This winter’s candlelight vigils and banner-waving protesters are gone, their legal challenges exhausted. Soon, bulldozers could roll past Koloa’s wooden sidewalks, clucking chickens and stop sign plastered with a “Die Developers Die” bumper sticker, ready to transform a ragtag grove of monkeypod trees into a shopping center.
But here in Hawaii’s oldest sugar plantation town, little [...]

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Kauai Mayor Bryan Baptiste believes it will take many more months before the Hawaii Superferry returns to Nawiliwili Harbor, where protestors blocked the ship’s entrance in August of last year.
“Really (it) looks to us like it won’t be until the second ship comes on line, unless something drastically changes,” said Baptiste.
Hawaii Superferry expects to take [...]

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A judge and protesters foil Alakai on Maui and Kauai
Hawaii Superferry’s vessel Alakai found itself yesterday dead in the water on Kauai and Maui.
Following on Sunday’s actions, protesters blocked the ferry at Kauai last night for more than three hours, delaying its 6 p.m. scheduled docking at Nawiliwili Harbor. About 50 people on surfboards and [...]

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As the Hawaii Superferry cruised into Nawiliwili Harbor around 5:45 p.m. yesterday on its maiden voyage to Kaua‘i, more than a dozen local surfers paddled out to block the 350-foot “Alakai” from reaching port, while 500 protesters backed them up onshore.
The blue and white four-deck catamaran stopped in a stalemate some 20 yards short of [...]

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North Shore residents rallied again yesterday morning near Black Pot Beach Park in Hanalei to wave signs and shout slogans at customers departing on Na Pali Coast boat tours.
The five-week protest stems from resumed commercial activity at a privately-owned boatyard, now serving as the center of a 20-year-old controversy over gray area in regulation rules.
The [...]

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As founders of Kaua‘i’s first environmentally friendly real estate company, Jason Donovan and his wife, Channon, are trying to live the greenest life possible. From the hemp shirts on their backs to the business cards printed on recycled paper and imbedded with seeds, the couple have made a commitment to be kind to Mother Earth.
This [...]

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Certain commercial boat tours reportedly operating last week from a privately-owned facility in Hanalei have local residents on edge again.
Makaala Kaaumoana, Hanalei Watershed Hui executive director, said yesterday that a community protest scheduled for today would be postponed until at least Tuesday.
State and county officials held a multi-agency meeting Friday, she said, in response to [...]

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With harbor improvements for the Hawaii Superferry reported to be on track, the only apparent threat to the start of the interisland ferry service is two pending court cases with hearings set for next month.
Both challenges involve questions about the need for adequate environmental impact studies on the publicly funded port projects for the new [...]

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Kaua‘i Island Utility Cooperative President and CEO Randy Hee asked residents and businesses late yesterday to initiate emergency conservation measures to reduce their electrical loads.
A malfunction at the 27-megawatt Kapaia Power Station Sunday morning was one of two nearly simultaneous incidents that left about half the island without power. Hee said less than a second [...]

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The Hawaii Superferry Web site used to have a ticker on its title page. It counted down the days and hours to the company’s July launch. Now the slogan says service starts some time this summer.
“We want everybody to feel comfortable that this is a very, very safe ship,” said Superferry president and CEO John [...]

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