WAILUKU, Maui — Hawaii Superferry supporters are hoping today is the day the new interisland ferry service is finally cleared to resume sailings to Maui.

The company's high-speed catamaran has been barred by a court injunction from visiting Kahului Harbor, the ferry's most lucrative port call. A Maui Circuit Court hearing is scheduled for 8 a.m. today to take up a request by Hawaii Superferry and the state Department of Transportation to lift the injunction in view of a new state law that allows the vessel to operate while an environmental review is conducted.

Hawaii Superferry President and CEO John Garibaldi yesterday issued a statement saying the company "will announce a restart date upon completion of all legal, operational and regulatory steps. We hope to resume operations within two weeks of completing these steps."

The ferry has been stalled by a court challenge of the DOT's exemption of ferry-related harbor projects from Hawai'i's environmental review laws. The Sierra Club, Maui Tomorrow and the Kahului Harbor Coalition won a Hawai'i Supreme Court ruling in August that the exemption was improper and that an environmental assessment is required.

In the wake of that decision, Maui Judge Joseph Cardoza issued a temporary restraining order Aug. 27 halting the Superferry from voyaging to Maui. Last month, he issued the injunction after ruling that Hawai'i's environmental law, known as Chapter 343, states that an environmental assessment must be done before projects requiring a review can proceed.

Superferry officials said they could not afford to keep their $85 million vessel idle while environmental studies are done, and the Legislature and Gov. Linda Lingle moved quickly to convene a special session of the Legislature to pass Act 2, which allows a "large capacity ferry vessel company" to operate during the review process.

Wailuku attorney Isaac Hall, representing the Sierra Club and the other two groups, will argue at today's court hearing that the injunction should remain in effect because Act 2 is unconstitutional "special legislation" and for other reasons.

In a memorandum filed with the court yesterday opposing a motion by the state and Hawaii Superferry to dissolve the injunction, Hall said Lingle and lawmakers made a "halfhearted effort ... to obscure the fact that Act 2 is clearly special legislation by suggesting that it would apply to any 'large capacity ferry vessel company,' however, it is undisputable that Act 2 benefits and binds only Hawaii Superferry Inc. and therefore is 'special' legislation."

Hall said the Hawai'i Constitution states that the legislative power over "lands owned by or under the control of the state and its political subdivisions shall be exercised only by general laws," not "special" legislation whose purpose is to benefit a single business or entity. The lands in question here are state harbors.

In another claim, Hall said Act 2 is a retroactive attempt to overturn a final court order, violating the separation of powers among the executive, legislative and judicial branches of government.

In a motion filed last week seeking to dissolve the injunction and vacate Cardoza's ruling voiding the DOT's operating agreement with the Superferry, Deputy Attorney General William Wynhoff said "there is no longer any legal or factual basis for the injunction."

"All involved recognize this case presents difficult choices and tradeoffs among concerns of fundamental importance to the state and its citizens," he said. "Those choices and tradeoffs came out one way under the law in effect until Nov. 2, 2007, and a different way under Act 2, effective Nov. 2, 2007. Therefore, just as this court reversed its prior ruling in response to the mandate of the Hawai'i Supreme Court, this court is now required to dissolve its injunction in response to the Legislature's directive changing prior laws and specifically mandating that a 'large capacity ferry vessel company (like Hawaii Superferry) shall have the right to operate and the right to utilize Kahului Harbor improvements and other improvements and facilities on any island' pending the environmental review process."

Reach Christie Wilson at cwilson@honoluluadvertiser.com.