The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said Tuesday it is extending a public comment period for a second proposed wind farm in Kahuku.
The federal agency opened a 30-day comment period in October that has ended. The new comment period, which is open now, will run through Dec. 19.
The state already has approved a 40-year lease for up to nine wind turbines in Kahuku, the second wind farm near the North Shore community. The construction of the wind farm has met with community opposition primarily because of its proximity to homes and schools.
The state approval came on a 5-1 vote in October by the Board of Land and Natural Resources.
Na Pua Makani Power Partners LLC is the company planning to build the 25-megawatt wind farm.
The state Public Utilities Commission approved the project in January 2015, saying it would balance Hawaiian Electric Co.’s energy portfolio and will help lower energy costs for Oahu residents — the facility will provide energy to HECO at 15 cents per kilowatt-hour over the next 20 years.
After receiving approval to lease the land and sell the power, Na Pua Makani’s parent company, Santa Barbara, Calif.-based Champlin/GEI Wind Holdings LLC, needs approval from state and federal agencies for the estimated impact the project will have on the surrounding environment. Once the company has those approvals, it can apply for a building permit.
Na Pua Makani submitted an environmental impact statement and habitat conservation plan Opens in a new tab in October. In addition to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the state Department of Land and Natural Resources has to give the EIS its stamp of approval before the project moves ahead.
In the EIS, Na Pua Makani Power Partners requested a permit, known as an “incidental take” permit, that would authorize its wind turbines to kill some of the island’s threatened species. The company is requesting to kill four adults and two Newell’s shearwater chicks; four adult Hawaiian stilts; eight Hawaiian coots; eight Hawaiian moorhens; four Hawaiian ducks; six Hawaiian geese, or nene, the state bird; four Hawaiian short-eared owl adults and four chicks; and 51 Hawaiian hoary bats, the state mammal, over the 20-year life of the project.
The company said, as a way to balance the kills, it will pay for research and habitat restoration protection for the endangered birds and bats.
The plan includes paying for fencing, the installation of public informational signs as well as a part-time biologist at Hamakua Marsh in Kailua to benefit conservation of the Hawaiian stilt, Hawaiian coot, Hawaiian moorhen and Hawaiian duck. Na Pua Makani said it will also fund habitat restoration at Poamoho Ridge Mitigation Area, fund research to support the management of Newell’s shearwaters; provide fencing and predator control to conserve the Hawaiian goose at James Campbell National Wildlife Refuge; and provide a combination of bat research and native forest restoration to increase Hawaiian hoary bat habitat.
The public can submit comments by sending an email to NaPuaMakanihcp@fws.gov or send letters to Na Pua Makani Comments, c/o Pacific Islands Fish and Wildlife Office, Room 3-122, 300 Ala Moana Blvd., Honolulu, HI 96850.
Copies of the supplemental environmental impact statement and the habitat conservation plan are available to the public at fws.gov/pacificislands Opens in a new tab or can be requested by calling 792-9400.
