SuperFiasco: It did not have to be this way
By State Sen. Gary L. Hooser and published in local newspapers

The Hawaii Superferry Fiasco: It did not have to be this way

The Lingle administration's refusal to acknowledge the egregious errors of the Department of Transportation in its handling of the Hawaii Superferry matter is troubling. The Hawai'i Supreme Court has ruled unequivocally that the DOT erred and that state-approved environmental impact studies should have been required and must be conducted.

The response of the administration and Superferry management in actually accelerating the Hawaii Superferry operations schedule has been appalling. It was in-your-face arrogance that utterly ignores the court's decision and clear mandate.

The message from the fifth floor of the State Capitol to Hawai'i residents is clear: The interest of a single big business takes precedence over the interests of the environment, the law and the people.

Rather than recognize and acknowledge the DOT's mistake and seek a collaborative way to resolve the issue, and rather than taking a leadership role or at least a brief time-out to gather the various parties together in search of an acceptable solution to the complex dilemma they have created, Gov. Linda Lingle, the DOT and the Hawaii Superferry are choosing to once again ignore the law in their zeal to ram the project through the process, regardless of public, environmental or legal concerns.

The law is clear, and the Hawai'i Supreme Court has verified this fact. When public funds are used and the resulting impacts are potentially significant, an official and comprehensive environmental assessment is required.

For the past two years, thousands of our residents, primarily from the Neighbor Islands, have made this claim and requested that the DOT and the Hawaii Superferry comply with the law.

A wide variety of community and environmental organizations have initiated lawsuits calling for a formal environmental review.

County councils on the Big Island, Maui and Kaua'i have passed official resolutions making the same request. The state-sponsored Environmental Council of the Office of Environmental Quality Control issued a formal message stating that an official environmental review should have been required.

A majority of Neighbor Island senators introduced legislation in the recent session and the Senate passed out a bill offering a compromise that would have required an environmental impact statement while allowing for the commencement of operations for the Superferry.

Instead of accepting a win-win solution that would have served both the Superferry and Hawai'i's fragile environment, the DOT and the Hawaii Superferry have steadfastly refused all requests and all offers of compromise, choosing instead the arrogance of the steamroller approach. After all, they had been able to block all attempts by the Legislature, they had the full support of the governor, and the benefit of hundreds of millions of dollars invested by a politically powerful and influential board of directors.

In the end, we live in a nation of laws, and it is refreshing to be reminded that the rule of law prevails.

The Hawai'i Supreme Court, the highest court in our state and an independent third branch of our government, reviewed the arguments presented by both sides and came to the unanimous conclusion that the DOT was wrong and an officially sanctioned environmental review is required.

It did not have to be this way. If the Lingle administration had from the beginning put the interests of the public, the law and the environment ahead of the interests of the Hawaii Superferry, we would not be having this discussion.

In all likelihood, by now the environmental assessment would have been completed and the business operating, albeit with environmental mitigating factors in place.

Instead, because of the administration's mismanagement, we had an escalating and potentially dangerous conflict brewing at our harbors, and today we have a community even more cynical and less trustful of our government, a business whose future is in doubt and the potential of many millions of dollars in lawsuits ahead for the state.

State Sen. Gary L. Hooser, D-7th District (Kaua'i, Ni'ihau), is Senate majority leader.