Souki again sinks Superferry EIS

Aloha,
We must  remember that 3 out of 4 of the county councils overwhelmingly passed  resolutions asking the State to require an HSF EIS.  It was not a  few "environmental whackos"; it was the elected leadership of three counties.
Kauai - Council unanimous in favor of  requiring an EIS.
Maui   - Council  unanimous in favor of requiring an EIS.
Big  Island - Council (8-1) in favor of requiring an EIS.
Dick Mayer

The Maui News
Friday, March 30, 2007
By EDWIN TANJI, City Editor

HONOLULU - Maui Rep. Joe Souki has blocked a second bill in the 2007 Legislature that would have required an environmental impact statement on the Hawaii Superferry, repeating his argument that it's unfair to pick on a single harbor user.

Souki, chairman of the House Transportation Committee, refused to schedule Senate Bill 702 for a hearing by the committee, effectively killing the bill. It would be wasteful since the state already will prepare an impact statement on the Kahului Harbor 2030 master plan, he said.

"Inasmuch as there will be a new EIS for the whole harbor, it's wasteful, expensive. You cannot justify doing an EIS after the fact for one thing that's using the harbor," he said.

He acknowledged that SB 702 approved by the Senate would not have blocked the Superferry. But he objected to requiring the state Harbors Division to prepare an impact statement and respond to any impacts that may be determined by the study.

"The Senate bill is flawed. The Senate bill still requires an EIS only for the ferry, one user at the harbor. The condition is so unfair.

"Young Brothers just brought in that big new barge and it's going to be shipping cars from county to county, but there's no inspection. Nobody is going to be inspecting all those cars and all that cargo that's coming in on the barge, on Matson, on all the ships," he said.

"It's very unfair to pick on one business and make it responsible."

Souki previously had refused to hear a House bill requiring an impact statement on the Superferry, but the Senate approved the amended version that was supported by Maui Sen. Shan Tsutsui - whose 4th Senate District (Wailuku-Kahului) includes the 8th House District that Souki represents.

Tsutsui said Thursday that he was "very disappointed" that Souki again blocked the demand for an impact statement on the Superferry operations, but he saw no options in the Legislature. In last year's legislative session, Tsutsui pushed through a requirement for the state Department of Transportation to hold a series of public meetings to provide information on how the state and the Superferry would deal with harbor concerns, including traffic congestion on highways around the harbors and the impact on cargo operations being squeezed from loss of dock space.

"I was hoping it would move forward. Obviously, we watered down the bill and compromised quite a bit just to get something that we hoped we could get into conference committee to discuss. It's unfortunate he's decided he's not going to hear it," Tsutsui said. "At this point, if the House is not going to hear the bill, we're going to turn our attention to what we can accomplish with the Department of Transportation and the Department of Agriculture to refocus on the concerns raised by people over the problems that may occur."

A Maui opponent of the Superferry, retired Maui Community College economics and geography professor Dick Mayer, said he is "very disturbed" at Souki's arguments, noting that none of the other harbor users are getting a $40 million subsidy from the state to implement their operations.

The Superferry is assured the state will provide up to $40 million to provide docking barges and other improvements to allow its operations, while the federal government is providing a $140 million loan guarantee for the interisland ferry project.

In contrast, Matson Navigation paid for its own improvements at Kahului Harbor when it extended Pier 1 to provide adequate dock space for its ships.

"The argument that the Superferry should not be singled out is not relevant because the other companies using the harbor did not get state funding," Mayer said. "The cruise ships did not have the state give them huge amounts of money. If anything, they pay the state, with their user fees that's going to pay for the Superferry's barges

"That's what I'm upset about, when the environmental impact law is just wiped away and the state is putting up so much public money."

Mayer said there is no evidence of wrongdoing, but he would question the fact that individuals associated with the Hawaii Superferry, including company President John Garibaldi, made significant contributions to Gov. Linda Lingle's campaign, to Souki and to House Speaker Calvin Say.

"There is no way to prove that it's to influence the state officials, but there is an appearance of use of campaign contributions by Hawaii Superferry to obtain favors from elected officials," he said.

He said records show that Souki's campaign committee received $1,000 from a Superferry official, Say received $2,000 and the Lingle/Aiona campaign received $26,000 from various executives connected to the Superferry, including $3,000 each from Hawaii Superferry Chairman John Lehman and Vice Chairman Tig Krekel.

Mayer noted too that recent stories in The Maui News show that the decisions being made by the Department of Transportation in 2004 were by then-Deputy Director Barry Fukunaga, who was reporting directly to Lingle. The state signed a memorandum of agreement to move forward on the Superferry in late 2004.

At a public meeting on Maui, Fukunaga - now nominated to head the Transportation Department - indicated that the barges constructed to accommodate the Superferry at Kahului, Honolulu and Nawiliwili on Kauai would not belong to the state if the Superferry fails, even though the state is paying to have them built.

"The way Fukunaga said it, the federal government would end up with the barges because they're a backup to the loan. But since we don't have access to the memorandum of agreement, we don't know what the state has promised," Mayer said.

Souki said his position on the ferry is based on his belief there is strong public support and that the Kahului Harbor EIS will deal with any issues related to the Superferry and all other harbor users.

"It's going to be very comprehensive and it's going to cover much more than just the Superferry," he said. He added that other House leaders support his decision to bar a hearing on SB 702.

"Shan and I are very good friends. But we have taken different positions on this. I've discussed it with him, and I think he understands that this is a House position. It is the House leadership and not just me.

"The House position is that it's too late for the state to do an EIS just for the ferry."