While lawmakers' decision to salvage the prospects for a Superferry service should draw a sigh of relief from most Isle residents, that action is merely the first check mark on a long to-do list.

The special session and its centerpiece legislation gives the ferry leeway to operate before its court-ordered environmental assessment is done — which seemed the only way the company could have stayed in business and re-employed its furloughed workers. This undoubtedly was the only way to serve the greater needs of the community, which will benefit from an alternative mode of transportation.

But critics argued that the measure circumvented the intent of environmental law and of the courts that upheld it.

And they're right. Carving out an special protocol for the ferry is nothing more than a legal workaround which, though necessary in this case, should be a rare exception. Avoiding a repeat of this scenario should be the ultimate goal of lawmakers now.

But the first order of the day should be healing the divisions that opened over the Superferry case. It's hard to come up with an episode since statehood that seemed to pit one island against another in quite as brutal a fashion as this conflict has done.

State and Coast Guard officials need to plan carefully on ensuring the safety of residents who are sure to renew their protest of ferry operations on the Neighbor Islands.

Even more importantly, every effort must be made to carry out the required environmental safeguards prescribed in the law. For example: The state is now committed to providing adequate on-board supervision by marine-life observers from Day One, whether or not federal authorities can offer up its staff, as a means of protecting humpback whales off Maui's shore.

Environmentalists and other community advocates need to have a voice in the devising of any new regulations guiding the ferry operation during this transitional period.

Finally, once ferry service resumes, state leaders must turn their attention toward creating an administrative appeals process for environmental disputes of this kind, so Hawai'i doesn't find itself backed into this corner again.