to resume operations, he said.
The ruling by Maui Circuit Judge Joseph Cardoza wrapped up — for now at least — a 2 1/2-year legal challenge that nearly scuttled the $250 million enterprise and ignited a bitter public debate that exposed deep geographic, racial, cultural and political divisions within the state.
Wailuku attorney Isaac Hall, who represents three groups that pushed for an environmental review before the ferry could operate, called the outcome of yesterday's hearing "a temporary defeat." He indicated he would appeal Cardoza's decision, which validates a new state law allowing the ferry to operate while an environmental review is conducted.
The judge rejected Hall's request to keep the injunction in effect while the appeal is pursued.
"This is far from over," Hall said after the hearing. "This has led to the building of a huge coalition between Hawai'i, Kaua'i and Maui."
He said there will be political consequences for lawmakers "who let us down" by approving legislation that essentially overturned court decisions requiring environmental studies before the ferry could resume service.
"A strong coalition has formed and it's not going to stand by and take this," he said.
Hall also clarified statements he made during court arguments that if the injunction were dissolved, "the only way left to secure justice is in the water." The comment was a reference to events on Kaua'i in which protesters jumped into Nawiliwili Harbor to keep the ferry from docking during the two days in late August it was running.
Hall said he was not attempting to encourage similar protests on Maui, but wanted to emphasize the degree of anger and frustration among some in the community who feel their concerns have been ignored by the state and the Superferry, and have now seen their court victories erased by political maneuvering.
"There are some social impacts to ramming a project down the throats of Hawai'i's people ..." he said. "People on the street are not happy with what is happening with the Hawaii Superferry."
DISTURBED BY REMARKS
State Attorney General Mark Bennett told Cardoza he was "deeply disturbed" by Hall's remarks "threatening this court that the only way to secure justice is to jump in the water. To come before this court and say, 'Judge, you'd better not dissolve the injunction because people are going to get hurt' is an outrage."
Cardoza said Superferry opponents who break the law "run the risk of alienating the community against the importance of protecting the environment" and addressing other issues such as the spread of invasive species and preserving Native Hawaiian resources.
And just as he had done in issuing the injunction Oct. 9, Cardoza acknowledged the underlying issues fueling some of the opposition to the ferry.
"The court recognizes that issues related to cultural values and conflicts between old Hawai'i and the modern world and a changing lifestyle are very serious issues that warrant a painful and open discussion," he said.
He said the conflicts have been "festering for a long time in this community and existed long before the Superferry became an issue."
Gov. Linda Lingle issued a statement saying she was pleased with the ruling and that the judge "recognized that the Legislature and our administration worked cooperatively, within the boundaries of our state constitution, to pass a law that preserves an important interisland transportation alternative for the people of Hawai'i."
"As the interisland ferry service resumes, we will continue to work closely with environmental, cultural and agricultural organizations, the counties, the community and Hawai'i Superferry officials to ensure specific conditions are followed to minimize the impact on Hawai'i's natural and cultural resources," Lingle said.
CHALLENGE FILED IN 2005
The court case was initiated when Hall's clients, the Sierra Club, Maui Tomorrow and the Kahului Harbor Coalition, filed a legal challenge to a state Department of Transportation determination in February 2005 that $40 million in ferry-related projects at four ports were exempt from Hawai'i's environmental protection law, known as Chapter 343, and did not require environmental studies.
When Cardoza dismissed their complaint in July 2005, the three groups appealed to the Hawai'i Supreme Court. In a decision released Aug. 23, the higher court said the exemption was improper and that an environmental assessment was required.
A day later, the Superferry announced it would launch Aug. 26, two days ahead of schedule, and offered $5 fares. On Aug. 27, Cardoza issued a temporary restraining order halting further voyages to Maui.
The order was followed by a four-week trial to determine whether the ferry could operate during the environmental assessment process. The judge heard testimony on issues such as the potential for ferry collisions with humpback whales and the spread of invasive species, concerns about ferry passengers bringing their vehicles to Maui and depleting Native Hawaiian subsistence resources, as well as the economic, civil defense and transportation benefits offered by the ferry service.
On Oct. 9, Cardoza ruled that Chapter 343 requires an environmental review before commencement of a project, and he replaced the temporary order with a preliminary and permanent injunction that prevented the ferry from visiting Kahului Harbor pending an assessment.
Lingle and the Legislature moved quickly to convene a special session to pass a bill that would allow the ferry to resume operations during the review. Lingle signed the measure, known as Act 2, on Nov. 2 and attached 42 conditions meant to address some of the environmental concerns related to ferry operations.
LAW CALLED ILLEGAL
During his arguments yesterday and in a court memorandum, Hall said Act 2 is unconstitutional on a variety of levels. He said the governor's proclamation convening the special session was illegal because it interfered with a court order, and that the new law violated the balance of power among the three branches of government.
Hall also said that by passing Act 2, elected leaders violated their public trust duties under the state constitution to protect Hawai'i's fragile environment and the traditional and customary rights of Native Hawaiians.
"Act 2 is correct about one thing and one thing alone, and that is that Hawai'i has a fragile and unique environment ... ," Hall told the court. "Instead of protecting these resources, our attorney general travels over here from O'ahu to argue that they should be destroyed to protect Hawaii Superferry."
He said the Legislature and the governor established the operating conditions without benefit of the four weeks of testimony heard by Cardoza, who determined the high-speed ferry, which transports passengers, vehicles and cargo, is a new mode of transportation in Hawai'i that poses the risk of irreparable harm if allowed to operate before an environmental assessment can determine whether mitigation is needed.
By allowing the governor to determine the 42 conditions attached to the law, Hall said the Legislature also had improperly delegated its legislative powers.
Cardoza disagreed, explaining that in drafting the bill, the Legislature set forth standards and procedures to be followed by the governor. "That type of delegation is permissible," he said.
http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2007/Nov/15/ln/hawaii711150361.html |
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November 6, 2007
Honolulu Advertisor
Hawaii Superferry conditions finalized
By Derrick DePledge
Advertiser Government Writer
SUPERFERRY CONDITIONS
Gov. Linda Lingle has signed a bill and an executive order placing more than 40 operating conditions on Hawaii Superferry.
Here are some of the highlights of the conditions imposed by Lingle:
Post two people to act as whale lookouts and request that National Marine Fisheries Service-certified fisheries observers, now living in Hawai'i, such as graduates and members of Alu Like's Marine Stewardship Program, be aboard Hawaii Superferry's ships to monitor marine life and warn the ship's crew in time to prevent potential collisions.
Avoid operating within the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary or in waters less than 100 fathoms deep from Jan. 1 to April 30, except in instances that are in the interest of the safety or comfort of passengers.
Conduct agricultural screenings and inspections of passengers and all vehicles, including visual inspections of engines, interiors, undercarriages, wheel wells, trunks and beds of pickup trucks. Vehicles that are excessively muddy or that have prohibited items will be turned away, or the prohibited items taken away.
Notify passengers in advance that all vehicles, camping, hiking, hunting, diving, snorkeling, fishing and boating equipment should be thoroughly washed and free of debris.
Ban living plants and propagative plant parts (e.g., roots and root stock) that are not accompanied by a state Department of Agriculture Certificate of Inspection.
Require passengers to declare all plants, fruits and seeds, and permit inspections of such items by the Department of Agriculture.
Consider establishing a special transport rate for agricultural products.
Prohibit the transport of logs, cut trees and tree limbs.
Ban the transport of rocks, soil, sand, dirt or dead coral, except for soil or dirt in potted plants inspected and cleared for transport by the Department of Agriculture.
Ban the transport of 'opihi, lobsters, or other crustaceans, and fishing nets of all kinds.
Prohibit the transport of iwi or human bones.
Provide passengers with information concerning restrictions on the use of cultural and natural resources, including hunting and fishing rules and camping permit requirements.
Consider adding a cultural briefing on Hawai'i's cultural and natural resources as part of its on-board education program.
Comply with state water pollution laws, rules and regulations, and refrain from discharging wastewater into the ocean.
Conduct complete traffic studies and implement a vehicle movement and management plan for each port of operation as directed by the Department of Transportation. The traffic studies will be used to adjust vessel arrival and departure schedules as necessary to lessen the impact of arriving cars on local traffic.
Employ trained staff to manage traffic entering and exiting each port terminal facility and post security guards or off-duty police officers to direct traffic and control signals to minimize traffic problems.
Cooperate with any risk assessment conducted by or authorized by the Department of Transportation and the Department of Agriculture.
Source: Lingle administration
Gov. Linda Lingle has signed a bill allowing Hawaii Superferry to resume service while the state conducts an environmental review of the project, and has placed more than 40 operating conditions on Superferry that will be monitored by a rapid risk assessment team and an oversight task force.
The conditions are intended as precautions during the one to two years it could take the state to complete an environmental impact statement, and could be modified by the governor and the state Legislature. Many of the conditions written into the law are similar to promises Superferry executives had voluntarily made to protect the environment, while others were added in consultation with environmentalists, farmers and cultural experts.
Lingle signed the bill into law late Friday and finalized the conditions in an executive order Sunday. The state Attorney General's Office and Superferry filed motions in Maui Circuit Court yesterday to lift an injunction that has blocked Superferry from Kahului Harbor until an environmental review is completed. A hearing is scheduled for tomorrow morning.
Isaac Hall, an attorney for Maui Tomorrow, the Sierra Club and Kahului Harbor Coalition, the environmental groups that have challenged Superferry, said he will ask that the injunction not be lifted.
"We were very disappointed," Hall said of Lingle's operating conditions. "I think they're not sufficient to mitigate the irreparable harm that the judge identified."
REASONABLE AND FAIR
Superferry released a statement yesterday that described the conditions as reasonable and fair.
"We appreciate Gov. Lingle's and the Legislature's timely action of signing into law a bill that allows Hawaii Superferry to operate while the state conducts an EIS. Hawaii Superferry believes that the operating conditions outlined by the governor are reasonable and fair under the current circumstances," John Garibaldi, the Superferry's president and chief executive officer, said in a statement. "As we stated last week, we look forward to resuming service once all operational, regulatory and legal steps are completed."
Lingle had predicted that neither Superferry nor the project's critics would be satisfied with her conditions.
"It's important to keep in mind that these are really interim conditions until the Legislature comes back into session, at which time they have the opportunity to make any changes to the bill that they want. Also, I have the opportunity to change these conditions through the executive order at any time as well," Lingle said yesterday at the state Capitol.
SPEED WAS TRICKY ISSUE
Among the most difficult decisions, Lingle said, was how much to restrict the ferry's speed to protect endangered humpback whales and other marine life. Environmentalists had wanted the ferry to slow to 13 knots in shallow waters, while Superferry executives were only willing to slow to 25 knots in shallow waters and within the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary.
Lingle opted to urge Superferry to avoid the whale sanctuary and shallow waters of 100 fathoms or less when possible from January through April, the peak of the winter whale season. The ferry would have to slow from an estimated travel speed of about 35 knots down to 25 knots in the sanctuary and in shallow waters outside of harbors.
"They feel it's important to be able to travel at a speed where the passengers are comfortable and not in any danger, and that's why the issue of the route and the speed ended up as it did," Lingle explained.
Jeff Mikulina, director of the Sierra Club's Hawai'i chapter, said he appreciated Lingle's effort but believes the conditions do not go far enough.
"We respect that the governor has attempted to go beyond what the bill says to protect the environment and natural resources," he said. "But the big one — the speed issue — wasn't in there."
Lingle also addressed a flaw in the bill involving a request for National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration observers on voyages through the whale sanctuary to help spot whales.
ALTERNATE OBSERVERS
The bill required Superferry to apply for an incidental-take permit under the federal Endangered Species Act, which would include a habitat conservation plan for whales and other marine life in exchange for liability protection in the event of whale strikes. Lawmakers also wanted Superferry to request NOAA observers, but a NOAA Fisheries official has said that the only scenario where observers would be available is through the permit, which could take a year or longer to process.
Superferry mailed its application for an incidental-take permit on Sunday and also requested the NOAA observers.
Lingle modified the condition so Superferry can request NOAA-certified observers who live in Hawai'i to serve as lookouts, including those involved with the Alu Like marine stewardship program. Alu Like in the past has received a federal grant from NOAA to train Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders as fishery observers.
ADDRESSING BIRDS, IWI
Superferry also must agree to have crew members trained by the state Department of Land and Natural Resources to look for downed seabirds. On departures between mid-September and mid-December, the crew must check the vessel and retrieve and care for any downed seabirds.
Lingle also imposed several conditions to protect natural and cultural resources, and respond to some concerns on the Neighbor Islands that people would arrive on the ferry and deplete fishing grounds.
The governor ordered Superferry to ban all fishing nets and the transport of 'opihi, lobster and other crustaceans. Superferry also must ban the transport of iwi, or human bones, and consider doing briefings for passengers on Hawaiian cultural issues.
Lingle also asked Superferry to consider a lower transport rate for agricultural products to help farmers move goods between islands, one of the benefits of Superferry lawmakers had identified in the bill.
The new law gives Lingle the discretion to modify conditions and the Legislature the right to change or add conditions based on the monitoring of Superferry voyages. Lingle said yesterday, for example, that she forgot to include restrictions on bee equipment to deter the spread of destructive varroa mites from O'ahu to the Big Island, the center of the state's bee industry.
A rapid risk assessment team was a condition recommended by environmental groups. The team will likely be chosen by Belt Collins, the firm the state hired to do the environmental impact statement on the Superferry project, and will report to the state Department of Transportation. An oversight task force made up of state, Superferry, environmental and cultural representatives also will track voyages and provide monthly reports to the Legislature starting at the end of December.
HEIGHTENED AWARENESS
Lingle said yesterday that one of the positives in the debate over Superferry is the increased awareness about the threat of invasive species. The governor said she would likely ask the Legislature for more money next session for inspections and enforcement officers, and she predicted lawmakers would discuss tougher restrictions on barges, cruise ships and other vessels that move between islands.
"There is going to be a heightened attention on the impact of various vessels, both on the ocean as well as the impact on the shores, or the ports that they go into," Lingle said. "And I think that's a positive thing."
Lingle thanked state House and Senate leaders for working cooperatively with her during the Superferry debate given the "tremendously intense feelings on both sides." She also thanked Superferry executives for the patience they have shown in the two months since the state Supreme Court ruled that an environmental review of the project is necessary.
The governor recognized Superferry executives for the "faith they've had in the state of Hawai'i, for not pulling up stakes and just calling it a day. They didn't know what the outcome might be and they've stuck with it, and I appreciate it very much."
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November 6, 2007
Maui News
Governor signs bill for ferry to sail
By HARRY EAGAR, Staff Writer
WAILUKU – Gov. Linda Lingle has signed Act 2, which could get the Hawaii Superferry moving again. But while the ferry Alakai may be a high-speed vessel, the legal system takes longer to change course.
On Oct. 9, 2nd Circuit Judge Joseph Cardoza ordered the ferry not to use Kahului Harbor until an environmental assessment is done. But the written findings of fact, conclusions of law, and decision and order have not been completed.
Deputy Attorney General William Wynhoff said Monday that formally the state cannot ask a court to dissolve an injunction that has not been issued. That did not prevent the state Department of the Attorney General from submitting a motion to dissolve Cardoza’s order on Monday, but the state could risk more delays.
The state, Hawaii Superferry and its opponents – the Sierra Club, Maui Tomorrow and Kahului Harbor Coalition – will be back in Cardoza’s 2nd Circuit courtroom at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday to discuss how soon to argue about keeping or dissolving the injunction.
Wynhoff said the state does not contest that the injunction is valid, only that the paperwork is not processed yet because there remain some issues of fact unsettled.
Along with his motion to dissolve the injunction, Wynhoff filed a request to speed up the process.
Rules of procedure give parties in a lawsuit 18 days to respond to motions.
Attorney Isaac Hall, who represents plaintiffs seeking environmental studies before the Superferry sails, said Monday he will object to hurrying along the hearing.
“It’s a substantial motion,” he said. “There are substantial objections” to both the new law and to the conditions imposed by Lingle to mitigate environmental impacts.
“I don’t know what the judge is going to do . . . but I don’t see any reason for rushing through the process,” he said.
In a letter transmitting an executive order setting conditions for ferry service, Lingle listed 40 provisions that Hawaii Superferry must comply with. Wynhoff’s memorandum says Superferry has complied or agreed to comply with all of them.
Therefore, Wynhoff argues, the Circuit Court must dissolve its injunction, as the law it was based on is no longer in effect.
What was against the old law up to Nov. 2 is no longer illegal.
He cites a Maui case involving UFO Parasailing in which a court threw out a state law designed to prevent parasail business off Kaanapali during whale season.
The U.S. Congress changed the law, and the state court then vacated an injunction based on the old law. The parasailers were stopped from operating during whale season.
In this instance, the state is trying to allow a business to resume, but Wynhoff says the legal argument is exactly parallel.
The conditions imposed by the governor – which can be changed based on actual experience – do not differ greatly from the operating plans that Superferry had proposed to follow.
Among the changes are a ban on transporting rocks, soil, dirt or dead coral (with limited exceptions where Department of Agriculture permits are issued).
This prohibition would head off what Wynhoff called an “unfortunate incident,” when three pickup trucks of rocks were loaded on Maui for transport to Oahu.
The state Department of Land and Natural Resources’ Division of Conservation and Resources Enforcement intercepted the rocks and confiscated the trucks. It was suspected that the rocks were destined to line an imu.
Another condition, not anticipated in Superferry’s original plans, is a ban on transporting human bones, or iwi. Also, fishing nets are banned, and the company must notify passengers that valid hunting licenses are required to hunt. Also, lobsters, opihi and crustaceans are prohibited.
These restrictions will address claims that Oahu city dwellers will flood the Neighbor Islands to plunder its rocks, shellfish and wild pigs.
The ferry company already had plans to survey and intercept plant materials (unless inspected and cleared by the Agriculture Department). The governor’s conditions also require passengers to declare whether they are carrying any plants or “other biological medium.”
An apparently large change is a directive imposing a speed limit within the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary during whale season.
However, Superferry says it planned to stay out of the sanctuary during whale season, except in unusual circumstances.
Lingle’s condition restricts speed within the sanctuary to 25 knots. Hall’s expert witness, Greg Kaufman of the Pacific Whale Foundation, had insisted that anything over 13 knots was too fast. (The ferry’s cruising speed is 37 knots, or about 42 mph.)
The governor also sets whale season as Jan. 1 to April 30, a later start and an earlier finish than Hall’s experts had called for.
The governor also directs the completion of traffic studies. The state Transportation Department was already under such an order from 2nd Circuit Judge Joel August for Kahului, but now Superferry or the state will have to provide traffic counts and projections at all ports of call.
Some of the governor’s provisions are conditional, such as to “consider adding a cultural briefing on Hawaii’s cultural and natural resources as part of its onboard education program.”
Another condition was to have Superferry ask the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) to provide trained whale spotters for the bridge. Superferry already had planned to have two dedicated whale spotters of its own.
Even before the Superferry bill was passed, the NMFS’ parent, the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, had said it didn’t have any spotters to lend, but the governor now asks that graduates of Alu Like’s Marine Stewardship Program be used to “monitor marine life.”
Lingle spokesman Russell Pang said that idea came from the Office of Hawaii Affairs, one of several places where Lingle sought suggestions for mitigation. (See list below.)
In her message, Lingle said she knows not everyone will be happy with the conditions, “but the decisions I have made clearly represent a good faith effort to include meaningful conditions that don’t seriously hamper the ferry’s chance to succeed.”
Irene Bowie, executive director of Maui Tomorrow Foundation, said the group “is extremely disappointed with Governor Lingle’s executive order.”
“When we agreed to meet with the governor last Thursday, we went in good faith to discuss meaningful mitigation measures. We gave her a list of 12 conditions we felt were absolutely necessary,” Bowie said. “Today we feel the governor chose not to hear us. . . Most disappointing is the dismissal of conditions to slow Hawaii Superferry down to 13 knots in 100-fathom waters during the winter months.
“We will now go forward in asking that the injunction preventing Hawaii Superferry from using Kahului Harbor remain in place,” she said.
Jeff Mikulina, director of the Hawaii chapter of the Sierra Club, said the governor’s restrictions were insufficient to protect the environment, pointing out that the governor’s speed limit in whale areas is about half of what environmentalists recommended.
“We think that’s exposing not only the whales to fatal strikes, but passengers could be subject to injury if they strike a whale,” Mikulina said.
Also, he said he would have preferred vehicles boarding the ferry be subject to an undercarriage wash to reduce the risk of them carrying invasive species.
“We were hoping at least the conditions would be at least extra cautious during this period while they do the environmental review, but it appears they fall a bit short,” he said.
Superferry President John Garibaldi, who was traveling on the Mainland, issued a statement saying: “We appreciate Governor Lingle’s and the Legislature’s timely action of signing into law a bill that allows Hawaii Superferry to operate while the state conducts an environmental impact statement.
“Hawaii Superferry believes that the operating conditions outlined by the governor are reasonable and fair under the current circumstances,” he said.
The state’s motion says it is settled law that a legislature can change a law, in the words of the Hawaii Supreme Court, “to meet the needs and demands of changing times and legislate accordingly.”
That addresses the objection that the special session of the Legislature, under the prodding of the executive branch, had usurped the prerogatives of the judicial branch. The Hawaii Supreme Court in August overruled the 2nd Circuit Court and said that an environmental assessment must be undertaken.
Hall then argued, successfully, after a monthlong hearing, that the assessment had to precede the resumption of ferry operations.
Act 2 specifically allows the operation of a “large-capacity ferry” to proceed simultaneously with an environmental study of the ferry’s sailings.
The state memo also sought to deal with objections that Act 2 gutted or set aside Act 343, the state’s environmental review statute.
The state has in the past “often acted to exempt specific projects or categories from the environmental review process,” the memo says.
The memo cites the purchase of the Waiahole water system, a 1998 law passed to make it easier to restore Hawaiian fishponds, and the legislation that finally enabled the completion of the H3 highway on Oahu.
That leaves the constitutional question. Hall says this remains unsettled, because, as he told Cardoza, the people have a right to a public review process of the impacts.
The Wynhoff memo says the Circuit Court must grant a legislative act an assumption of constitutionality. The plaintiffs could pursue a constitutional appeal, it admits.
But, it says, the court cannot delay granting the motion to dissolve while the appeal to the higher court is pursued.
CONDITIONS FOR SUPERFERRY
Highlights of specific conditions for Hawaii Superferry include requirements to:
Post two whale lookouts and request the National Marine Fisheries Service to help identify whale observers, such as graduates and members of Alu Like’s Marine Stewardship Program. The lookouts would be onboard to monitor marine life and warn the ship’s crew in time to prevent collisions.
Avoid operating within the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary or in waters less than 100 fathoms deep from Jan. 1 to April 30, except in instances that are in the interest of the safety or comfort of passengers.
Observe a speed limit of no more than 25 knots if the ferry were to travel in the marine sanctuary.
Stay at least 500 meters from any sighted whales.
Agree to use radar, night-vision equipment and bow-mounted cameras to detect whales and avoid collisions. (The night-vision equipment would affect the Oahu-Kauai trip, since the Oahu-Maui voyages are scheduled during the day.)
Document and report any whale collision or whale approach of less than 100 meters from the vessel.
Conduct agricultural screenings and inspections of passengers and all vehicles, including visual inspections of engines, interiors, undercarriages, wheel wells, trunks and beds of pickup trucks. Vehicles that are excessively muddy or that have prohibited items will be turned away, or the prohibited items taken away.
Notify passengers in advance that all vehicles, camping, hiking, hunting, diving, snorkeling, fishing and boating equipment should be thoroughly washed and free of debris.
Ban living plants and propagative plant parts, such as roots and root stock, that are not accompanied by a state Department of Agriculture certificate of inspection.
Require passengers to declare all plants, fruits and seeds, and permit inspections of such items by the Department of Agriculture.
Consider establishing a special transport rate for agricultural products.
Prohibit the transport of logs, cut trees, and tree limbs.
Ban the transport of rocks, soil, sand, dirt, or dead coral, except for soil or dirt in potted plants inspected and cleared for transport by the Department of Agriculture.
Ban the transport of opihi, lobster or other crustaceans, and fishing nets of all kinds.
Prohibit the transport of iwi, or human bones.
Provide passengers with information concerning restrictions on the use of cultural and natural resources, including hunting and fishing rules and camping permit requirements.
Consider adding a cultural briefing on Hawaii’s cultural and natural resources as part of its onboard education program.
Comply with all state water pollution laws, rules and regulations, and refrain from discharging wastewater into the ocean.
Conduct complete traffic studies and implement a vehicle movement and management plan for each port of operation as directed by the state Department of Transportation. The traffic studies will be used to adjust vessel arrival and departure schedules as necessary to lessen the impact of arriving cars on local traffic.
Employ trained staff to manage traffic entering and exiting each port terminal facility, and post security guards or off-duty police officers to direct traffic and control signals to minimize traffic problems.
Cooperate with any risk assessment conducted by or authorized by the departments of Transportation and Agriculture.
WHO WAS CONSULTED
Gov. Linda Lingle released a list of groups and individuals consulted to establish conditions for Hawaii Superferry.
The consulted parties were:
Maui Farm Bureau (Warren Watanabe).
Hawaii Farm Bureau (Dean Okimoto).
Office of Hawaiian Affairs (Chairwoman Haunani Apoliona and others).
Sierra Club (Jeff Mikulina).
Ron Walker, wildlife biologist and conservationist.
Stephen Montgomery, entomologist and conservationist.
Maui Tomorrow (Irene Bowie).
Mark Hubbard, Kauai community leader.
Dick Kaku, Fehr & Peers (transportation consultants).
Lou Herman, whale researcher with The Dolphin Institute.
Pacific Whale Foundation (Greg Kaufman).
The Nature Conservancy (Mark Fox).
Maui County (Justin Gruenstein, an executive assistant to Mayor Charmaine Tavares).
Maui County Council, chairman’s office.
Kauai County Mayor’s Office.
Hawaii County Mayor’s Office.
James Coon, president of Trilogy Excursions (Maui) and vice chairman of the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary.
Hawaii Superferry Inc.
Charles “Chip” Fletcher, professor of geology and geophysics, School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology, University of Hawaii at Manoa.
State departments of Transportation, Agriculture, and Land and Natural Resources.
http://www.mauinews.com/news/2007/11/6/01govs1106.html |
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November 5, 2007
USA TODAY
Hawaii law sets conditions, clears way for Superferry
By Dan Nakaso
The Hawaii Superferry approaches Honolulu in June. Ferry officials say they hope ferry service can resume on Nov. 15.
HONOLULU — After several false starts, the troubled Hawaii Superferry could soon resume high-speed interisland service from Oahu to Maui and Kauai.
Hawaii Gov. Linda Lingle announced Monday the signing of a bill that would let the 349-foot ferry operate while the state conducts an environmental impact statement.
Lingle also announced that representatives from the state and the Hawaii Superferry would file a motion before Maui Circuit Court Judge Joseph Cardoza to immediately lift his injunction and allow the Superferry to operate out of Maui's Kahului Harbor.
Cardoza ruled in September that the Superferry could not resume service until an environmental assessment was done. The ruling was in response to an injunction requested by environmental groups concerned about the Superferry's potential to harm whales, spread invasive species and bring unwanted traffic.
"I hope the judge quickly lifts the injunction so the people can begin benefiting from this new and important service," Lingle said.
FIND MORE STORIES IN: Hawaii | Gov | Honolulu | Oahu | Maui | Kauai | Superferry | Dan Nakaso | Linda Lingle
The bill was the result of a special session of the Legislature that Lingle called in an attempt to save the Superferry. The ferry will connect the Hawaiian islands with service capable of carrying 866 passengers and 282 vehicles.
Hawaii Superferry officials said they hope to resume service on Nov. 15.
The law allowing the Superferry to operate imposes 40 conditions designed to respond to environmental groups' concerns.
Among the conditions in the bill, the Superferry must have people on board watching out for whales and other marine life to "warn the ship's crew in time to prevent potential collisions," Lingle said. The law also regulates items that can be transported. All passengers and vehicles will be subject to inspection.
Because the Superferry would sail through the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary, the Sierra Club's Hawaii Chapter, among other environmental groups, had urged greater restrictions than those in the bill.
Among other things, the Sierra Club wanted the Superferry to slow down to 13 knots, or about 15 mph, in some areas.
"We certainly appreciate that the governor has added the additional operating conditions to protect resources," said Jeff Mikulina, the group's director. "But altogether we feel the effort falls short to protect the environment."
Lingle said she knows that not everyone will be happy with the conditions. But, she said, "The decisions I have made clearly represent a good faith effort to include meaningful conditions that don't seriously hamper the ferry's chance to succeed."
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-11-05-superferry_N.htm |
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October 23, 2007
Honolulu Star Bulletin
Hawaii Superferry would have tight rein
By Richard Borreca
Gov. Linda Lingle says that she has not yet reached "general consensus" with the House and Senate about the terms of a bill to save the Hawaii Superferry and is delaying a call for a special session.
"We have a draft bill we have been reviewing, both the House, Senate, Superferry and myself, and whether or not we have a general consensus prior to the session beginning is going to determine whether or not I call them into session," Lingle said yesterday on a live radio show.
Democratic legislative leaders have tentatively set the session to open tomorrow at 9 a.m. and run for a minimum of five days.
Senate President Colleen Hanabusa and House Speaker Calvin Say released yesterday a copy of a letter they sent to Lingle saying they were ready for a special session.
"We have met with the members of our respective chambers and ascertained that there is support to convene a special session for the purposes of addressing matters pertaining to the Superferry," the letter said.
The Legislature plans to consider a bill that would let the Superferry sail from Oahu to Maui and Kauai without having to comply with a court order that it wait until an environmental impact statement be completed.
Last night, Say added that he was watching both Lingle and the Senate, saying he was confident that the House Democrats had the votes to allow the Superferry to sail despite a court injunction forbidding it to use Maui harbor facilities.
Say noted that the Senate has been holding public hearings on the neighbor islands, and wondered whether the hearings will result in changes to a draft bill proposed Friday.
"The Senate hearing is going on. I don't know what they have in mind at this point. It is up to the Senate if they agree. For what purpose are the informational briefings, to amend the bill? I don't know," Say said.
Yesterday morning, Hanabusa said she was still waiting for Lingle to call the session. "I don't know what she is holding it up for. I thought the positions were done," Hanabusa said.
Hanabusa, however, noted that she was not sure the Friday draft was something "that all will agree to."
Sen. Brian Taniguchi, who has been leading the informational briefings or hearings on Kauai and Maui, called the Friday draft "a starting point."
"I don't think necessarily that the draft is going to pass as it is now," Taniguchi said. "There are a lot of concerns about it. I am pretty sure it may not be the draft we come up with on Wednesday."
"The draft may be the best solution, but at this point I don't see it," he added.
According to the state Constitution, the Legislature can call itself back into a special session with a two-thirds vote, but Hanabusa said she did not think she could get two-thirds of the senators to approve the draft bill.
Lingle is allowed to call the Legislature into special session for up to 30 days.
http://starbulletin.com/print/2005.php?fr=/2007/10/23/news/story04.html |
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October 23, 2007
Honolulu Advertisor
Maui opposes Hawaii Superferry bailout
• Lawmakers say support is there for special session
By Christie Wilson
WAILUKU, Maui — A state Senate panel yesterday witnessed an eruption of pent-up anger and frustration from people on both sides of the Hawaii Superferry controversy.
A raucous crowd of about 400 attended the second stop of a three-island series of informational meetings on a draft bill that would allow the interisland ferry to operate while the state conducts an environmental study.
With few speakers adhering to a two-minute time limit during the session at Baldwin High School auditorium, only about 100 of the 180 who signed up to testify had been heard by the time the meeting, which began at 3 p.m., was brought to a close at 8 p.m.
The Maui meeting was particularly charged because the draft bill and a special session expected to be convened to pass it would undo a successful 2 1/2-year court challenge filed by Maui residents pushing for an environmental assessment.
Sen. Brian Taniguchi, chairman of the Judiciary and Labor Committee, tried to reassure the audience that lawmakers remain open-minded about the Hawaii Superferry debate.
"What you express today will be evaluated and possibly incorporated into the bill at special session. I can promise you we have not finalized anything and that rumors that this is a done deal are not true," he said.
The draft bill would require the governor to establish operating conditions to mitigate potential environmental impacts caused by the ferry, set up an oversight task force that would report monthly, increase plant and conservation inspection teams, and mandate an audit of the Lingle administration actions in granting an environmental exemption to ferry-related projects at Kahului, Honolulu, Kawaihae and Nawiliwili harbors.
Instead of addressing the bill's conditions, most of the testifiers urged the Senate to respect the legal process and to resist calls to put the ferry back in service.
Maui County Council Chairman Riki Hokama kicked off the testimony by declaring that passage of the bill would spark "a social and political revolution" unlike any seen since the movement that brought Democrats to power in Hawai'i during the 1950s.
"State government is at risk of being seen as out of touch with the recent growth on the Neighbor Islands," he said.
'SHORT-SIGHTED LAW'
Hokama reminded the 10 senators sitting on the panel that the Maui council unanimously passed a resolution in 2005 opposing start-up of the ferry without an environmental impact statement and an update of the Kahului Harbor master plan. The Kaua'i and Big Island councils passed similar resolutions.
He said the Department of Transportation's decision to exempt ferry-related harbor projects from an assessment excluded the public from participating in the environmental review process. "Passing this short-sighted law would only compound the series of errors by the administration," he said.
Hokama said the draft bill is a "disingenuous" attempt to circumvent court rulings requiring an environmental review.
Native Hawaiian cultural practitioner Charles Kauluwehi Maxwell Sr. said the state already has inadequate staff and lacks the resolve to protect Hawaiian burials and historic sites. "How are they going to watch when people from O'ahu come to Ke'anae and take all the 'opihi?"
Referring to the protests on Kaua'i, Richard Michaels of Maui Tomorrow said abandoning the Maui court ruling requiring an environmental assessment before the ferry can return to Maui would leave "taking to the water as the only successful way to stop the Superferry."
"If you do the right thing and with a little patience, we can do it all — environmental protection and the Hawaii Superferry."
BOOS FOR SUPPORTER
As the first person to speak in favor of the proposed bill, Hawaii Superferry employee Elisabeth Gapero took the brunt of abuse from some of the ferry opponents in the crowd and was nearly shouted down. Gapero urged the senators to "protect the people from this hysteria we have today and across the state."
"We are one state, we are one 'ohana ... I have family and friends on O'ahu and they aren't coming here to rape and pillage Maui," she said.
Her husband, Peter Gapero, said he is a Native Hawaiian who is looking forward to being able to travel on the ferry with his vehicle.
The reaction to testimony turned more civil as the meeting wore on, with the biggest applause reserved for attorney Isaac Hall, who won rulings in Hawai'i Supreme Court and in Maui Circuit Court requiring environmental review of the ferry-related harbor projects and ferry operations.
Hall said the state, the ferry company and those seeking an environmental study had four weeks to present their arguments in court on the same issues being considered by lawmakers. After hearing the testimony, the judge in the case ruled ferry operations have the potential for causing irreparable harm to the environment.
He said the lawmakers were "driving down a road with blinders on" because they lacked thorough information on the potential impacts.
"What in the world do you have to support your decision-making?" Hall said.
"You are on notice there will be irreparable harm if the Hawaii Superferry is allowed to operate. ... How dare you even consider passing an act."
Also in the crowd were a dozen state conservation officers from the Department of Land and Natural Resources. The head enforcement officer on Maui, Randy Awo, told the panel he was neither speaking for nor against the ferry.
"My concern is about our ability to properly minister to the impacts that will surely come as a result of the Superferry setting sail," he said.
He said it has been frustrating to feel passionate about his job while witnessing "the impacts that continue to erode away at Hawai'i's very special resources."
"I, as well as my staff, will do whatever is necessary when called upon to do what's right by Maui Nui. We have the desire, you have the means. We ask that you provide us the means to be effective with what we do."
The Senate panel will hold another meeting at 3 p.m. today at Kealakehe High School in Kona.
http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2007/Oct/23/ln/hawaii710230361.html/?print=on |
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October 16, 2007
Honolulu Advertisor
Associated Press
Hawaii Superferry would have tight rein
By Derrick DePledge
Hawaii Superferry would have to give "unconditional acceptance" to operating restrictions that protect whales and prevent the spread of invasive species in exchange for being allowed to resume ferry service while the state conducts an environmental review, according to a potential Superferry compromise.
The Lingle administration would impose the conditions and they would not be subject to judicial or administrative review. The state Legislature, however, would have the right to add conditions later if lawmakers were not satisfied.
State Attorney General Mark Bennett shared the draft with state House and Senate Democrats over the weekend and lawmakers are reviewing it as they consider whether to back a special session to save Superferry. The draft discusses the necessary balance needed to give Superferry the chance to operate while protecting the environment during the one to two years it could take to complete a full environmental impact statement.
Lawmakers are also discussing changes to a proposed 17-member task force of state, county, environmental and business leaders that would examine the Superferry project and report back to the Legislature before the 2009 session. Lawmakers are thinking about making the task force more like a community oversight committee that would monitor the Superferry and perhaps give lawmakers more frequent updates.
House and Senate Democrats said they would demand conditions to protect whales and other marine mammals and prevent the spread of invasive species in return for overturning a Maui court ruling that has barred the Superferry from Kahului Harbor during the environmental review.
"The mitigation measures are going to be part of this bill. The Senate is very firm on that. So we have to figure out a way to do that to get this thing up and running," said state Senate President Colleen Hanabusa, D-21st (Nanakuli, Makaha). "We're exploring all possibilities."
State House Speaker Calvin Say, D-20th (St. Louis Heights, Palolo Valley, Wilhelmina Rise), said House and Senate majority attorneys are working on a draft.
"We've gone from home plate to first base. We have three more bases to visit — second, third and home," Say said.
John Garibaldi, the Superferry's president and chief executive officer, and Tig Krekel, vice chairman of J.F. Lehman & Co., the project's main investor, met privately yesterday with several senators after criticism last week from Senate leaders that Superferry had been communicating with the Legislature mostly through its lobbyists.
Lobbyists distributed brochures and binders to lawmakers yesterday explaining the Superferry's whale avoidance, invasive species and traffic policies.
"They're good constructive sessions," Krekel told reporters afterward but, like Garibaldi, he would not elaborate on what was being discussed.
"We're just getting information out on what our operation will be like," Garibaldi said.
State Sen. Les Ihara Jr., D-9th (Kapahulu, Kaimuki, Palolo), said he asked Garibaldi and Krekel about whether they thought it was a financial risk to invest in the project when they knew the state's February 2005 decision to exempt it from an environmental assessment could be challenged in court. "(Krekel) did acknowledge that there was a risk and he took it," Ihara said. "He as an investor as well as the board."
Ihara also said that Krekel told him the ferry was in demand and would be moved to another location if it were blocked from service in the Islands.
Ihara said he would support helping the Superferry under the right conditions, which moves the Senate closer to a majority that would help the project.
State Sen. Jill Tokuda, D-24th (Kailua, Kane'ohe), who had been critical of the Superferry's approach to the Senate, said her meeting with Garibaldi and Krekel was helpful. She said her main concern is to not create a precedent or loophole that might allow future development projects to skirt the state's environmental review law.
"I definitely think there is room for us to work together," Tokuda said.
State Senate Majority Leader Gary Hooser, D-7th (Kaua'i, Ni'ihau), said he believes many senators are uncomfortable about a special session. Senate Democrats will meet in private caucus on the Superferry this afternoon.
Hooser yesterday joined several other lawmakers who have called for an investigation to look into the Lingle administration's handling of the Superferry, which could include questions for the state Department of Transportation and Superferry executives.
"A huge mistake was made. The Supreme Court says that. And now they want us to fix that mistake," Hooser said.
The state Supreme Court ruled in August that the state's decision to exempt the project from an environmental assessment was in error and required an environmental review. A Maui court ruled last week that the Superferry cannot operate at Kahului Harbor during the environmental review.
Hooser also asked why the Superferry should get special treatment. "I think that when you start making special exceptions for one business, then that's a big problem," he said. "I have friends in the development business, friends who are contractors, whose projects have been delayed for months if not years because the government's slow or government interpretation of things.
"They don't get the law fixed for them."
http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2007/Oct/16/ln/hawaii710160347.html/?print=on |
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October 14, 2007
Honolulu Advertisor
Hawaii ferry spent $175,000 on lobbying
By Rick Daysog
The Alakai remains docked at Pier 19 as legislators consider whether to allow the ship to sail while an evironmental study is conducted.
Hawaii Superferry officials spent more than $175,000 over three years on lobbying and campaign contributions, including dozens of donations to Gov. Linda Lingle, U.S. Sen. Daniel Akaka, U.S. Rep. Neil Abercrombie and other key state legislators.
An Advertiser computer-assisted study of state and federal campaign records shows that the Superferry, its executives and several of its board members contributed more than $39,000 since 2004 to local lawmakers and members of Hawai'i's Congressional delegation.
A review of state and federal ethics filings also found that the Superferry spent more than $136,000 since 2004 to lobby state officials and the federal government.
"You're talking about an extremely large sum of money even by national standards," said Craig Holman, a campaign finance expert with Public Citizen, a Washington, D.C.-based consumer advocacy group. "At the very least, they are trying to buy access, and at the worst they are trying to buy influence."
Superferry officials said there's no connection between the political donations and any legislative efforts pursued by the company.
The Lingle administration decided in February 2005 to exempt the Superferry project from an environmental assessment, which would take months to complete. That decision was reversed by the Hawai'i Supreme Court in August and now the ferry has been banned from operating until the assessment is finished.
Lingle and state legislators may convene a special session to rewrite the law and allow the ferry to operate while the assessment is conducted.
The 350-foot ferry was to carry passengers and vehicles between O'ahu, Maui and Kaua'i and began service in August before being shut down.
POLITICAL DONATIONS
The Advertiser's computer-assisted study examined contributions made to Lingle, Hawai'i's Congressional delegation and all 76 state legislators from 2004. The study found that Superferry executives and its board members made more than 30 political contributions between 2004 and 2007.
Here are the highlights:
Lingle's campaign received the most money from the Superferry and its officials, even though Lingle had directed campaign officials not to accept money from Superferry executives, said Miriam Hellreich, who served as the Lingle campaign's finance director from 2002 to 2006.
State campaign spending records show that Lingle's campaign received six donations totaling $12,000, including $6,000 in donations in October 2006 from Superferry Chairman and former Secretary of the U.S. Navy John Lehman and company Director Tig Krekel.
Hellreich said the Lingle campaign's policy was to refuse contributions from companies that were negotiating with the state for contracts. Lingle also told campaign staffers not to accept contributions from Superferry executives, Hellreich said.
Hellreich said staffers made "an error" by accepting the $6,000 in 2006 because negotiations between the state and Superferry were ongoing. Some campaign staffers were not aware of the internal policy against accepting money from Superferry officials, she said.
Hellreich also noted that the Lingle campaign returned about $10,000 in donations to Superferry officials in 2005 because the state and the company were still in negotiations. Hellreich said the campaign has no plans to return the 2006 donations.
"All the donations associated with people with the (Superferry) were within the law," Hellreich said.
Superferry executives and directors also contributed $9,200 to Abercrombie's campaign, including a cluster of June 2007 donations from Lehman, Krekel and Superferry President and CEO John Garibaldi.
Abercrombie said he receives support from a broad group of interests including environmental groups.
Federal Election Commission records show that the Sierra Club's political committee contributed more than $6,000 to Abercrombie's campaigns since 1998 and that the League of Conservation Voters Action Fund has donated nearly $1,000 to his campaigns since 1998.
Abercrombie said he supports the Superferry partly because it provides residents on the Neighbor Islands and on O'ahu with a transportation alternative.
"I receive support from a broad spectrum of individuals and groups who represent all sides, including environmental groups such as the Sierra Club and League of Conservation Voters," he said. "I've had wide-ranging support for years for one simple reason: People know they'll get a fair hearing and my best judgment."
Superferry executives made several contributions totaling $8,800 on Aug.25, 2006, and Sept. 11, 2006, to Akaka's campaign. Akaka spokesman Jesse Van Dyke said Akaka has taken no position on the issue since it doesn't involve Congressional action and is largely a state issue.
State House Speaker Calvin Say, a Superferry supporter, received $2,000 from the company on Jan. 24, 2006. That same day State. Rep. Joseph Souki received $1,000 from the Superferry. Say, D-20th (St. Louis Heights, Palolo Valley, Wilhelmina Rise), and Souki, D-8th (Wailuku, Waihe'e, Waiehu), were not available for comment.
The company also contributed to one of its critics. State Sen. Shan Tsutsui, who pushed for an environmental review of the impact of the ferry service, received $500 on Jan. 6, 2006. Tsutsui, D-4th (Kahului), could not be reached for comment.
SIERRA LAWSUIT
Jeff Mikulina, executive director of the Sierra Club's Hawai'i chapter, said it's unfortunate that the Superferry is using its vast resources to try to change Hawai'i's environmental laws.
The Sierra Club was one of three groups whose lawsuit against the ferry service led to the suspension of the company's operations in August.
Had Superferry officials conducted an environmental assessment in 2004, the company would be operating right now, Mikulina said. Mikulina added that environmental groups like the Hawaii Sierra Club, whose annual budget is about $150,000, aren't on the same playing field as the Superferry when it comes to political clout in the Legislature.
"It's unfortunate that they can use their muscle ... to harness public sentiment and to steer the debate in their direction," Mikulina said.
Superferry spokesman David Wilson said the company is fighting to stay alive.
Wilson said the company earlier hired a "dream team" of lobbyists — including longtime political strategist George "Red" Morris, former University of Hawaii Professional Assembly executive John Radcliffe and prominent local attorneys Robert Toyofuku and Gary Slovin — when it looked like the state Legislature was going to pass a bill during the last session to require the state to conduct a full environmental impact statement on the Superferry.
The bill — which wasn't passed — would have delayed the Superferry's launch by a year if not more.
"There was a need to turn up the volume with the lawmakers with our side of the discussion," Wilson said. "It is an absolute fight for survival."
Superferry officials are now hoping state legislators convene a special session to consider a bill that would allow the company to operate while the state is conducting an environmental assessment on the impacts of the ferry service.
The request came after Maui Circuit Judge Joseph Cardoza issued an injunction on Tuesday that barred the Superferry from operating until the state completes an environmental assessment.
The Superferry says the suspension of service has cost it about $650,000 a week and forced the company on Thursday to place 249 of its workers, or about 80 percent of its workforce, on furlough.
http://www.journalgazette.net/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071011/APN/710110705&template=apart |
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October 13, 2007
Disappeared News
Lingle, the military, and the Superferry
by Larry Geller
Hawaii's governor Linda Lingle has canceled her planned trip to Korea, China and Japan to be here for a likely special session of the Hawaii Legislature. She is supporting the Hawaii Superferry Corporation in breaking through the state's environmental protection laws and starting business immediately—over the objections of hundreds if not thousands of Neighbor Island residents.
Why? Maybe it's because the ferry's military usefulness would be lost if it isn't allowed to ply the whale-filled waters around Hawaii. A huge ferry exempted from environmental protection laws is just what is needed to move those Stryker vehicles from island to island.
Is this a "hidden agenda?" It has been discussed largely on the Internet. Lingle has had a hidden military agenda before.
On her June 2007 trip to Indonesia, even though she was accompanied by a reporter from the Honolulu Advertiser, it only came out from stories in the foreign press that a secret (to us) deal had been concluded for military cooperation between Hawaii and Indonesia. The deal was for maintenance of military equipment for the bloody Indonesian military:
"We should build up cooperation between the TNI (Indonesian Armed Forces) and the Hawaiian National Guard to beef up professionalism at the level of soldiers and low-ranking officers on maintenance of military equipment, such as helicopters and other equipment made by the United States," [Indonesian Defense Minister] Juwono said.
"In the coming months, scores of our soldiers will be sent to Hawaii to get trainings of the maintenance which could boost the capacity of troops," he added.
An Advertiser article did report on meetings but omitted the details found in the foreign press reports:
JAKARTA, Indonesia — The governor will meet with Indonesian Vice President Muhammad Jusuf Kalla tomorrow morning, the third of a series of meetings with high-level Indonesian leaders to discuss a state military partnership with the country.
The Indonesian government supports torture and atrocities against its own people by its military. For more on why Hawaii (or anyone else) should have nothing to do with the Indonesian military, here is a recent article, Funding Indonesia’s Abusive Military. Lingle was accompanied on that trip by Maj. Gen. Robert Lee, state adjutant general, among others.
Lingle has just canceled her planned trip to Asia in order to push the Superferry exemption through the Legislature, but the press release announcing her trip is still on her website. In Governor Lingle to Strengthen Business, Tourism and Education Relations with Korea, China and Japan, we read that
The Governor will be accompanied by members of the Administration who will take part in various segments of the trip, including Marsha Wienert, state tourism liaison; Ted Liu, director, Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism (DBEDT); Major General Robert Lee, state adjutant general; and Lenny Klompus, senior advisor-communications. Dr. David McClain, president, University of Hawai‘i (UH), as well as Hawai‘i Tourism Authority and DBEDT staff will also participate in portions of the trip.
Nowhere in the rest of the article does it mention why General Lee is accompanying the Governor. We can only guess. Will there be military talks? If so, what does Hawaii, as a state, have to do with international military matters?
Back now to the Superferry.
The link between the Superferry and military interests is clarified in this comment by ConcernedOnMaui to a post on David Shapiro's Vocanic Ash blog. I know it's bad form to steal a whole comment from another blogger, but I've not seen anything this well stated, so I steal with great appreciation and admiration:
Let’s be clear about the persons and interests that are behind the Hawaii Superferry.
The Board of Directors of the Hawaii Superferry reads like a roster of revolving door ex-military officials. Like John F. Lehman, former Secretary of the Navy and founder of the investment firm JF Lehman, a company that specializes in investing in military industries with a controlling interest in the Superferry.
Lehman is associated with the Heritage Foundation, the notorious Right Wing think tank that intellectually and politically influenced such anti-Native Hawaiian and anti-environmental groups as the Grassroots Institute, Pacific Legal Foundation and Aloha for All. He is also associated with the Project for a New American Century, the folks that cooked up the illegal and catastrophic occupation of Iraq and a blueprint for U.S. Empire (well, they euphemistically called it “Pax Americana”).
Lehman proudly announced that the Hawaii Superferry would partner with the military as a “Westpac Express” to shuttle Strykers and other military personnel and equipment between islands and beyond. The first Westpac Express was a contract between the U.S. military and the Austal Corporation, makers of the Superferry, to move U.S. military personnel and equipment around Australia and Southeast Asia.
According to testimony from Sean Connaughton, Maritime Administrator of the U.S. Department of Transportation before the House Subcommittee on Seapower and Expeditionary Forces of the Armed Services Committee (March 15, 2007), U.S. taxpayers subsidized $140 million of the $180 million price tag for two Superferries through Title XI loan guarantees.
Connaughton said that “Although the Administration has not requested funding for new loan guarantees since 2001, Congress has periodically appropriated money for this purpose.” He seemed to suggest that the Superferry was another pork barrel earmark project.
Further he stated,“The ferries are also militarily useful and [Transportation Command] has expressed an interest in them. The Hawaii SuperFerry vessels will be offered for enrollment in the Voluntary Intermodal Sealift Agreement, or VISA, program.”
Like the Strykers and the UARC, the Superferry is a conspiracy by politicians, the military and corporations to impose their profit and military driven agendas on Hawai‘i over the opposition of affected communities and regardless of the ultimate costs, consequences and impacts. Kaua‘i’s powerful assertion of their right to live in peace and protect their island from invasive and destructive forces is an example we can all learn from.
Lingle didn't tell us she was going to Indonesia to make a deal to maintain military equipment, and we don't know why she was planning to take Maj. Gen. Lee with her on a business/tourism/education trip to Asia. So it would not be surprising to learn that there is also a military motive behind her unrelenting stance re the Superferry.
We don't know what promises might have been made, though we can see the energy Lingle is putting into the fight. That alone makes me wonder what has been left unspoken.
Maybe we are all being taken for a ride by the Superferry.
http://disappearednews.com/2007/10/lingle-military-and-superferry.html |
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October 12, 2007
Honolulu Advertisor
Lawmakers insist on Hawaii safeguards
By Derrick DePledge
State Senate Democrats yesterday described the Lingle administration's draft legislation to help Hawaii Superferry as unacceptable, which will delay a decision on whether lawmakers come back into special session to save the project.
The draft, shared with Senate Democrats in private caucus yesterday afternoon and also with House Democrats, would require the state to perform a full environmental impact statement on $40 million in state harbor improvements for the ferry and the secondary effects of ferry service on the environment.
While the draft calls for an environmental impact statement — rather than the narrower environmental assessment required by the state Supreme Court — Senate and House Democrats said it fails to include any conditions on ferry service to prevent whale collisions, the spread of invasive species and increased traffic at harbors.
The Superferry would be allowed to resume service to Kahului Harbor on Maui, which has been blocked by a Maui court, and its operating agreement with the state would be restored. A 17-member task force of state, county, environmental and business leaders would examine the impact of the Superferry and report findings to the Legislature before the 2009 session.
State Attorney General Mark Bennett is expected to consult with lawmakers on revisions to the draft, which would then go back before Senate and House leaders for review before they would agree to a special session.
"I don't believe the bill in its present form is something the caucus will go for," state Senate President Colleen Hanabusa, D-21st (Nanakuli, Makaha), said.
'INSENSITIVE' IMAGE
Hanabusa also said lawmakers are not contemplating changes to the state's environmental review law. Instead, they are discussing something tailored for Superferry that would also have conditions to protect the environment while the state conducts an environmental review.
State House Majority Leader Kirk Caldwell, D-24th (Manoa), said House Democrats likely would also insist on conditions.
"I think this creates some problems in our caucus as well," he said of the draft.
But, more ominously for Superferry, several senators said Superferry executives have acted with arrogance and may not deserve any help. Superferry executives, they said, have communicated mostly through lobbyists and not done the kind of outreach that would help them now that they are in crisis.
Some also questioned whether the Superferry's announcement yesterday that it was laying off 249 workers was timed to influence a special session.
Thousands of people have sent e-mails to lawmakers in the past few days asking for a special session, including many who were directed by the Superferry's Web site. Some lawmakers have received more than 3,500 e-mails, according to staff, including a smaller share opposed to a special session.
Hanabusa said the e-mails generated through Superferry have not been helpful. She also said Superferry executives should re-evaluate how they have been approaching lawmakers and a special session.
"I will tell you one of the criticisms that people have about the Superferry, and this is something that they should take to heart, is that they have been extremely — to a certain extent — insensitive to the situation," Hanabusa said. "They have not, as far as I know, other than through their high-priced lobbyists, even approached many of the senators or representatives who really now hold the key to whether they are going to be able to operate.
"But that's not as important as the fact of just coming to tell us what is it that they feel they need, or how do they want to assist us in the process. And for us, we want to know how they want to start to help mend the divisions within our community. So those are very critical issues, and we haven't heard from them."
Superferry executives did not return telephone calls seeking comment left with their public-relations team.
Some in the Senate say they offered to compromise on an environmental review of the project last session but were turned down by Superferry executives, the state, and House Democrats. The Senate's intent was to allow the ferry to launch service while an environmental impact study on state harbors was performed.
"From the beginning, the Superferry has had the wrong approach to this. They have always had a problem in being forthright and talking with us straight," said state Sen. J. Kalani English, D-6th (E. Maui, Moloka'i, Lana'i).
English said Superferry executives have not approached the Senate with "aloha," humility or the spirit of cooperation.
"Every step of the way, the Senate has offered compromise," he said. "And every step of the way, they have rejected it."
State Sen. Jill Tokuda, D-24th (Kailua, Kane'ohe), one of the senators critical of Superferry in caucus, said she does not recall speaking to Superferry executives other than perhaps in passing at the start of last session. But she said there is always hope for middle ground.
"I wouldn't say it's irreparable, but I have to see more," Tokuda said.
SPLIT ON SESSION
The state Supreme Court ruled in August that the state's decision to exempt the Superferry project from an environmental assessment was improper and that a review is necessary for Kahului Harbor on Maui.
A Maui court ruled on Tuesday that ferry service could not resume at Kahului Harbor while the state conducts the environmental assessment, which will cover all harbors the ferry hopes to serve.
Superferry suspended service to Kaua'i after protests. Kaua'i activists have also challenged the Superferry's use of Nawiliwili Harbor in court.
State Sen. Fred Hemmings, R-25th (Kailua, Waimanalo, Hawai'i Kai), said environmentalists have exploited the state's environmental review law to stop a business that a majority of people support.
"The law is really out of balance and unfair," he said.
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