It’s back! Superferry rises from the dead

Posted by kyle

Like a zombie flick where the dead won’t stay dead, the State House of Representatives considering a bill to resurrect the Hawaii Superferry by creating a state ferry system and a special fund to have the public fund the venture.   Citizens concerned about environmental and social impacts and the military use of the Hawaii Superferry defeated the venture through a legal and direct action strategy.   The Hawaii Superferry company went bankrupt after the Hawaii Supreme Court ruled that legislation retroactively exempting the project from State environmental review laws was unconstitutional.    The US Maritime Administration (MARAD) repossessed the two ships and loaned them to the military for transporting aid to earthquake stricken Haiti.

Today, the Hawaii State House Committee on Transportation heard House Bill 2667 Relating to Ferries. The bill was introduced by Reps. Joe Souki, Karen Awana and Calvin Say.  The bill would establish a state ferry system authority comprised of members appointed by the governor, including a representative for each of the four counties, two public members with “knowledge, experience, and expertise in the area of maritime industry management, operations, and marketing” and an ex-officio representative of the director of transportation.

The bill states that

The authority, as soon as practicable, shall engage in communications with the United States Department of Transportation and the United States Maritime Administration relating to federal funding assistance and the possible purchase or lease of the former Hawaii super ferry vessels Alakai and Huakai or other available suitable vessels to commence its operations.

Brad Parsons posted his initial analysis of the text of HB2667 on the Hawaii Superferry Blog.

This comes at the same time that the military is proposing to station Joint High Speed Vessels (JHSV) that are military versions of the Hawaii Superferry design in the Pacific, including possibly Guam or Hawai’i.  The Guam Pacific Daily News carried an article here and the federal  notice of intent to conduct a Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement can be downloaded here.