Superferry

Here's a few tidbits from the Hawaii Superferry bankruptcy case, in PDF format courtesy of Ian Lind at http://ilind.net – The State of Hawaii’s motion to move the case back to the islands, a copy of the Superferry’s security agreement with the Federal Maritime Administration, and an affidavit by the corporate secretary filed for the opening bankruptcy hearing spelling out the company’s financial structure. For those following the cases, these source documents will be interesting reading material.

Q. Did Maui Tomorrow want the Superferry to leave Hawai'i?
No.  However, Maui Tomorrow feels that every business should obey the law.  HRS 343 which requires an EIS when State funds are used (and $40,000,000 of State funds were used) is a good law that insures we don't waste taxpayer money.
Maui Tomorrow hoped that Hawai'i Superferry would do an EIS, mitigate the problems like no parking, congestion in the harbor, impacts on Maui's natural resources, preservation of paddling and the kupuna fishing hale in Kahului Harbor and operate as a benefit to our citizens.
Had the Superferry done an EIS we would have:

Q. Why did Maui Tomorrow Join the Lawsuit to force Hawai'i Superferry to do an EIS?
Without the EIS, we got a poorly planned project that destroyed the building that kept Maui's small business and individual less than container load freight sheltered from wind and rain.
Without an EIS, we got a ferry that was too big and used too much fuel to be economically viable.
For these and many other reasons, Maui Tomorrow demanded that Hawai'i Superferry and the State follow the law.

Q. Some Legislators are trying to rewrite the EIS rules to eliminate "secondary impacts".  Why?
The stated reason is to "Bring back the Superferry".  However both Hawaii Superferry vessels are slated to be leased in the Department of Defense Littoral Vessel program and it is unlikely that Hawaii Superferry would abandon these lucrative contracts in order to resume their money-losing operation in Hawai'i.
So we must ask, "What is the real reason that some legislators are trying to gut the EIS process?"
Sadly, our only explanation is that some elected officials want to open Hawai'i up to business exploitation without regard to environmental consequences - turning Hawai'i into one of the least protected of the U.S. states.
It is Maui Tomorrow's position that "The Environment IS Our Economy" and that polluting our waters, spreading hungry invasive species and so on, will negatively impact our economy (although perhaps enriching one or two particular companies.)