Island Breath: Superferry News of the Day

www.islandbreath.org

SUBJECT: SUPERFERRY STORY SEPTEMBER 12TH

SOURCE: JONATHAN JAY jonathan@DAkauai.com

POSTED: 12 SEPTMEBER 2007 - 3:00pm HST

Superferry Coming to Kauai on September 26th
by Jeff Mikulina on 12 September 2007 - 2:45pm HST

Superferry (and the Governor and Coast Guard) just announced that Superferry will sail to Kauai on September 26th for a day trip. They will be enforcing the wide security zone with the help of the Coast Guard and KPD.

Media asked why they are moving forward before resolution of the Maui case and Governor replied that the case is unique to Maui. When asked why they are conducting the EA/EIS for the entire Superferry operations she replied they are doing it in "good faith."

I talked with the media afterward and made it clear that we felt any Kauai trips were highly inappropriate prior to the resolution of the Maui case and reiterated that the project cannot be segmented as Superferry / Governor wish.

Jeffrey Mikulina
Director, Sierra Club, Hawai'i Chapter
phone:: 808.538.6616
www.hi.sierraclub.org
mikulina@lava.net

Nawiliwili Water Freedom Festival on the Equinox
by Jonathan Jay on 12 Speptember 2007 - 3:00pm HST

This is GREAT news to get ahead of time. Now we know, and can plan accordingly.

Accordingly we can move with conviction:
We should hold the
Nawiliwili Water Freedom Festival
ON THE AUTUMNAL EQUINOX,
Sunday, September 23rd early in the afternoon.

There could really be no better date, and we go time to get the invitations out.
Praise be.

SUBJECT: SUPERFERRY STORY SEPTEMBER 12TH

SOURCE: DICK MAYER dickmayer@earthlink.net

POSTED: 12 SEPTMEBER 2007 - 2:30pm HST

image above: an imu pit at luau on Maui

Editor's Note: You can watch the Hawaii Superferry injunction hearing before Judge Cardoza "live" on streaming video on the internet starting shortly after 1:30pm.
http://www.akaku.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=60&Itemid=47
or follow the directions at http://www.akaku.org/

Superferry rock incident testimony today
By Harry Eagar on 12 Spetember 2007 in The Maui News

A Hawaii Superferry hearing inched along Tuesday, with attorneys spending much of the afternoon behind closed doors trying to decide whether state enforcement officer Randy Awo could testify about three truckloads of Maui rocks.

Isaac Hall, attorney for the Sierra Club, Maui Tomorrow and the Kahului Harbor Coalition, wanted Awo on the stand to testify about resource protection – specifically, three pickup trucks allegedly full of beach rocks that were driven to the Hawaii Superferry lot at Kahului Harbor on Aug. 28 – a day after 2nd Circuit Judge Joseph Cardoza had issued an injunction blocking Superferry service to Maui.

The state sent Deputy Attorney General Vince Kanemoto from Honolulu to try to keep Awo off the witness stand.

At forums outside 2nd Circuit Court, Superferry opponents have worried that overcrowded Oahu would send over hordes of urbanites to plunder Maui’s reefs and forests and crowd surfing breaks and campgrounds.

Imu rocks weren’t specifically listed, but a group of Oahu drivers allegedly brought over their trucks and loaded up with rocks without a permit, in violation of state conservation rules.

Kanemoto failed to get Cardoza to quash the subpoena of Awo, but over Hall’s objections, the lawyers and judge went into closed session to stipulate to what Awo could testify.

In open court, Cardoza ruled that Awo could speak only about what he directly observed, and not on what any of his staff may have observed or determined in their investigation of the unpermitted rocks.

Awo is the Maui branch chief of the Division of Conservation and Resource Enforcement of the state Department of Land and Natural Resources.
He and his 18 officers on Maui, Molokai and Lanai are tasked with protecting the natural resources of the state, which means catching illegal hunters, nabbing poachers with illegally caught fish and preventing people from damaging plants, insects, birds and rocks on state lands.

Awo was allowed to explain that only a certain kind of porous rock is suitable for an imu, the Hawaiian earth oven. Otherwise, he said, the rocks will explode.
Awo testified that he had seen more than 900 confiscated rocks in storage, and that he had seen three trucks on Pier 2.

Kanemoto objected when Hall asked Awo about “imu rocks,” since, he said, the rocks could be used for other purposes, and Awo would be speculating to say that they had been taken for use in Honolulu imus.

Awo was not allowed to testify about anything his investigators had told him nor about a video of enforcement officers unloading rocks they had confiscated from three trucks in the Hawaii Superferry terminal lot.

When Hall asked him to describe the trucks, the judge would not let him reveal the license plate numbers or even the colors.

Awo said they were pickup trucks.

The pickups, along with dozens of other stranded vehicles, sat on the Superferry Kahului lot until Saturday, when the ferry was allowed to make a rescue voyage to return vehicles to their home islands.

Conservation division officers were on hand Saturday to speak to anyone who came to claim the trucks. Nobody did and enforcement officers said the trucks were impounded.

Kanemoto said his job was to prevent Hall from forcing any testimony in open court that could compromise the conservation division investigation.
Tuesday was the third day of a continuing hearing in which Hall is seeking an injunction to bar Superferry operations at Kahului Harbor until an environmental assessment is finished. That could take months.

Hall’s clients, Maui Tomorrow, the Sierra Club and the Kahului Harbor Coalition, filed the suit originally in 2005, saw it dismissed and won a ruling by the Hawaii Supreme Court that an environmental assessment is required.

On Tuesday, Hall told the judge that he believes the burden of proof is on the state and Hawaii Superferry that the injunction is not warranted – not on the plaintiffs, even though the plaintiffs are the ones introducing evidence first.

Deputy Attorney General William Wynhoff disagreed. He said that the burden of proof lies with the party seeking an injunction.

The hearing will resume at 1:30 p.m. today and is scheduled to continue at least through Friday.

After two full days of presenting evidence, Hall has finished with only two witnesses. He has listed 28. Then the state and Hawaii Superferry will present their witnesses.

Cardoza extended the temporary restraining order against the ferry until 2 p.m. Friday. According to Wynhoff, the order cannot be renewed beyond that date.

SUBJECT: SUPERFERRY STORY SEPTEMBER 11TH

SOURCE: JUAN WILSON juanwilson@mac.com

POSTED: 11 SEPTMEBER 2007 - 11:30pm HST

image above: HUI-R graphic by Jonathan Jay

Hawaii Superferry News of September 12th

EIS Support Rally HUI-R
by Jimmy Trujillo jtluvmw@lava.net 12 September 2007 4:45am for HUI-R

SUBJECT:
Rally to Support County EIS Demand

WHEN:
3:00pm Wednesday, Sepember 12th, 2007

WHO:
Concerened Citizens of Kauai

WHAT:
Rally in support of County of Kauai's Resolution for HSFerry EIS
March through Lihue Civic Center and visit with Government officials to show appreciation of EIS positionof Kauai County;

WHERE:
Meet at historic County Courthouse to thank County Council for Superferry EIS resolution, walk to State building and discuss issue with Governor's staff, then proceed to Mayor's office and request audience w/Mayor to discuss community support for an independant EIS of HSFerry operations before resuming services to Kauai

WHY:
Public support for an EIS by elected and appointed government officials will ensure that the voice of Kauai has been heard and responded to. Let's move forward with the discussion of conducting an independant and objective EIS for the state Harbor users. Let protect our environment and follow the law at the same time.

CONTACT:
Info: 826-9891
media: 346 7725

SOURCE: Dick Mayer dickmayer@earthlink.net 1:30am HST

Hawaii Superferry riders took Maui rocks
by Christie Wilson on 12 September 2007 in The Honolulu Advertiser

State conservation officers are investigating three O'ahu men who came to Maui on the Hawaii Superferry allegedly to load their three pickup trucks with river rocks and return to O'ahu.

They might have been successful except for a court order that suspended ferry service Aug. 27, stranding them on Maui.

The three pickup trucks were found parked at the Hawaii Superferry pier at Kahului Harbor filled with more than 900 large rocks, said Randy Awo, Maui branch chief for the state Department of Land and Natural Resources' Division of Conservation and Resource Enforcement.

Awo testified about the case yesterday during a Maui Circuit Court hearing on a request for a permanent injunction that would keep Hawaii Superferry's 350-foot catamaran out of service while the state performs an environmental assessment on $40 million in ferry-related projects at four harbors.

The interisland vessel is expected to transport an average of 400 people and 110 vehicles, and one of the concerns raised by Neighbor Islanders in seeking the environmental review is that people from other islands traveling with their cars and trucks would overwhelm local camping and fishing spots and other natural areas, and return home with coolers full of 'opihi, maile, fish and other resources.

Conservation officials said a witness reported seeing the three trucks haul away the rocks, which were the size of coconuts or larger, from the mouth of 'Iao Stream in Paukukalo, a five-minute drive from the harbor. The trucks had arrived on the Hawaii Superferry on one of the two days of scheduled service to Maui before the court-ordered suspension.

The 'Iao Stream rocks are a type commonly used for imu, or cooking pits.
Under DLNR rules, "a person may gather or collect small quantities of pebbles or small rocks by hand for personal use," with the limit set at one gallon per person per day. The penalty for violating the law is a maximum fine of $500.

NO COMMENT
Terry O'Halloran, Hawaii Superferry director of business development, said he did not have all the facts of the case and declined to comment. He said the company would be open to having its employees receive training from DLNR in recognizing possible conservation violations.

DLNR Chairperson Laura H. Thielen said it would be wrong to blame the ferry for the alleged rock caper. "The reality is that anyone who is determined to steal natural resources is going to be doing it in a variety of ways. In this case, the protection effort that we do worked because there was a response ... ," Thielen said in a statement.

"There are people who will violate the laws with or without the Superferry. DLNR will persevere to protect the natural resources in all cases and on all islands."
Paul "Ka'uhane" Lu'uwai, a member of a well-known Native Hawaiian family of Maui fishermen, said the case confirms the fears "of anyone who is a fisherman or a cultural practitioner that these guys from outside would come and pillage our areas."

"These guys know the rules and they come over here thinking they can get away with something," he said.

OFFICIAL SUBPOENAED
Maui DLNR resource enforcement chief Awo was subpoenaed to testify at the Maui hearing yesterday by Isaac Hall, attorney for Maui Tomorrow, the Sierra Club and the Kahului Harbor Coalition, which opposed the state Department of Transportation's exemption of ferry-related projects at Kahului Harbor from Hawai'i's environmental review law. The Hawai'i Supreme Court ruled in favor of the three groups Aug. 23, ordering the DOT to conduct an assessment.
In the wake of the ruling, Hawaii Superferry launched service from Honolulu to Maui and Kaua'i two days ahead of schedule on Aug. 26. The following day, Maui Judge Joseph Cardoza granted Hall's motion for a temporary restraining order that suspended ferry service until the matter of the permanent injunction could be determined.

TESTIMONY OBJECTIONS
Cardoza allowed Awo to take the witness stand yesterday over the vigorous objections of Deputy Attorney General Vince Kanemoto, who said letting the conservation chief discuss the investigation "may affect the integrity of an open and ongoing case."

Awo was limited to testify to only things he had observed himself. He said more than 900 rocks had been seized as evidence.

Although Awo was prohibited from saying so, questioning by Hall made it clear the large rocks are a type used for imu.

The hearing on the injunction will reconvene at 1:30pm today.