Who would believe. If you've been following the saga of the Honolulu Zoo's missing meerkat, you'll remember that the story ended with speculation over whether the state legislature would hold a special session.
Thanks to the Superferry, the meerkat could be on Kauai now, where it would be an invasive specie (species?), dining on creatures that had no natural enemies before. The special session is designed to overrule environmental protections currently in place that now protect the delicate ecosystem of Kauai and the other Neighbor Islands so that the Superferry can operate. And it's a crying shame.
How do I know that the special session allows the meerkat an exit visa to Kauai? Since the legislature has been meeting with the administration in secret, going through at least eight drafts of a bill to give the Superferry super powers, my guess is as good as yours.
Our daily press has been complicit. It took our small cadre of bloggers to post and share information and documents that dissident insiders willingly leaked to us, ultimately shaming the papers to post documents on their own websites. It took the bloggers to report the news of the governor's threats against protestors--of fines, jail time and even intervention of Child Protective Services--as they entered a meeting room on Kauai for a session with her. The papers and TV reported the confrontation that resulted, but not the reason why Kauai residents were upset. Maybe it was an intentional setup.
Who wouldn't be upset? Hawaii is really the peaceful place you think it is, with natural beauty, clean air and water. So when threatened, people come to the defense of the aina, of their land. It's necessary, or the place would be completely paved over with asphalt and concrete.
Googling Hawaii Superferry will tell you more than you probably want to know. But to bring you up to date, the state legislature has decided (they don't want the governor be the only "decider") that the Superferry may sail. To do that, they have to overrule court decisions, including a decision of the Hawaii Supreme Court, and suspend all restrictive laws and permits that might keep the Superferry in port. This requires a special session which is scheduled to begin Wednesday.
This weekend will see the start of "hearings" at which testimony will be taken, but most likely (and I hope I'm wrong) ignored, since the contest is really over who will be the "decider" though the decision is the same. The governor needed to convince the legislature to pass new laws, and she has done so. I'm sure the $175,000 in campaign donations that one newspaper associated with the Superferry helped immensely (see Hawaii ferry spent $175,000 on lobbying).
The article notes that the money was spread over three years, but it was still for the single issue of getting the Superferry started in Hawaii with exemptions from our laws and regulations. Whether or not the Superferry will be used for military transport here, there is an interesting comparison that might help put the $175,000 in perspective. Thomas B. Edsall reports in the Huffington Post
Employees of the top five arms makers - Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Northrop-Grumman, Raytheon and General Dynamics -- gave Democratic presidential candidates $103,900, with only $86,800 going to Republicans.
Let's see, that comes to $199,700. For a presidential race. From the major arms makers, who are reaping a fortune thanks to ongoing wars. If that's looked on as big money, isn't $175,000 a huge amount for a little bitty state like Hawaii, for a little bitty thing like running a passenger ferry a couple of times a day?
It won't just be our little meerkat who is free to travel between the islands. Hawaii's environmental law imposes strict requirements as to environmental impact studies that must be conducted. The Superferry is now to be allowed to operate without those restrictions. Studies are to be completed in the future. What's the chance of the ferry being stopped if a problem shows up in the study, or if some whales become collateral damange? Probably zilch.
Why? Because the Superferry has military application that may exceed its utility as a passenger ferry. To learn more about that, just Google ."superferry neocon stryker" and you'll know all. I can't explain it here or I'll end up on some no-fly list.
Our little meerkat, Oahu's evil mongooses, and any other little predatory species that may want to hitch a ride will be free to do so.
So sad.