United States Department of the Interior
United States Department of the Interior FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE Pacific Islands Fish and Wildlife Office 300 Ala Moana Boulevard, Room 3-122, Box 50088 Honolulu, Hawaii 96850 In Reply Refer To: 20 lO-F -0190 Ms. Sharon Thomas MAY 13 2010 Environmental Protection Specialist Department of Energy Washington, DC 20585 Subject: Formal Endangered Species Section 7 Consultation on the U.S. Department of Energy Federal Loan Guarantee to Kahuku Wind Power, LLC, Oahu, Hawaii Dear Ms. Thomas: This transmits the biological opinion of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) on the potential impacts of the Department of Energy's (DOE) proposed issuance of a federal loan guarantee to Kahuku Wind Power, LLC, for the construction and operation of a 30 megawatt (MW) wind power generation facility in Kahuku, Oahu, Hawaii, pursuant to section 7 of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) of 1973, as amended (16 USC 1531, et seq.). The USFWS received your March 5, 2010, letter requesting initiation of consultation on March 9, 2010, with the attached Kahuku Wind Power Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP) pursuant to Hawaii Revised Statutes (HRS) §195D and the DOE draft Environmental Assessment (DOE/EA-1726) pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) (42 USC 4321, et seq.). The proposed project consists of twelve 2.5 MW wind turbine generators (WTGs), an operations and maintenance building, one permanent unguyed meteorological (met) tower, one on-site and two off-site microwave towers, an electrical substation, Battery Energy Storage System (BESS), re-configuration of overhead transmission lines, an underground collection system, and a network of unpaved service roadways.
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