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Resident concerns over superferry come late
by Lester Chang - THE GARDEN ISLAND
A handful of residents has urged Hawaii Superferry leaders to conduct an environmental impact statement and a cultural assessment for its planned statewide ferry service even though the federal, state and county governments don’t require one.
And if Hawaii Superferry makes money at Honolulu Harbor and at Kahului Harbor on Maui, the160-foot-long and 24-foot-wide ramp proposed at Nawiliwili Harbor should be abandoned, said Kapa‘a resident Adam Kaye. Kaye attended a meeting on the project the state Department of Transportation held at Wilcox Elementary School Tuesday night.
“We have a chance to stop it,” Kaye told more than 40 persons at the meeting. “We need to have more choices.”
Residents also contended Hawaii Superferry failed to fully examine the potential impacts — invasive plants, mongooses and the Guam tree snake — its project may have on Kaua‘i.
Hawaii Superferry executive John Garibaldi said his company has conducted studies that are identical to the EIS process.
“We have been doing all the studies that they keep saying we are not doing,” he said. “We are working with law enforcement, the agencies and other harbor users.”
Terry O’ Halloran, another Hawaii Superferry executive, said the company will continue to work with residents through advisory committees and other ways even after the ferry system is operational.
“We want to make the Hawaii Superferry a part of the fabric of the (Hawaiian) islands,” O’Halloran said.
Hawaii Superferry executives said barges and ramps at Honolulu Harbor, Kahului Harbor on Maui and the ramp at Nawiliwili Harbor are scheduled to be installed by June 1, 2007, when the first ferry will be operational.
Only a ramp will be installed at the Kaua‘i facility, said Darin Mingo, an executive with Healy Tibbits Builders, an O‘ahu-based firm which won a $37.5-million state contract to design and build the harbor improvements for the ferry system.
The ramp and cargo at Kawaihae Harbor on the Big Island should be operational by the end of 2008, when the second ferry reaches Hawaiian waters, Mingo said.
Hawaii Superferry executives feel the service will be a hit with residents because they can travel between islands at half the cost of air travel. In addition, vehicles can be transported aboard the ferries.
The Kaua‘i ramp will be located near Pier 1 at Nawiliwili Harbor and will measure 160 feet long and 24 feet wide, Mingo said.
Kaua‘i resident Elaine Dunbar said the Kaua‘i project should be abandoned because Hawaii Superferry failed to conduct an environmental impact study for its statewide project.
“I propose this superferry issue be revisited,” she said. “What can superferry say in defense of not conducting an EIS?”
Wailua Houselot resident Richard Hoeppner said people may have concerns about the absence of a study, but the launching of the system is a foregone conclusion.
“There is nothing anybody can say to stop superferry from coming to Kaua‘i,” he said.
And yet, he said he will mount a petition drive to see how many residents favor the ferry service to Kaua‘i.
He said he is concerned about runaway island development, and spoke out because the superferry project “broke the camel’s back.”
Hartwell Blake, the former head of the Kaua‘i County Attorney’s office and a Koloa resident, said Hawaii Superferry should conduct an environmental impact study and a cultural assessment.
“Why don’t they do it anyway, as a good neighbor,” Blake asked.
The additional people the Hawaii Superferry will bring to Kaua‘i will alter the island’s rural lifestyle and intensify uses of Kaua‘i parks, natural resources, fishing areas, surfing areas and the mountains, Blake said.
A pregnant mongoose or a Guam brown tree snake with eggs transported aboard a ferry to Kaua‘i could result in the loss of many native birds, Blake said.
“We are going to catch that one thing that will impact our lives forever,” he said.
Blake also said, “The biggest impact would be a cultural impact from Hawaii Superferry” as no cultural assessment was done by Hawaii Superferry.
Blake also said the building of 4,000 residential and resort units in South Kaua‘i in the future will generate upwards of 10,000 vehicles, and many of those will flood the Nawiliwili area, where the ferry ramp will be located.
“They (Hawaii Superferry) will have a traffic study in place by 2007, but we know how (slow) government moves (in implementing traffic-relief measures),” Blake said.
Kaua‘i Sen. Gary Hooser, who attended the meeting, said the “state needs to require it (an EIS). That’s the bottom line.”
“It is clear there are numerous impacts. It is also clear that the developers of the superferry don’t have a comprehensive plan,” Hooser said.
Hoeppner said the Kaua‘i County Council passed a resolution calling for an environmental impact study, but said the “state failed us” by not requiring the study be done.
Councilman Jay Furfaro said the council showed its concern by passing such a resolution, forwarding it to the Legislature for adoption.
“Our position is that you (Hawaii Superferry) should do an EIS,” Furfaro said. Councilwoman JoAnn Yukimura also lobbied aggressively for the EIS.
O’Halloran said Hawaii Superferry didn’t conduct an EIS because “no such study was required by the federal or state government or any other government agency.”
Cheryl Lovell-Obtake argued otherwise, adding a cultural assessment needed to be done as well.
Koloa resident Ted Blake said while the decision to develop and launch the Hawaii Superferry was “made above the county level, there are issues that should be put forth and dealt with so the ferry service will enhance rather than diminish our local lifestyle.”
Ted Blake said he lived in Mo‘orea, French Polynesia, for a time, and ferries are a common form of transportation there.
The service had an upside as it allowed people easy access between the islands. But the downside was that the service flooded Mo‘orea with traffic on weekends and resulted in overfishing, more litter and increased uses of ocean resources, forcing Mo‘orea residents to “relinquish those activities” over the weekend, Blake said.
These same issues can become reality for Kaua‘i if the Hawaii Superferry and the state government don’t impose mitigative measures, Blake said.
O’Halloran said Hawaii Superferry will bring benefits to all ports it will serve and that his company has worked extensively with government, businesses and residents to get the project off the ground.
Some of the studies completed include:
• A draft traffic study that has been sent to the DOT for review, with a final study pending.
• Since 2004, Hawaii Superferry has worked with Young Brothers, Matson and passenger lines to coordinate the launching of the ferry service;
• Mitigating traffic impact from vehicles that will come off the ferries is a major concern of the Hawaii Superferry.
• The two ferries will store human waste onboard until they get to Honolulu Harbor.
• The ferries will travel at speeds of no more than 25 knots, about the same speed at which passenger ships travel between the islands.
• Hawaii Superferry has met with the state Department of Agriculture to set up programs to check vehicles for mongooses, snakes and coqui frogs.
• Hawaii Superferry established advisory committees to contact residents and to gather comments to improve the ferry system.
• Lester Chang, staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 225) or lchang@kauaipubco.com.
And if Hawaii Superferry makes money at Honolulu Harbor and at Kahului Harbor on Maui, the160-foot-long and 24-foot-wide ramp proposed at Nawiliwili Harbor should be abandoned, said Kapa‘a resident Adam Kaye. Kaye attended a meeting on the project the state Department of Transportation held at Wilcox Elementary School Tuesday night.
“We have a chance to stop it,” Kaye told more than 40 persons at the meeting. “We need to have more choices.”
Residents also contended Hawaii Superferry failed to fully examine the potential impacts — invasive plants, mongooses and the Guam tree snake — its project may have on Kaua‘i.
Hawaii Superferry executive John Garibaldi said his company has conducted studies that are identical to the EIS process.
“We have been doing all the studies that they keep saying we are not doing,” he said. “We are working with law enforcement, the agencies and other harbor users.”
Terry O’ Halloran, another Hawaii Superferry executive, said the company will continue to work with residents through advisory committees and other ways even after the ferry system is operational.
“We want to make the Hawaii Superferry a part of the fabric of the (Hawaiian) islands,” O’Halloran said.
Hawaii Superferry executives said barges and ramps at Honolulu Harbor, Kahului Harbor on Maui and the ramp at Nawiliwili Harbor are scheduled to be installed by June 1, 2007, when the first ferry will be operational.
Only a ramp will be installed at the Kaua‘i facility, said Darin Mingo, an executive with Healy Tibbits Builders, an O‘ahu-based firm which won a $37.5-million state contract to design and build the harbor improvements for the ferry system.
The ramp and cargo at Kawaihae Harbor on the Big Island should be operational by the end of 2008, when the second ferry reaches Hawaiian waters, Mingo said.
Hawaii Superferry executives feel the service will be a hit with residents because they can travel between islands at half the cost of air travel. In addition, vehicles can be transported aboard the ferries.
The Kaua‘i ramp will be located near Pier 1 at Nawiliwili Harbor and will measure 160 feet long and 24 feet wide, Mingo said.
Kaua‘i resident Elaine Dunbar said the Kaua‘i project should be abandoned because Hawaii Superferry failed to conduct an environmental impact study for its statewide project.
“I propose this superferry issue be revisited,” she said. “What can superferry say in defense of not conducting an EIS?”
Wailua Houselot resident Richard Hoeppner said people may have concerns about the absence of a study, but the launching of the system is a foregone conclusion.
“There is nothing anybody can say to stop superferry from coming to Kaua‘i,” he said.
And yet, he said he will mount a petition drive to see how many residents favor the ferry service to Kaua‘i.
He said he is concerned about runaway island development, and spoke out because the superferry project “broke the camel’s back.”
Hartwell Blake, the former head of the Kaua‘i County Attorney’s office and a Koloa resident, said Hawaii Superferry should conduct an environmental impact study and a cultural assessment.
“Why don’t they do it anyway, as a good neighbor,” Blake asked.
The additional people the Hawaii Superferry will bring to Kaua‘i will alter the island’s rural lifestyle and intensify uses of Kaua‘i parks, natural resources, fishing areas, surfing areas and the mountains, Blake said.
A pregnant mongoose or a Guam brown tree snake with eggs transported aboard a ferry to Kaua‘i could result in the loss of many native birds, Blake said.
“We are going to catch that one thing that will impact our lives forever,” he said.
Blake also said, “The biggest impact would be a cultural impact from Hawaii Superferry” as no cultural assessment was done by Hawaii Superferry.
Blake also said the building of 4,000 residential and resort units in South Kaua‘i in the future will generate upwards of 10,000 vehicles, and many of those will flood the Nawiliwili area, where the ferry ramp will be located.
“They (Hawaii Superferry) will have a traffic study in place by 2007, but we know how (slow) government moves (in implementing traffic-relief measures),” Blake said.
Kaua‘i Sen. Gary Hooser, who attended the meeting, said the “state needs to require it (an EIS). That’s the bottom line.”
“It is clear there are numerous impacts. It is also clear that the developers of the superferry don’t have a comprehensive plan,” Hooser said.
Hoeppner said the Kaua‘i County Council passed a resolution calling for an environmental impact study, but said the “state failed us” by not requiring the study be done.
Councilman Jay Furfaro said the council showed its concern by passing such a resolution, forwarding it to the Legislature for adoption.
“Our position is that you (Hawaii Superferry) should do an EIS,” Furfaro said. Councilwoman JoAnn Yukimura also lobbied aggressively for the EIS.
O’Halloran said Hawaii Superferry didn’t conduct an EIS because “no such study was required by the federal or state government or any other government agency.”
Cheryl Lovell-Obtake argued otherwise, adding a cultural assessment needed to be done as well.
Koloa resident Ted Blake said while the decision to develop and launch the Hawaii Superferry was “made above the county level, there are issues that should be put forth and dealt with so the ferry service will enhance rather than diminish our local lifestyle.”
Ted Blake said he lived in Mo‘orea, French Polynesia, for a time, and ferries are a common form of transportation there.
The service had an upside as it allowed people easy access between the islands. But the downside was that the service flooded Mo‘orea with traffic on weekends and resulted in overfishing, more litter and increased uses of ocean resources, forcing Mo‘orea residents to “relinquish those activities” over the weekend, Blake said.
These same issues can become reality for Kaua‘i if the Hawaii Superferry and the state government don’t impose mitigative measures, Blake said.
O’Halloran said Hawaii Superferry will bring benefits to all ports it will serve and that his company has worked extensively with government, businesses and residents to get the project off the ground.
Some of the studies completed include:
• A draft traffic study that has been sent to the DOT for review, with a final study pending.
• Since 2004, Hawaii Superferry has worked with Young Brothers, Matson and passenger lines to coordinate the launching of the ferry service;
• Mitigating traffic impact from vehicles that will come off the ferries is a major concern of the Hawaii Superferry.
• The two ferries will store human waste onboard until they get to Honolulu Harbor.
• The ferries will travel at speeds of no more than 25 knots, about the same speed at which passenger ships travel between the islands.
• Hawaii Superferry has met with the state Department of Agriculture to set up programs to check vehicles for mongooses, snakes and coqui frogs.
• Hawaii Superferry established advisory committees to contact residents and to gather comments to improve the ferry system.
• Lester Chang, staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 225) or lchang@kauaipubco.com.
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Kapahiresident wrote on Sep 26, 2009 6:56 AM:
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Saturday Gates Open 11 am
Saturday Opening Ceremonies Noon
Saturday Evening Social Dancing for All 5 pm to 7 pm
Come join us in dancing with our Native American friends.
Let's dance in our circle together from 5 to 7 pm Saturday Night.
Sunday 10 am to 5pm
Pow Wow at Kapaa Beach Park by Kapaa Library
Bring your whole family! No alcohol or drugs allowed.
Free Admission "
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