• Harbor infrastructure: One ferry carrying nearly a thousand people and 200 cars has a small impact on Honolulu Harbor and Honolulu County with over 900,000 residents. Kahului Harbor and Maui County with 140,000 residents are tiny by comparison. Kahului Harbor was built to accommodate freight, not passengers. Cruise ship passengers disembark on the same pier that accommodates Matson container ships, coal ships and long barges carrying sand, rock, etc. That pier holds only two long vessels at a time. By 2006, a cruise ship will be in the harbor six days each week. How will increasing shipments of cargo be loaded and unloaded without delays? How will those delays increase costs on Maui and other islands? How will the Superferry impact this?

• Traffic near Kahului Harbor: For O'ahu residents who aren't familiar with Kahului Harbor and traffic nearby, imagine a daily ferry with almost a thousand passengers and 200 cars in Kewalo Basin without widening the streets in the area. Consider the traffic and congestion along Ala Moana Boulevard. That's how it will feel in Kahului, our most central and heavily used business and commercial district, according to the current Superferry plan.

• Passenger safety: Passengers will disembark from the Superferry in the same area of Kahului Harbor where shipping containers, coal, sand, etc., are unloaded. It's very unsafe for cruise ship passengers now, and a huge potential liability for the shippers, truckers and the state. Compound that with congestion from cars getting on and off the ferry. Is that something you want to arrive to?

• Alien species: The current Superferry plan is an economic and environmental risk for the spread of miconia and clidemia hirta seeds and coqui frog eggs hiding in wheel-well mud from every visiting vehicle. Who will ensure every vehicle is 100 percent clean before it boards a ferry, and who will pay for that? What about state money spent for decades on eliminating and controlling alien species? Will that go to waste? Will Hawaii Superferry put up performance bonds to ensure Neighbor Island farms won't be invaded by pests from other islands or to mitigate economic impacts for these farms?

• Natural and cultural resources protection: People will bring vehicles to Maui specifically to harvest cultural and natural resources, such as fish, opihi, limu, maile, flowers, seeds, awa, etc. What regulations will prevent large numbers of fishing parties arriving from fished-out O'ahu from depleting Maui and Kaua'i of their relatively abundant fish stocks?

• Airlines: Superferry, as it is now planned, will compete with our interisland airlines, both of which are now in bankruptcy, and may put them in worse economic situations. What about economic security for airline employee families and our interisland air traffic system? Will prices rise? Will we lose a carrier or two?

The current Superferry plan has many major impacts — some wonderful, others costly and damaging. I'm not opposed to the Superferry. I'm opposed to pushing the current Superferry plan forward too quickly with too many unanswered questions about potential consequences throughout the state. I'm opposed to this particular flawed and risky plan.

To the governor, DOT and Hawaii Superferry: We need good governance, an EIS and facts about this project before committing large sums of taxpayer funds to support it. Using facts, we can have a Superferry with a secure future. Farmers will fare better, the economy will diversify and families can visit each other often and easily for generations to come. It's a complicated issue. Don't argue this emotionally or oversimplify it. Obey the law. Get the facts. Do an EIS.