Hawaii’s government caved to pressure from the operator of the new inter-island ferry when it allowed the company to bypass an environmental review, an audit to be released Thursday found.

The report said the state Department of Transportation exempted the Hawaii Superferry from an environmental study after the company threatened not to bring the ship to Hawaii unless it was given the green light by June 30, 2005.

“In the end, the state may have compromised its environmental policy in favor of a private company’s internal deadline,” said the audit ordered by the Legislature and prepared by State Auditor Marion Higa.

The exemption led to protests in Kauai’s harbor, court rulings that stopped the ferry and emergency legislation overriding the courts.

Since then, the 350-foot catamaran has been carrying small loads of passengers and cars from Honolulu to Maui when it hasn’t needed repairs.

It still hasn’t resumed voyages to Kauai, which were suspended Aug. 28 after just one trip following demonstrations by surfers, canoeists and kayakers that blocked the ferry.

Opponents complain the $95 million ferry will disturb whales and harm the islands’ fragile ecosystem.

Hawaii Superferry President John Garibaldi said he never misrepresented his business needs, and the deadline was something he had to live with to satisfy shipbuilding contracts, investors and a $140 million loan guarantee from the U.S. Maritime Administration.

“People had imposed time deadlines on us to meet,” Garibaldi said Wednesday. “We were just trying to work with it, and we were upfront in disclosing that to people.”

The state invested $40 million for harbor improvements and barges for the ferry to offload vehicles, which the Hawaii Supreme Court ruled last August should have triggered an environmental review. The Legislature passed an emergency measure in October overriding the court and allowing the ferry to sail while an environmental review is completed.

Because the loan guarantee was valid until January 2006, the audit concludes it was the Superferry that forced the state’s hand by setting the earlier deadline. The guarantee was contingent on there being no further environmental reviews.

The auditor continues to gather information about the Superferry for a second report to be released later.

(Source: Mark Niesse, Associated Press)