Superferry
Comes Under Fire
Plenty
of questions but no answers for Superferry opponents. Again.
J.M.
Buck
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| Maui
County Environmental Coordinator Rob Parsons had
many questions but no answers regarding Hawai‘i Superferry.
Superferry advisory board member Teya Penniman shown on
left. Penniman is also the manager of the Maui Invasive
Species Committee. |
Superferry opponents hoped to get some answers during a Mar. 30
panel discussion, but representatives of Hawaii Superferry (HSF)
staged a no-show for the second time in one week.
At a public forum on Mar. 23, the main players in the development
of the controversial Superferry stated that they did not receive
invitations until after the event. For the Mar. 30 forum, HSF
officials officially declined to be present.
Before a standing-room only crowd that filled the Pacific Whale
Foundation’s Ocean Science Discovery Center in Ma‘alaea,
six panelists addressed issues ranging from invasive species threats,
dangers to humpback whales and a lack of an environmental impact
statements to what appears to be Hawai‘i taxpayer funding
of a military operation. Panelists included Maui County Environmental
Coordinator Rob Parsons, Greg Kaufman, president and founder of
Pacific Whale Foundation (PWF), local farmer Jeff Parker, Karen
Chun, an engineer, and canoe paddler, local attorney Dennis Niles
and Maui Invasive Species Committee (MISC) manager Teya Penniman.
Penniman also sits on the newly appointed Superferry advisory
board.
Kula Community Association president Dick Mayer moderated the
discussion.
Penniman and fellow board member Mahina Martin voiced their disappointment
that no Superferry officials were present, with Penniman saying
they should have been there to “at least listen and learn.”
Parsons echoed their sentiment. He referenced an e-mail from Superferry
officials saying HSF supports public forums. “Remember that,”
said Parsons, drawing chuckles from the crowd.
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| Greg
Kaufman, president and founder of Pacific Whale
Foundation gives a Power Point presentation to illustrate
dangers posed by the Superferry to Hawai‘i’s
whale population. |
HSF
has ordered two 353-foot long ships long from Australia-based
Austal Shipbuilders to the tune of $75 million each. The company
anticipates kicking off daily passenger and vehicle ferry service
with one ship, which is currently under construction at the Austal,
U.S. shipyard in Alabama, in spring of 2007. Service will be between
Honolulu and Kahului, Maui, and between Honolulu and Nawiliwili,
Kauai. The second ship is expected to be in operation by 2009
with daily service between Oahu and Kawaihae on the Big Island.
HSF’s proposed route between the Islands is a sore spot
for Kaufman.
The high-speed ferry will travel up to 35 knots, or about 45 mph,
on a route that cuts through the middle of the most whale-dense
areas in the state. Kaufman says that at these speeds, the knife-like
hulls of the huge catamarans coupled with the inability to stop
or maneuver in time to avoid striking whales make for a lethal
combination.
“Hawai‘i has never seen anything like these ships,”
said Kaufman. “They’re the size of football fields."
One of PWF’s own vessels recently struck a whale at slow
speed. Being whales usually spend their time just below the water’s
surface, it can be difficult to avoid a collision, even with a
small vessel. Chun related a story where a fellow canoe paddler
actually struck a whale with his paddle.
“Here’s the fact. Four of the five reported whale
strikes were under 15 knots,” said Kaufman.
Other concerns at the top of the list were the lack of any traffic
analyses and environmental assessments or impact statements.
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“The whales are only this far underwater.”
Canoe paddler and engineer Karen Chun relays a story of
how her fellow canoe paddler accidentally struck a whale
with his paddle. |
Once HSF is operational, the 866-person capacity ship will be
making 16 trips per week between O‘ahu and Maui. Vehicular
cargo capacity is a maximum of 282 cars. Though unlikely, if the
Superferry were to arrive in Kahului with the maximum amount of
vehicles and passengers on all trips every day, that would equal
an additional 1,732 visitors and 564 vehicles per day.
“There was a very strong recommendation not to mix passenger
operations with cargo operations,” said Parsons. “Our
cargomaster told us that there was a 35-percent increase in dock
space from fiscal year ’04 to ’05, and he said we
can’t take another increase like that. Yet we know that
we have a third cruise ship coming in next year, so we’re
going to have six days of cruise ship import instead of four.”
Making matters worse is that the Superferry is scheduled to use
Pier 2, the same space where Young Brothers currently operates.
Parsons predicts this plan will create nothing short of a cargo
and traffic logjam.
“It’s as full as it can be already,” he said
emphatically.
A draft environmental assessment (EA) was issued in summer of
2004. In 2002, the Department of Public Works had requested that
a master drainage and traffic plan be submitted by HSF in a pre-draft
consultation. Parsons says these plans did not appear in the 2004
draft EA.
In a letter to HSF, Mayor Alan Arakawa called for a full EIS,
as well as a full traffic analysis report, being that part of
the harbor improvements necessary to accommodate the Superferry
include the reconstruction of part of Pu‘unene Avenue to
bring it up to county standards. There is also speculation that
some historic county-owned buildings may need to be razed to make
way for the harbor improvements.
“I
just did a review of a 12-lot subdivision in Kihei that had a
full traffic impact analysis report,” said Parsons. “Yet
the harbor improvements, which include this inter-island system,
had no traffic impact reports.”
Parsons relayed that the draft EA was also inadequate in the addressing
of alien species, Miconia and coqui frogs being the main focus
of a potential invasive species threat.
Penniman has been asked by Hawai‘i Superferry to identify
threats of invasive species. She says the threat isn’t from
people but vehicles, which can carry speck-size miconia seeds
and coqui frog eggs on their tires and undercarriages.
HSF officials met with MISC last year. MISC suggested cleaning
the underside of the vehicles before they are brought onto the
Superferry.
Penniman admitted she doesn’t know how the cleaning of vehicles
will be addressed at the Maui facility, or what standards will
be applied.
Parker, who owns an orchid farm, pointed out that there are damaging
insect species on other islands that are not on Maui, and vice-versa.
“If we’re not going to have any agricultural inspections
and we’re just going to allow this traffic — up to
500 cars a day coming in with no agricultural inspections at all
— we’re immediately going to get these pests transferred
to every island,” said Parker. “The best way to do
this is with a full-blown environmental impact statement.”
Penniman is encouraging the public to “help them figure
it out,” and asks that anyone with suggestions e-mail her
at misc@ hawaii.edu.
“At present it’s hard for me to comprehend how vehicle
inspection could occur,” she finalized.
Parker listed a host of politicians, businesses and organizations
that have requested an EIS, but it still has not been done, with
HSF saying that they do not need it.
Niles explained that HSF got around the need for an EIS by segmenting
their state funding, a move that enabled them to qualify for an
EIS exemption.
“Had the $40 million been applied for in one shot, they
couldn’t have gotten the [EIS] exemption,” explained
Niles.
Currently, HSF has raised over a $100 million from private investors.
Superferry board member John F. Lehman has invested $70 million
in the project through his private equity firm, J.F. Lehman and
Co. HSF acquired a state appropriation of $20 million, and is
currently seeking another $20 mil from the state legislature.
The $40 million is expected to be repaid through Hawai‘i
taxes should HSF not generate enough revenue to pay back the state.
This is an inflammatory touch-point, as HSF is a private enterprise.
And HSF has also cut a deal with the military to move troops,
including the entire Stryker Brigade, between O‘ahu and
the Big Island for training exercises. The Superferry’s
sister ship, the Westpac Express, has been on a long-term lease
by the U.S. military since 2001 to shuttle Marines between Okinawa
and mainland Japan.
Lehman plans a similar use for HSF, with Stryker Brigade use on
a regular basis and daily shuttling of military equipment.
“Why are Hawaii taxpayers paying for a military operation?”
Parsons asked. “Stryker brigade is supposed to be transported
by C130 aircraft.”
Penniman says she is uncertain what HSF’s plans are for
military use.
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Let
our voices be heard! Concerned members of the public
queue up to voice their concerns. |
During
public statements after the panel discussion, Maui Tomorrow board
member Sean Lester pointed out that Stryker Brigade vehicles use
Depleted Uranium (DU) for live-fire maneuvers. Several horrified
gasps scattered across the room. Lester, a nuclear engineer and
former Navy submariner, questioned the military’s credibility
regarding the use of DU by the Striker Brigade once they begin
training maneuvers at Pohakuloa on the Big Island.
“These Stryker vehicles have 105mm cannons in which the
main armament is Depleted Uranium sub-caliber projectiles,”
said Lester during a phone interview. “They say that they
would never allow [DU] in live-fire exercises, but in a major
clean-up O‘ahu, DU rounds were found there (Honolulu Advertiser,
Jan. 6, 2006). They’ve been saying all along they’ve
never used DU rounds anywhere in Hawai‘i. They’re
going over for live-fire training on the Big Island and this is
a long-term military contract.”
More information on the military’s use of DU on O‘ahu
can be found at http://www.kahea.org/lcr/.
“We’ve already been lied to once,” finalized
Lester during the public testimony. “We’re being asked
to bring the potential of Depleted Uranium live fire to our islands."
