Citing safety concerns, Hawaii Superferry last night said it would postpone its planned service to Kaua'i indefinitely.

"A temporary delay serves the community best," Superferry officials said in a news release, one day after Gov. Linda Lingle faced a boisterous Kaua'i crowd of more than 1,100 people who were mostly opposed to the ferry.

"Hawaii Superferry has made the decision that in consideration for the safety of the community, our passengers and our dedicated employees, the resumption of service to Kaua'i will be delayed to an unspecified future date."

On Kaua'i, the decision was greeted with jubilation.

"Fantastic! What a relief! Maybe now we can let things settle down and let the courts do their job," said Richard Hoeppner, a spokesman for 1000 Friends of Kaua'i, the environmental group that brought a lawsuit seeking to bar Superferry operations until the state completed an environmental assessment.

Hoeppner said the large crowd that greeted Lingle in the sometimes tense community meeting Thursday night may have convinced Superferry and other officials that they couldn't proceed with a planned sailing to Kaua'i next week without risking a major confrontation.

Hoeppner estimated that more than 100 people were prepared to risk arrest and physically try to stop the ferry from arriving in Kaua'i.

Until last night, Superferry officials had planned to resume service to Kaua'i on Wednesday, one day before a court hearing on a lawsuit seeking an injunction against ferry operations.

"We took a number of things into account in making the decision to postpone," Superferry Chief Executive Officer John Garibaldi said last night. "The meeting on Kaua'i was part of it; the legal proceedings were part of it. We just felt with all these things coming together, the prudent thing for the company was to postpone for a bit. The biggest issue was safety."

The company still hopes to resume service soon, he said.

"We think we'll be able to get all these things behind us quickly and we'll be ready to go," Garibaldi said.

Earlier yesterday, the judge hearing the Kaua'i case ruled that lawsuit could go forward, although without a key part of its environmental argument.

Kaua'i Circuit Judge Randal Valenciano threw out the portion of the lawsuit that would have required an environmental assessment before the ferry operations proceed. Valenciano said the actions were not filed in a timely manner.

However, he let stand two other arguments in the lawsuit: that ferry operations would constitute a public nuisance and violate the state constitution.

"It's a bit of a mixed bag, but we're happy that the case can continue," Hoeppner said of the judge's ruling. "We still have a very powerful constitutional argument to make."

Superferry officials expressed pleasure with the judge's ruling, which stripped the lawsuit of all counts dealing with the state's Environmental Protection Act, the law which details when and how environmental assessments are required.

"We are very pleased with the judge's decision," Superferry officials said in a statement. The ruling "removes all environmental legal barriers for Hawaii Superferry's service to Kaua'i."

State Department of Transportation head Barry Fukunaga said, "We are pleased that the court made a favorable decision today and we hope for a positive outcome during next week's hearing."

When the Superferry was planning to come to Hawai'i, the DOT determined that ferry-related improvements at state harbors did not require an environmental review. The Hawai'i Supreme Court last month ruled the state erred in that decision and ordered the state to conduct an environmental assessment of the harbor improvements.

Valenciano ruled the Kaua'i lawsuit did not meet state law for filing. State law requires lawsuits to be filed within 120 days of the state's decision to require or not require an environmental assessment. The Kaua'i suit did not meet that standard, he said.

Based on that, Valenciano threw out three of the five counts in the lawsuit and dismissed any parts of the other two counts that rely on the state's Environmental Protection Act for their legal argument.

In effect, the ruling bars the environmental group from making specific claims that an environmental assessment is necessary before the ferry begins operations on Kaua'i.

However, the group still believes it can make a strong case that Superferry operations would constitute a public nuisance and be in violation of the state constitution, which gives the public environmental protections, Hoeppner said.

"The constitutional argument is a big part of our lawsuit, and the judge acknowledged it today," he said. "We're still hopeful that we will prevail."

The lawsuit seeks a restraining order against Superferry operations until an environmental assessment is done and the company is in compliance with all Hawai'i laws.

A hearing on the lawsuit is set for Thursday.

Reach Mike Leidemann at mleidemann@honoluluadvertiser.com.