03-04-2014, 02:42 AM
There was a very loud crowd on Kau'ai that was fanatically against the Superferry. A group even swam out in a harbor to block the ferry from entering and the police were called. Here on the Big Island my impression is that most people were in favor of the ferry.
Not an accidental government screwup as I remember. The problem was former Governor Lingle's administration "somehow" gave a pass to the ferry company on an environmental impact assessment (or statement) and the company happily went along with that. The courts then ruled that was illegal. At that point the environmental assessment would have taken so long (should have been done as a regular part of business early in the ferry's development phase) that the company couldn't financially sustain the two ferries they had ordered without providing paying services and declared bankruptcy.
Not an accidental government screwup as I remember. The problem was former Governor Lingle's administration "somehow" gave a pass to the ferry company on an environmental impact assessment (or statement) and the company happily went along with that. The courts then ruled that was illegal. At that point the environmental assessment would have taken so long (should have been done as a regular part of business early in the ferry's development phase) that the company couldn't financially sustain the two ferries they had ordered without providing paying services and declared bankruptcy.