Feds OK Maui
wildlife plan

The proposal aims to lessen
the impact of a wind energy
project on rare animals

WAILUKU » Officials with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service are supporting a proposed habitat conservation plan to lessen the impact of a wind energy project along the West Maui Mountains.

Ken Foote, the service's information and education specialist, said his organization has worked closely with the developer to lessen the impact on endangered and threatened species.

A public hearing on the plan, held by the state Department of Land and Natural Resources, will start at 7 p.m. today at the Velma "McWayne" Santos Community Center in Wailuku.

Kaheawa Wind Power, LLC, plans to develop 20 wind turbines, each designed to generate 1.5 megawatts of energy for a total output of 30 megawatts.

State officials said the project may help save 200,000 barrels of oil annually, reducing emissions of carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide, the byproducts of burning oil for energy production.

The Kaheawa plan, also reviewed by the state endangered species recovery committee, estimates no more than a certain number of animals, if any, will die yearly as a result of the project, including two Hawaiian petrel and Newell's shearwater, three nene and one Hawaiian hoary bat.

The plan includes Kaheawa paying for the operation and maintenance costs of a new release pen for nene for five years.

While surveys have not detected the presence of Hawaiian hoary bats at the project site on the southern slopes of the West Maui Mountains, Kaheawa will provide $20,000 to the Hawaiian Bat Research Cooperative to expand their research on the habitat requirements of the species, the state said.

The draft plan may be reviewed at the Wailuku, Lahaina and Kihei libraries on Maui, the Hawaii State Library in Honolulu and the DLNR Forestry office in Wailuku.

It is also available for review on the Internet at www.state.hi.us/dlnr/dofaw/pubs/index.html

Written comments must be received by Sept. 6 and should be submitted to Conservation Initiatives Coordinator, DLNR Division of Forestry and Wildlife, 1151 Punchbowl St., Room 325, Honolulu 96813.