Impacts on Lana`i

• For Lāna‘i, this project may mean between 80 to 200 towers (EIS/PN)
• This project could consume – and irrevocably alter – up to 22,000 acres, or ¼ of Lāna‘i (ESI/PN)
• Each tower will be over 410 feet high – over 2 ½ times higher than the tallest and oldest tree on Lāna‘i (the Norfolk in front of the Lodge at Koele) and as high as the highest building on O’ahu (First Hawaiian Bank Building – 410 feet) (EIS/PN)
• Each of the turbines will be built on a concrete pad 60 feet in diameter, and will use over 3 million pounds (1125 cubic yards) of cement (EIS/PN)
• A five-acre concrete “batch” plant will have to be constructed in the area (EIS/PN)
• None of the power generated will be used on Lana’i (EIS/PN + C&C/PM)
• Short term construction jobs (250+ for +/- 18 months) may utilize some Lāna‘i workers (EIS/PN)
• Long term jobs (15-20) may utilize some Lāna‘i workers (EIS/PN)
• The proposed undersea cable may reach Oahu at either (or both) of two military installations — Kaneohe Marine Corps Airbase and/or Pearl Harbor (C&C/PM). Honolulu Harbor/Iwilei is also being considered for a landing area.
• The project may require two inverter stations. On Lāna‘i, somewhere near Polihua Beach shoreline, one will convert the wind-created energy to DC current for transmittal via the undersea cable. The second one, somewhere on Oahu, then converts the power back to AC for integration into HECO’s grid.
• Each inverter station will be approximately 1 acre by 9 stories high, or 8 acres by 1 story high (HCEI)
• And what about the endangered birds that live up on Lana’i Hale and fly through the proposed project area? One preliminary study estimated that annual movement rates for the endangered species U’au (Hawaiian petrel) through the North End area – slated to house 100+ turbines  – numbers in the many thousands.  It is also estimated that almost 100% of the U’au are flying at altitudes low enough to interact with these turbines.  There has been no study conducted to date that understands how the U’au will behave when they fly in and around 250′ tall towers, each with 3 rotating wings of 150’ lengths.
• The proposed oceanic cable will be laid in the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary (Lāna‘i is the only Hawaiian island completely surrounded by the HIHWNMS)

How will this project affect our hunting and fishing access?