Kaua`i Group Appeals Rulings
Claiming that Hawai`i Superferry profits do not trump federally mandated environmental requirements, attorneys filed an opening brief in the Intermediate Court of Appeals this week.
Attorneys argued in the brief that Kaua`i should enjoy the same constitutional protections afforded to everyone else.
Dan Hempey and Greg Meyers, attorneys for 1,000 Friends of Kaua`i, filed the appeal of two September 2007 rulings greenlighting the Hawai`i Superferry despite its lacking an Environmental Assessment.
Hawai`i Superferry had claimed it would face financial strain if forced to stop operations while completing the EA.
In 2005 the Department of Transportation individually exempted the improvements to each of the four harbors that would receive the Superferry, stating that the individual harbor improvements would have no significant impact on the environment.
The 1,000 Friends of Kaua`i brief states that "the court should protect the public and enforce (the Hawaiian Environmental Protection Act), even against violators who can show that they cleverly approved a statewide project in several subparts, or who may lose a lot of money if the environmental laws are applied to them."
Claiming that ruling in favor of the environment on Maui but not on Kaua`i presents an inequity, Hempey and Meyers wrote,"Citizens of Maui were protected from the Superferry, while citizens of Kaua`i could not enjoin the Superferry, despite the statewide HEPA violation."
