The following letters have been sent to Department of the Interior regarding proposed offshore wind development off East Oahu.
Jan 21, 2025: Trump Orders Temporary Withdrawal of Offshore Areas from Wind Leasing
* * * * *
Rep Gene Ward
PROHIBITING HAWAIʻI OFFSHORE WIND ENERGY DEVELOPMENT
Requesting that the Kaiwi Channel area off Oahu at a minimum, and all areas of the outer continental shelf off of Hawai’i in general, be withdrawn permanently from leasing for wind energy
Secretary Burgum: February 19, 2025
I am writing to ensure you have the opportunity to personally review the attached letters from the Kaiwi Coalition and Hawaii’s U.S. Congressman Ed Case regarding the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s (BOEM) plans to auction a lease in the Kaiwi Channel area off of southeast Oahu, Hawai’i for an industrial scale offshore wind (OSW) farm somewhere between 2026 and 2028.
BOEM has targeted Hawaii’s outer continental shelf for OSW industrialization for over a decade, facing strong opposition from residents, especially Native Hawaiians, every time. During the Biden administration, BOEM was turbocharged to implement an arbitrary “30 gigabyte by 2030” offshore wind mandate across the country which includes the current proposed Kaiwi Channel area lease that has been overwhelmingly opposed by the Kaiwi Coast community that will be most affected by OSW exploitation.
I join Congressman Ed Case in his concerns. But in light of President Trump’s welcome Executive Order temporarily withdrawing all areas of the outer continental shelf from leasing for wind energy, and the consistently strong opposition to OSW development in our ocean wilderness by the people of Hawai’i, I urge you to permanently remove the Kaiwi Channel in particular, and Hawai’i in general, from BOEM’s list of OSW project locations. OSW poses environmental, cultural, and national security threats to our island state that can never be mitigated by carbon offsets, reforestation projects, or arbitrary inhumane changes in “kill” numbers of species protected under the Endangered Species Act.
Offshore wind development is simply not a good fit for Hawai’i. It is not in any way part of Native Hawaiian culture. We don’t want it desecrating our ocean wilderness and killing critically endangered wildlife. Every aspect of it relies on fossil fuels. It will not provide affordable or reliable energy for our State, which already pays the highest electricity rates in the nation. And with the increased tension in the Indo Pacific, OSW farms around our islands are a threat to our national security.
This is an important issue for my constituents who are counting on the President to at least save the Kaiwi Channel area, if not all of Hawai’i, from being exploited for OSW industrialization.
I can be reached at any time if you have any questions and look forward to your response.
With Aloha,
Representative Gene Ward, Hawaii State House of Representatives
* * * * *
Rep. Ed Case
Bureau of Ocean Energy Management Office of Congressional Affairs
Dear Associate Director Baker, February 5, 2025
I write to obtain information critical to understanding the proposed offshore wind project in Hawaii’s Kaiwi Channel.
Aukahi Energy, a partnership owned by Progression Energy and EDF Renewables North America, has sought approval to build floating offshore windmills in the Kaiwi Channel. The proposed site would be located 12 miles east of Makapu‘u Point off the Island of O‘ahu. According to the original plan, the windmills would be fully functioning by 2035.
While the project could help advance the State of Hawaii’s clean energy goals, local communities and elected officials have raised various concerns and questions that have not been fully addressed to date. Among other things, they are concerned about how the project will impact the current use of the channel, which includes military operations, commercial fishing, recreational and cultural activities.
For example, each year thousands use the channel for recreational purposes. It is also the home of the Kaiwi Channel Swim, the Moloka‘i to O‘ahu paddleboard race and the Moloka‘i Hoe and Na Wahine O Ke Kai outrigger race. These are some of Hawaii’s most prestigious outdoor water sporting events.
The lack of clarity on the national security implications is particularly alarming. The Department of Defense Military Aviation and Installation Assurance Siting Clearinghouse decided to lower the “defense posture” in the Kaiwi Channel to allow Aukahi Energy to bid for this project. This decision was made without public comments and is surprising given that the Department of Defense paused offshore wind development around the Island of O‘ahu in 2016, citing national security concerns.
Additionally, it cannot go without noting that this project would alter Hawaii’s iconic ocean views. These views are central to the people who live in Hawai‘i. It is also important to tourists. Nearly 10 million people flock to Hawai‘i annually, making it one of the most desirable travel destinations in the world. With millions coming to see our ocean views, altering these views could negatively impact our tourism sector, the largest driver of the state’s economy.
In light of these concerns, unsurprisingly there has been a significant amount of community concerns over this proposed project. In 2024, BOEM representatives attended numerous town hall meetings in both East Honolulu and Waimānalo, and at those meeting BOEM officials heard from individuals staunchly opposed to this project. They strongly believe that too many questions remain unanswered.
President Trump’s recent executive order freezing wind projects in federal waters gives us time to understand this project better before it restarts. To that end, I request your response to the following questions by April 15, 2025:
1. How visible would the floating turbines be to individuals on O‘ahu and Moloka‘i if this project were approved? Please share any images or renderings of what individuals would see from the shore.
2. Has BOEM consulted with the Department of Land and Natural Resources (DNLR), and how is DOEM addressing DNLR’s concerns?
3. Did the Department of Defense request any changes to allow the project to move forward, and who approved the defense posture change?
Thank you in advance for your prompt attention to this matter. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact Mallory Meister in my office….
With aloha,
Ed Case
Hawai‘i-First District
* * * * *
Ka Iwi Coalition
Request for Permanent Ban on Offshore Wind Energy Development in Kaiwi Channel Area near East Oahu, Hawai’i
Aloha Secretary Burgum, February 1, 2025
The Kaiwi Coalition consists of deeply respected, community-founded and -led stewardship organizations that have been protecting and conserving the cultural and environmental resources along the Kaiwi Coast in East Oahu, Hawai’i, mauka to makai (from the mountains to the sea), for over a hundred years. Native Hawaiian leaders in our Coalition have also been stewarding the culturally significant Kaiwi Channel between the Hawaiian islands of Oahu and Molokai for generations.
We are deeply concerned about the Department of Interior Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s (BOEM’s) announced plans to lease a site for an industrial scale offshore wind farm near the Kaiwi Channel 12 miles off East Oahu, Hawai’i sometime between 2026 and 2028. Progression/Aukahi Energy, the developer interested in bidding on the lease, has briefed that its plans include 23 to 50 large turbines with blades longer than a football field as part of its offshore energy grid infrastructure to become operational by 2035.
BOEM has been targeting Oahu for offshore wind development for over a decade. In 2016, BOEM’s plans to auction a lease for offshore wind development off of Oahu was tabled by the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) during President Trump’s first administration due to clear concerns about the threat the industrialization of Oahu’s ocean wilderness would pose to national security. President Trump’s DoD was unwilling to trade the navigational safety of our ships, submarines and aircraft for windmills. In 2019, Progression/Aukahi Energy approached Hawaii Congressman Ed Case for support to site a proposed industrial scale offshore wind farm off of Waikiki. Congressman Case stopped that plan due to its disastrous impact on tourism.
The Biden Administration’s subsequent Green New Deal turbocharged offshore wind development with its arbitrary goal of “30 Gigawatts by 2030” subsidized by billions of federal tax dollars. In 2023, Biden’s DoD, determining that climate change is the greatest threat to our national security, and mandated to be a “good neighbor” to BOEM, green-lighted Progression/Aukahi Energy and its global conglomerate partner’s new proposal to develop their industrial scale offshore wind farm near the Kaiwi Channel in East Oahu if they win the lease.
With DoD’s sanction of Progression/Aukahi Energy to bid on the Kaiwi Channel area lease, BOEM was moving forward with the Biden agenda regardless of our community’s overwhelming opposition to offshore wind development in this sacred location. Certain of its success at winning the lease at auction, Progression/Aukahi Energy asked BOEM to accelerate the auction date from 2028 to 2026 to ensure their wind farm can be operational by 2035 despite the fact that BOEM has not contracted the legally obligated studies that are required to be completed before the auction can proceed.
BOEM asserted during local community outreach in July 2024 that once the planning process for an offshore wind project starts, communities most affected cannot stop the lease auction and offshore wind farm development regardless of overwhelming opposition.
Although opposed to earlier offshore wind farm development off Waikiki due to its disastrous impact on tourism, our Congressional delegation to date has been silent regarding our ongoing opposition to offshore wind in the Kaiwi Channel area despite its devastating impact on Kaiwi’s pristine ocean wilderness, marine wildlife, and ancient cultural legacy.
We are therefore writing you directly to express our full support for President Trump’s Executive Order temporarily withdrawing all areas of the outer continental shelf from leasing for wind energy. We also formally request that the Kaiwi Channel area off Oahu at a minimum, and all areas off Hawai’i in general, be withdrawn permanently from leasing for wind energy.
Hawai’i is the “endangered species capital of the world.” Many mammals, including humpback whales and dolphins; as well as Hawaiian monk seals, sea turtles, and several species of seabirds protected under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), call our ocean wilderness their home. We are appalled at the number of dead whales and dolphins washing ashore around East Coast offshore wind projects, and the known threat offshore wind projects pose to the critically endangered north Atlantic right whale. This critically endangered species is supposed to be protected by the ESA, but federal agencies tasked with their protection have instead chosen to support offshore wind development. Our urgent request for this total ban of offshore wind development in the Kaiwi Channel specifically, and Hawai’i in general, is also to prevent federal agencies still supporting the Biden legacy “30 Gigawatt by 2030” offshore wind agenda, despite President Trump’s Executive Order, from allowing similar irreversible devastation to, or extinction of, ESA protected species in Hawaii’s ocean wilderness that may also be affected by offshore wind projects.
Further, the full impacts of wind energy development are not fully understood. BOEM is incapable of developing guaranteed cumulative programmatic mitigation measures to coastal and other targeted areas like Hawaii’s ocean wilderness. And based on what we see happening on the East Coast, the irreparable damage that will be done to environmental resources and the cultural fabric of coastal regions and island States like Hawai’i will far outweigh any proposed benefits of offshore wind projects BOEM is targeting for our communities.
While ocean wind energy may be a viable form of energy production, it is not viable without heavy subsidies requiring unlimited taxpayer investment. Offshore wind energy is the most expensive of all energy being produced, and the most unreliable. Its cumulative programmatic impacts on the marine environment, ESA protected species, fisheries, cultural resources, and coastal communities are not understood. Neither are the impacts of long-term maintenance, accurate assessment of mammal, bird, and fisheries “take” from turbine encounters, or disposal of offshore wind infrastructures in deep ocean environments like the Kaiwi Channel area. While we support renewable energy initiatives, offshore wind farms in deep ocean marine wildernesses around an island State like Hawaii offer monumental challenges antithetical to BOEM’s zeal for accelerated development, lack of community outreach, and dearth of information about the cumulative effect of industrial scale offshore wind farms on environmental and cultural resources.
Finally, as he did in 2016, we are confident that President Trump does not consider climate change the greatest threat to our national security. The Indo Pacific region faces a very clear increased national security threat and surge in operational tempo to counter that threat from real world forces, and the industrialization of Oahu’s ocean wilderness by international offshore wind farm conglomerates adversely impacts national security. We therefore respectfully urge you to expeditiously ensure that the outer continental shelf of the Kaiwi Channel area of Oahu at a minimum, and all areas off Hawai’i in general, are permanently withdrawn from leasing wind energy.
We would welcome an opportunity to meet with you to discuss this letter and are available to answer any questions.
Mahalo nui loa for your consideration of this request.
Respectfully,
Elizabeth Reilly
Elizabeth Bishop
Kaiwi Coalition