Maui testifiers unanimous, want EIS for Superferry

The Maui News
Monday, February 12, 2007
By MELISSA TANJI, Staff Writer

WAILUKU - Public misgivings about this summer's scheduled launch of the Hawaii Superferry resurfaced Saturday during a joint Senate committee meeting while a bill to demand an environmental study of the interisland ferry appeared to pick up steam.

With public testimony statewide on a bill to require an environmental impact statement for the ferry running 13-to-1 in favor, Maui state Sens. J. Kalani English and Shan Tsutsui predicted Senate Bill 1276 would advance out of the Senate Transportation and International Affairs and Energy and Environment committees en route to debate on the Senate floor.

House Bill 702, the twin of the Senate bill heard Saturday at the Baldwin High School Multipurpose Room, is pending before the House Transportation Committee, which is chaired by Wailuku Rep. Joe Souki.

Decision-making for the joint Senate committees on Senate Bill 1276 is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Wednesday in Room 224 at the State Capitol in Honolulu. If recommended for approval by the committees, it would be referred to the Senate's Ways and Means Committee, which is chaired by West Maui-South Maui Sen. Roz Baker. Tsutsui serves as vice chairman of that panel.

English, chairman of the Transportation and International Affairs Committee, said testimony state-wide on the Senate bill was running at least 6,500 in favor and 500 opposed.

Approximately 100 people attended the committees' hearing on the bill Saturday, and all who spoke were in favor of the bill to put the brakes on the Superferry. The vessel would carry as many as 866 passengers and 280 vehicles between the islands. One-way fares have been estimated at $42 to $60 for passengers and $55 to $65 for cars, with pickups and vans costing between $90 and $100.

Testifiers raised environmental concerns about traffic impacts and the potential for the introductions of alien species.

"If the ferry is as great as its promoters say, they should welcome an EIS," said Warren Woodward, representing the Maui Outdoor Circle.

He suggested running a test of traffic impacts at Kahului Harbor by having 200 vehicles stationed there and then sent out into traffic in Kahului at 11:30 a.m.

"Let's see what happens," he said.

Kula resident Dick Mayer said that if there were a canceled Superferry trip, then passengers and their vehicles would be stuck in Kahului.

"Where would the tourists go?" he asked.

Woodward also questioned why the state would spend money fighting the noisy nuisance of coqui frogs and "on the other hand give the ferry a pass?"

Mayer and James Takeyesu said the Superferry was sailing too fast through government permitting processes.

Takeyesu said the Superferry was advancing for the "sole benefit of people with right connections." He called the Superferry a "bull in a China shop" and said he expected state officials "would look out for us."

Karen Chun, who uses Kahului with other canoe paddlers for workouts and regattas, said it's unclear to paddlers how a security zone around the Superferry would affect their recreational use of the harbor.

She maintained that an environmental impact statement would address such concerns.

If lawmakers take no action, interisland travel aboard the Hawaii Superferry would begin in July with daily service between the islands of Oahu, Kauai and Maui. Ferry service to the Big Island is scheduled to start in 2009.