The Great $uperferry Fia$co

Here’s an abbreviated version of the expensive screw-up that has unfolded here in Hawaii over the past few years:

1. The State was approached by a company that wanted to run a high-speed ferry between Honolulu and two of our neighbor islands, Kauai and Maui.

2. State law says that before harbor improvements are done to accommodate the Superferry, there must be an Environmental Impact Study.

3. Republican governor, Linda Lingle, says we can just pass a law saying the Superferry can start running before the EIS is done.

4. Lingle introduces such a bill and the Democratic controlled Legislature passes it.

5. The State spends $40 million upgrading harbor facilities on Maui to accommodate the Superferry.

6. The Superferry begins operating, amid heated protests from environmentalists, surfers, and canoe clubs among others … and they file a lawsuit.

7. A week ago, the Hawaii Supreme Court rules that, yes indeed, the EIS does need to be done and the Superferry can’t operate until it is.

8. Superferry shuts down and owners are looking for somewhere else in the world to operate.

MORAL: If the law says you have do an EIS, do a freakin’ EIS!

Oh, by the way … Governor Lingle says she was right all along, by damn, and she’s gonna ask the court to change its mind. Yeah, really … she actually said that.