From Anchors Away To Anchors Aweigh! (PROBABLY)

After three months of protests, court cases and legal intervention by the Legislature

Wednesday - December 05, 2007
By Alice Keesing
E-mail this story | Print this page | Archive | RSS |

Del.icio.us

The interior of the Superferry is spacious and bright

those early days, there just wouldn’t have been a Hawaii Superferry, Garibaldi says.

“When you talk about a privately funded deal, people aren’t going to be on the sidelines waiting for an indeterminate amount of time with hundreds of millions of dollars at risk, waiting for (a review) to happen,” he says.

That environmental review will now be conducted while the Superferry operates, thanks to the controversial bill that was passed last month by the Legislature and signed by the governor.

As part of that bill, the governor imposed certain operating conditions on the Superferry, but environmentalists say it’s still not enough.

One big concern is the boat’s speed during the winter whale season, which they say is still too fast.

“These fast ferries do cause harm to whales,” says Irene Bowie, executive director of Maui Tomorrow, which has led the opposition on the Valley Island. “When they’re hit, it can kill them.

“What has really bewildered me through this whole thing is that we have such a fragile environment, and with tourism one of the main industries on the island, we need to go slowly at things and not ruin these treasures that we have,” she says.

Despite their opposition, protesters say they are not all anti-ferry. Sierra Club Director Jeff Mikulina says the Superferry has some positive aspects for Hawaii - providing it is done right.

Enjoying the view from the deck

Bowie agrees. “We were never against an inter-island ferry service,” she says. “The Neighbor Islands would love to see travel alternatives ... but we felt that there were a lot of potential impacts that should be looked at first. People ask why should we worry about the Superferry when there are other boats using the harbors - our point is that this is just increasing potential problems that already exist.

We should be finding solutions rather than adding more problems.”

Meanwhile, Superferry executives remain in talks with the Kauai community. Garibaldi says the company learned some things from the events of late August when protesters on surfboards faced down the ferry at the entrance to Nawiliwili Harbor.

“We want to proceed very cautiously in that market,” Garibaldi says. “We’ve already seen how that community can react. ... The Superferry is not going to be something that is just going to come in and override their community.”

After the “wild roller coaster ride” that the Superferry has just been on, Garibaldi is keen to start reminding people about the convenience and comfort of riding the Alakai.

The company is enticing riders with low fares until mid-March, and Garibaldi gets on a roll when he talks about all the things that the Superferry can do for Hawaii, from allowing families to throw everything in the car and visit family on the Neighbor Islands, to opening up new markets for businesses, to giving people with disabilities the chance to travel between the islands.

The possibilities are endless. Only time will tell if Garibaldi and the Hawaii Superferry get to unite the islands.

Page 2 of 2 pages for this story < 1 2