So many events, so little time to blog on them
Today, I got time!
Earlier this month, the SuperFerry was forced to shut down, due to a Hawaii Supreme Court decisions. In 2007, the state exempted the SuperFerry from the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). In 2009, the Hawaii Supreme Court ruled the state's action unconstitutional.
http://www.starbulletin.com/news/20090317_Superferry_suspended.html
Because EIS tends to take a long time, it isn't feasible to keep the business in operation!
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So the SuperFerry shut down and workers laid off
http://www.starbulletin.com/news/20090318_Layoffs_follow_high_court_ruling_on_Superferry.html
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My take --- wouldn't having the SuperFerry continue running be a PERFECT way to have an EIS! That way we can see whatever environmental impacts occurs as it's happening, instead of just making predictions!
But that wouldn't make the special interest groups feel special. You think I'm kidding?
Check this Honolulu Advertiser editorial by Jay Fidell
http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2009/Apr/05/bz/hawaii904050338.html
When activist organizations get together, they are well-fueled and powerful. When they litigate and lobby together, they become intimidating. When asked what Sierra Club focused on, Jeff Mikulina said, "we stop things." Stopping Superferry was a war that lasted for years. In the end, it was a notable victory for the activists, whether or not deserved!
Yeah, we bad -- we stop things!
continue on
The EIS does help protect our environment. But it's also every activist's favorite weapon, and a blockbuster at that. The first step is to require an EIS for a project. The next step is to argue with the EIS, in both draft and final, in and out of court. That takes years and costs really big money. With good cause, the term EIS strikes fear into anyone building anything.
But were the activists really interested in the EIS findings, or just bent on stopping the ferry? Would they have been satisfied with an EIS that permitted the ferry to operate? No. It's not a question of finding impacts, only keeping the game in play until the project bleeds to death.
Because an entrepreneur follows the rules doesn't mean the activists won't attack him anyway. Once targeted, you get the full monty. Things become distorted and desperate. If you have no upstairs access, you're at the mercy of the bureaucracy, which freezes in the headlights. That being the case, activists can stop any project they like.
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Now, because of those activists, we won't be able to ride a boat between the Hawaiian islands!
I wrote on the same issue back in 2007
In it, I discussed the nostalgia extremists on Kauai and their violent protests!
http://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2007_09_01_archive.html#8120786639112286509
I also mentioned this
Meanwhile, some said the SuperFerry would help disabled people visit other islands, and give high school sports team a cheaper way to travel to the other islands to play in tournaments!
These people are the ones most hurt by those Nostalgia Fascists!
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Meanwhile, the NY based far-left magazine TheNation had an article on the SuperFerry written to trick gullible mainlanders on this issue!
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20090316/mander_paik
The article put scary innuendos about the SuperFerry being connected to the "scary military super-power" and acted as if those rude protesters in Kauai spoke for the majority (they didn't!)
However, here is the biggest LIE written in that article.
Three weeks after Nawiliwili, another huge throng filled the 1,500 seats of Kauai's War Memorial Convention Hall, with many more outside, for a "public meeting" called by Governor Lingle. Imperiously she warned that she would not discuss whether there would be a Superferry--that had been decided. Her purpose was to instruct people that if they repeated their protests, they would be charged under new anti-terrorism laws that carry prison terms up to five years and/or a $10,000 fine.
What those writers LEFT OUT ON PURPOSE was that in was reaction to the VIOLENT protests at Kauai harbors, where the SuperFerry passengers were faced with flying beer bottles, their items vandalized, their faces screamed at, and their lives THREATENED!
But the writers LEFT IT OUT ON PURPOSE to fool gullible mainlanders into thinking Lingle was threatening freedom of speech!
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here's what 2 readers said
Well, they've done it. They've succeeded in stopping the SuperFerry. The ferry was actually a boon to the people of Hawaii, the opponents were definitely in the minority, as the reaction to the story on the forums of the Honolulu papers will attest. This decision will be a blow to the countless local families who have been using the ferry for trips to visit relatives, and to the countless local businesses that have been using it to transport their products between islands.
Could the EIS have been handled better? Of course. But why punish the people of Hawaii for this ?
Now more than ever in these uncertain times, we need an alternative to air travel and to the other monopolies.
And by the way, why should big giant cruise ships be allowed, and not a boat that benefits local people?
Everybody wants to "protect the environment," but the Sierra Club et al. should "choose their battles."
penny guinn
Honolulu, HI03/17/2009 @ 7:12pm
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Fifteen hundred protesters on Kaua'i is hugely significant, in that it represents slightly less than 10% of the island's population!
hal muskat
Middletown , CA03/04/2009 @ 09:23am
