Gov. Linda Lingle spoke privately yesterday afternoon with environmental groups and Hawaii Superferry executives in what people involved described as a positive and productive meeting on operating conditions for the ferry.

The governor indicated she likely would wait until early next week to sign a bill that allows the ferry to resume service while the state conducts an environmental review of the project. The state also plans to ask Maui Circuit Court Judge Joseph Cardoza to lift an injunction that has stopped the vessel from using Kahului Harbor until the environmental review is completed.

The bill authorizes the governor, through executive order, to impose operating conditions on the ferry to protect whales, prevent the spread of invasive species and protect natural and cultural resources. Lingle has said the conditions likely will be more than what Superferry would like but less than what the project's critics desire.

She will work with the state Department of Transportation on the conditions over the next few days and could announce them when she signs the bill next week.

"Prior to that I want to make certain that the conditions are in place and that the operating agreement has been signed," Lingle told reporters yesterday at the grand opening of the state's first Walgreens drugstore.

Lingle said she also would meet with officials from the state Office of Hawaiian Affairs today to hear their thoughts on Superferry.

"They said they had some issues that they wanted discussed," she said.

Lingle said she believes she can help bring people together on Superferry but could use some help. She said she plans to be on Maui and Kaua'i — where protesters against Superferry have been organizing — in the coming month.

"I think I have a very important role to play, anytime there's a leadership issue for the community," she said.

But she added: "I think the faith-based community is also very important here."

Lingle also said she believes harbor security has been improved since protesters on Kaua'i blocked the ferry from Nawiliwili Harbor in August. "I'm certain that the Coast Guard will be properly prepared in both places," she said.

SUGGESTED CONDITIONS

At the meeting with Lingle yesterday afternoon at the state Capitol environmental groups suggested several operating conditions.

"We appreciated the opportunity to meet with her and provide what we thought were some of the bare minimum conditions," said Jeff Mikulina, the director of the Sierra Club's Hawai'i chapter.

Environmentalists asked that Superferry slow to 13 knots in shallow waters to protect whales, arguing that slower speeds in some waters would not significantly add time to ferry voyages. Superferry executives have designed routes to avoid whales and have developed a whale policy but have balked at significantly slower ferry speed.

Some environmentalists also asked that Superferry agree to follow the findings of the state's environmental reviewsand consider an impact fee on passengers that could be used to help pay for environmental controls.

Greg Kaufman, president and founder of the Pacific Whale Foundation, described Lingle and her advisers as "convivial and forthright." He said Lingle told them she knew what it was like to believe she was right on a policy issue but still lose. He said he believed he was on the right side and won in court.

"I left the room encouraged that our voices were heard," Kaufman said.

Reach Derrick DePledge at ddepledge@honoluluadvertiser.com and Robbie Dingeman at rdingeman@honoluluadvertiser.com.