The director of the state Department of Transportation said yesterday that a Hawai'i Supreme Court ruling requiring an environmental assessment for state harbor improvements for Hawaii Superferry is "a dramatic change to the legal landscape and long-held state policy."

DOT Director Barry Fukunaga, who was deputy director of harbors when he made the February 2005 decision to exempt the project from an environmental review, said the $40 million in state harbor improvements to enable ferry service were minor.

The state's acquisition of barges, installation of boarding ramps and minimal improvements to piers, he said, fell within the intended use of harbors.

Fukunaga said it was unclear how the court's new standard would apply to other projects. He asked whether the department would now, for example, be required to conduct environmental reviews on the secondary impact of every type of vehicle that may use new or repaired state roadways.

Fukunaga also repeated concerns about fairness to Hawaii Superferry that were raised last week by Gov. Linda Lingle, saying that airlines, cruise ships and barges did not face environmental reviews for new or expanded services. He said the Superferry is being held to a higher standard.

"Hawaii Superferry officials have been sensitive to environmental concerns and adopted numerous measures that no other shipping company or cruise line employs," Fukunaga said in a letter to Hawai'i news organizations. "These measures have been undertaken voluntarily in response to comments and expressions of concern that have been brought before them."

Scott Ishikawa, a department spokesman, said last night that Fukunaga wanted to explain the department's side of the issue, which he suggested may have been lost in the extensive media coverage on Superferry.

Environmentalists and several Neighbor Island state lawmakers have criticized the department for not requiring an environmental assessment for the harbor improvements. Environmentalists believe they were validated when the Supreme Court ruled unanimously last month that the department's decision was in error.

"The real issue is that the DOT only focused on the harbor improvements and not the secondary or cumulative impacts," said Ron Sturtz, president emeritus of Maui Tomorrow, one of the groups that challenged the state in court.

The state is now working on an environmental assessment for all the harbors the Superferry intends to service. The state has argued in court that an environmental review can be completed while ferry service resumes.

Fukunaga warned about the selective use of environmental law to oppose certain businesses.

"The serious issue we face today is not whether environmental laws are unnecessary or wrong, but that their selective use to oppose certain businesses and operations by those who don't want them is contrary to what these laws were established to address and what our Islands are about," he said.

Reach Derrick DePledge at ddepledge@honoluluadvertiser.com.