WAILUKU, Maui — The former head of Haleakala National Park urged federal officials in March 2005 to request that Hawai'i conduct an environmental impact statement of the Hawaii Superferry to examine ways to prevent the spread of fire ants, stinging nettle caterpillars, Himalayan raspberry and other invasive species that could threaten the park's delicate ecosystems.
Donald Reeser, who retired in July 2005 after 18 years at Haleakala, told the chief of the Maritime Administration that he was most concerned about "the obvious deficiency" in the number of state Department of Agriculture inspectors, who already were struggling to keep pests from arriving via international, national and interisland air and sea routes.
"It is certainly true the Superferry would not be the only means of transport for such interisland invasions via vehicles," Reeser's letter said. "The point is that the Superferry would increase vehicular transport and that all forms of both trans-Pacific and interisland transportation are in serious need of better measures for prevention of transport of invasive species."
Maritime Administration acting Chief Counsel J. Patrick Wiese responded in a July 15, 2005, letter that the agency was not supplying direct funding or a loan to the Hawaii Superferry, but a $140 million loan guarantee for construction of the company's two 350-foot catamarans.
Wiese said an environmental review was not necessary for the loan guarantee. "However, recognizing the importance of the environmental issues, the Letter Commitment (to Hawaii Superferry) provides that the closing is preconditioned on the State of Hawaii having given all governmental and environmental clearances."
Wiese also said the agency understood that a Maui court case to force the state Department of Transportation to conduct an assessment of ferry-related improvements at Kahului Harbor had been dismissed and that the company had taken "significant steps to address many of the concerns you have raised. ..."
The DOT granted the harbor projects an exemption from environmental review laws a month after Hawaii Superferry was told by the Maritime Administration that the loan guarantee was conditional on a confirmation that no environmental assessment was required.
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