Here are the briefs of the parties in the “Hawaii Superferry EIS” appeal, decided by the Supreme Court of Hawaii last week. These should clear up any questions about what the litigation is about, and what the parties argued.
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Opening Brief of Plaintiffs-Appellants [Sierra Club, Maui Tomorrow, Kahului Harbor Coalition] (filed Oct. 21, 2005) (2 mb pdf)
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Defendants-Appellees Hawaii Superferry, Inc. and the State of Hawaii’s Answering Brief (filed Dec 27, 2005) (1.2 mb pdf)
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Reply Brief of Appellants (filed Jan. 20, 2006) (650 kb pdf)
Update: Charley Foster at Planet Kauai has posted a succinct summary of the briefs and the legal arguments, and included some thoughts about the future:
The question left wide open – and that will definitely find its wayback into the courts – is what will be the scope of an environmentalassessment. The state and Superferry will argue that it ought to belimited to the harbor improvements that brought the project withinstate environmental legislation in the first place. The plaintiffgroups will argue that, once the requirements of the law are triggeredby the harbor improvements, then everything about the ferry’s operationought to be examined for its environmental impact.
Well worth reading his whole post.