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Internet Travel Monitor - Events & Legislation
October 10, 2007
Superferry Pleads for Permission to Set Sail
HONOLULU, HI - Lawyers for Hawaii's new interisland ferry took their last shot Monday at convincing a judge to let the high-speed vessel sail again despite risks of colliding with humpback whales and other possible environmental damage.
An adverse decision after a month of hearings in state court could doom the ambitious Hawaii Superferry service, forcing its owners to abandon the islands and search for a different port to avoid losses they estimate at $650,000 a week as it idles in Honolulu Harbor.
Attorneys for the ferry, built to carry more than 800 passengers and 250 vehicles for the first time between major islands, asked Maui Circuit Judge Joseph Cardoza in closing arguments Monday to permit voyages between Oahu and Maui without having to wait for the results of an environmental study.
"The consequences are severe," Superferry attorney Lisa Munger told the judge. "The Hawaii Superferry would need to look elsewhere."
The stuffy courtroom on tropical Maui was packed with blue-shirted Superferry employees, dark-suited attorneys and worried environmentalists held in suspense by Cardoza's pending decision.
The judge, who in previous rulings has taken positions both for and against the ferry, gave no indication of how he would rule. He adjourned the hearing after sitting through three hours of closing arguments, putting off a decision for at least one more day.
Under orders from the Hawaii Supreme Court, Cardoza is considering whether the interisland ferry may operate while the state studies whether it would harm endangered whales, spread invasive species from island to island, create traffic problems and harm Hawaiian culture.
Attorney Isaac Hall, who represents three groups opposing the Superferry, said the law clearly prohibits projects like the Superferry from starting service until the environmental review is completed.
"If the Hawaii Superferry operates while the environmental assessment is being prepared, there is a very real threat of environmental harm," Hall said.
The Hawaii Supreme Court stalled the Superferry in August when it ruled that state transportation officials shouldn't have exempted the giant catamaran from an environmental assessment required for projects that use state money — in this case, $40 million for ramps and barges needed to offload vehicles and from the ship.
With normal cruising speeds of 42 miles an hour, the ferry is the state's first ship with the capability of carrying both passengers and vehicles from Oahu to Maui and Kauai. A second ferry being built in Mobile, Ala., is set to begin service to the Big Island in 2009.
Service to Kauai was stopped by protesters in the water. Even though there is no current legal impediment to the ferry service to Kauai, Superferry officials say they can't survive on Kauai trips along and want all legal obstacles cleared before resuming service to both islands at once.
Hall said the Superferry is responsible for its own downfall.
"The state and the Hawaii Superferry got together. ... They should have known the exemption was not applicable," Hall said after the hearing. "Clearly, they took a risk and they lost."
While the Superferry has been battling in court, its supporters have also fought hard on other fronts.
Gov. Linda Lingle said she wants state lawmakers to convene a special session to pave the way for the ship to resume service while the environmental review is completed, regardless of what the judge decides because his decision likely will be appealed.
The U.S. Coast Guard is prepared to crack down if protesters on surfboards and kayaks again try to block the Superferry from docking at Kauai. No demonstrators showed up at the Maui court hearing Monday.
"We have a tremendous amount of support in the state," said Superferry President John Garibaldi. "We're very optimistic."
Cardoza could decide to bar the ferry from service until the environmental review is completed, allow it to run if it follows speed and other restrictions, or permit it to sail normally while the study is being done.
The largest environmental concern expressed at the hearing was that the Superferry could collide with and kill humpback whales.
The ferry be able to maintain its schedule of daily trips from Honolulu to both Maui and Kauai if it were required to slow to 15 knots, or 17 mph, while traversing waters favored by the whales, Garibaldi said.
Maui residents trying to stop the ferry said they wouldn't be entirely against as long as an environmental review is completed.
"We were always open to the idea of the Superferry," said Judith Michaels, acting president of Maui Tomorrow, one of the three groups that filed the lawsuit. "We just think they need to follow the law."
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights
reserved. From http://www.usatoday.com.
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