Kauai powerlines killing endemic species of Hawaii seabirds

KAUAI—An 18-year dispute over the continuing deaths of rare native seabirds has prompted four groups to advise Kauai Island Utility Cooperative (KIUC) of their intent to sue the utility for failing to protect the birds.

Collisions with power lines are a primary cause of mortality among `A`o, or Newell?s shearwaters, an endemic species of seabirds that nests primarily on Kauai. A recent study found the shearwater population on Kauai had crashed 75 percent in just 15 years, prompting the groups to pursue litigation to stop the decline.

Earthjustice, which is representing a Kauai-based group known as Hui Hoomalu i Ka Aina,  the Conservation Council for Hawaii, the Center for Biological Diversity, and the American Bird Conservancy, sent notice to the utility company today that it is violating the Endangered Species Act by refusing to implement measures aimed at protecting Newell?s shearwaters and Hawaiian petrels, according to a news release.

?By its own admission, KIUC’s operations annually kill 125 shearwaters and injure another 55 birds, which likely die later from their injuries,? the release stated.

?Since each bird killed is a separate violation of the Endangered Species Act, with each violation subject to a fine of $50,000, KIUC could face millions of dollars in fines because of its illegal operations,” stated Earthjustice staff attorney David Henkin in the news release. “That’s not good for the birds, or KIUC’s shareholders. We urge KIUC to sit down with us to figure out a reasonable, prompt schedule to put in place the measures the experts have identified as vital to reduce the slaughter of seabirds in KIUC’s power lines. If KIUC continues to drag its feet, we’ll see them in court.”

KIUC officials said they had not yet seen the letter and could not comment.

Conservationists first tangled with Kauai Electric, KIUC?s predecessor, back in 1992 when the utility proposed installing tall power poles and electric lines across Kalihiwai Valley, a major shearwater flyway. As a result of legal action, KE agreed to fund scientific research on the Newell’s. As part of that, the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) conducted a 1995 study that identified a number of measures that could reduce seabird fatalities, including reducing the height of utility poles, shielding lines with rows of trees, attaching lines to the sides of bridges in key river valley fly-ways and switching from a vertical array of wires to a more traditional T configuration.

Neither KE nor KIUC adopted the measures, citing the expense, but in recent years the utility has funded a program known as Save Our Shearwaters, which was started by the state in the 1970s. SOS mobilizes volunteers to pick up seabirds that hit lines or are distracted by bright lights while flying from their mountainside nesting colonies to the sea.

While conservationists applaud that effort, they say it doesn?t go nearly far enough in preventing collisions, which often prove lethal.

The news release quotes Kauai state aquatic biologist Don Heacock, who is also a member of Conservation Council for Hawaii, saying: “Because KIUC has refused to modify its power lines to minimize bird strikes, literally thousands of critically imperiled seabirds have died needlessly. Year after year, I’ve picked up dozens upon dozens of shearwaters—injured or already dead—under KIUC’s lines.”

The issue is again coming to a head as KIUC seeks state approval of a Habitat Conservation Plan that would allow it to ?take? 125 Newells annually and injure another 55.

“We simply can’t afford to lose another 180 shearwaters each year,” the news release quotes Peter Galvin of the Center for Biological Diversity as saying. “In the 1990’s, the utility was killing about 400 imperiled seabirds annually. The decline in deaths is due solely to the fact that, largely because of the utility’s operations, there are now fewer shearwaters left on Kauai to kill, not that KIUC has taken effective measures to reduce its toll on seabirds.”

Meanwhile, conservationists have been meeting with Hawaii?s Congressional delegation to find funding sources for some of these measures in order to avoid increasing costs for consumers on Kauai, who pay among the highest electric rates in the nation.