Impacts of Superferry issue for Randy Awo

The Maui News
Tuesday, October 23, 2007

By HARRY EAGAR, Staff Writer

WAILUKU – A surprise testifier at Monday's Hawaii Superferry slugfest at Baldwin Auditorium was state enforcement officer Randy Awo, who said he "wasn't sure if it was politically correct, but I want to speak of my belief in Hawaii Nei rather than from a place of safety."

"Our kuleana is to administer the law to protect the culture and natural resources" of Maui County, said Awo, the branch chief of the Maui office of the Division of Conservation and Resource Enforcement.

It was his officers who intercepted three truckloads of river stones being taken to the ferry on its first return trip to Oahu. And Awo testified about that investigation early in the monthlong hearing before 2nd Circuit Judge Joseph Cardoza that led to a permanent injunction against beginning ferry service until an environmental assessment is created.

As an employee of the executive branch, which is pushing for legislation to unleash the Superferry, Awo was literally between some rocks and a hard place in court, with a deputy attorney general jumping to his feet again and again to limit Awo's testimony, in order to protect a continuing investigation.

Offering his personal testimony at the raucous Senate informational hearing was also touchy.

Awo said he was doing it because he is "very, very passionate about the privilege of being in an occupation that malamas Hawaii."

His father was a game warden when Hawaii was a territory, and Awo has been the modern equivalent since 1988. Despite best efforts, he said, it has been "very frustrating. You're always behind the curve" in dealing with unwanted impacts.

Awo told the 10 senators he was not speaking in his professional capacity.

"I am here to express my concern about our ability to properly administer to the impacts that will surely occur," he said.

He said he was at an award ceremony Saturday for Art Medeiros, a Maui biologist, and he was struck by Medeiros' description of how at first he just enjoyed being in Hawaii's native forests. Only later, Medeiros said, did he have "a hana paa moment . . . that he was no longer free to just roam the forest without taking care of it."

He told the senators, "I hope this is a hana paa moment for all of you."

It was just about the nicest thing anybody said to them during the first three hours of a meeting that was scheduled to run five hours.

Maui Sen. J. Kalani English halted the testifiers after two hours and 20 minutes to admonish them to speed things along.

"We are in the middle of page two of a nine-page list" of testifiers, he said.

Sen. Brian Taniguchi, in the chair, had set a two-minute limit on testimony but said it would be interpreted loosely. Few testifiers spoke for less than five minutes, and they were repeatedly interrupted by cheers, standing ovations and – unusually for Maui – boos, catcalls and loud insults.

Over the first 40 testifiers, sentiment was running about 7-to-1 against opening a special session of the Legislature to address Hawaii Superferry's predicament. Legislative leaders and state Attorney General Mark Bennett have drafted a bill to allow the Superferry to operate, but it also requires an environmental impact statement be prepared – and imposes conditions on the governor to protect the environment.

The 1,200-seat Baldwin auditorium was a little over half full. Things calmed down somewhat when two speakers, Sally Raisbeck and Lucienne de Naie, appealed for better manners.

But the rhetoric ran high.

Martin Duberstein told the senators, all Democrats, "I'm a Democratic party officer, but I am going to tear up my Democratic Party membership," which he then did.

"What we need is a real green party in Hawaii."

That was mild compared with Gabby Gouveia, who said Hawaii "is a police state controlled by big business and the military."

That got cheers from the people carrying "Impeach Lingle" signs.

But Gouveia was a moderate compared with Richard Michaels, who warned that "when someone is injured or killed, it's going to be on the head of the Legislature."

Raisbeck warned the senators that "people on Kauai and Maui are very, very angry."

If the Legislature won't support the courts, she said, people will lose faith in government. That was a popular theme among several testifiers who warned that a bill to exempt the ferry from the state environmental law would drive people to break other laws.

"Please don't force me to jump into Kahului Harbor," said Raisbeck, who is 77.

Riki Hokama, chairman of the Maui County Council, said he was "strongly opposed" to the special session. He said he was speaking for himself, since the council has not taken up the proposal for a special session – although it had approved a resolution calling for an environmental impact statement on the ferry. "The public was excluded from participating (in an impact review) contrary to the usual practices," he said.

Senate President Colleen Hanabusa, whose 21st District includes the rural Oahu communities of Waianae and Makaha, said that neither the House nor the Senate was going to "call itself" into special session.

However, she said, if Gov. Linda Lingle does so, the Legislature has a constitutional duty to assemble.

Taniguchi assured the crowd that the draft bill "is not a done deal" and that their statements Monday would be considered in making revisions to the draft.

The 10 senators, who represent several committees, have called informal meetings, since they are not in session. They heard six hours of "mostly respectful" testimony on Kauai Sunday.

They had to limit their time on Maui to five hours in order to catch a flight to Kona for a third hearing scheduled for 3 p.m. today at Kealakehe High School in West Hawaii.

Lingle has not yet formally called for the Legislature to gather, although it has been talked about as opening as early as Wednesday and the Senate Public Safety Committee has scheduled a hearing for 10 a.m. today on Oahu to review the nomination of Clayton Frank as director of public safety.

If the Legislature convenes in special session, the Senate will also need to consider more than 100 nominations to state boards and agencies, or have the nominations lapse.

At the session on Maui, one of the few testifiers for the ferry was John Hultquist. He said he would like the ferry to run so that car racers and drag racers could go to other islands, and also because it offers another way besides airplanes to get between islands.

"I was not allowed to fly after some surgery," he said.

Pat Kean read testimony on behalf of Tony Fisher of AARP, who said "the ferry should sail while an EIS is conducted."

Fisher said the ferry would provide a needed service to the state's "frail elderly."

Most testifiers, however, held fast to the fact that the courts have said an environmental assessment (at least) must be done. It should be done before the ferry sails.

An assessment determines if an environmental impact statement is necessary.

Isaac Hall, who won at both the Supreme Court and in Circuit Court, reminded the senators that Cardoza had found that the ferry threatened "irreparable harm."

Later, asked whether the proposed legislation had any flaws that he might attack, Hall said, "It's unconstitutional."

Harry Eagar can be reached at heagar@mauinews.com.

Copyright © 2005 The Maui News.

Original article URL: http://www.mauinews.com/news/2007/10/23/01Impa1023.html

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