Protecting Hawai‘i's Rare Native Seabirds from Lights, Powerlines and Structures

The Newell’s shearwater is a threatened species, and Hawaiian petrels and band-rumped storm petrels in Hawaiʻi are endangered species. Nearly all of the world’s Newell’s Shearwaters (also known by the Hawaiian name ʻaʻo) nest on Kauaʻi. From 1993 to 2008, the Kauaʻi population of Newell’s Shearwaters declined by 75 percent, in large part due to birds striking powerlines and becoming disoriented from the utility’s streetlights while flying at night.

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Case Overview

The Newell’s shearwater is a threatened species, and Hawaiian petrels and band-rumped storm petrels in Hawaiʻi are endangered species. Nearly all of the world’s Newell’s shearwaters (also known by the Hawaiian name ʻaʻo) nest on Kauaʻi. From 1993 to 2008, the Kauaʻi population of Newell’s shearwaters declined by 75 percent, in large part due to birds striking powerlines and becoming disoriented from the utility’s streetlights while flying at night.

On Kauaʻi, Earthjustice litigation helped persuade Kauaʻi Island Utility Cooperative to take steps to protect Hawaiian petrels, Newell’s shearwaters and other protected species of seabirds that die when colliding with powerlines and buildings. For decades, endangered Hawaiian petrels and threatened Newell’s shearwaters have been killed and injured by flying into powerlines and associated structures owned and operated by Kauaʻi Island Utility Cooperative. KIUC’s own estimate was that it killed nearly 200 listed seabirds per year, in violation of the Endangered Species Act.

On Maui, Hawaiʻi Wildlife Fund and Conservation Council for Hawaiʻi, represented by Earthjustice, brought suit to block the replacement of approximately 4,800 streetlight fixtures across the county with new light-emitting diode (LED) fixtures that emit a high amount of short-wavelength, blue-white light, which increases the risk of seabird fallout and sea turtle disorientation. A court ruled that Maui County violated the Hawaiʻi Environmental Policy Act (HEPA) by signing a contract committing $1.9 million toward the streetlights project without first considering the environmental impacts, and by hastily exempting the project from HEPA after installations began.

A Newell's shearwater.
The Newell’s shearwater is a threatened species. (Brenda Zaun / U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service)

Case Updates

A Hawaiian petrel chick in its burrow.
February 7, 2022 Press Release

Environmental Groups Sue Maui Grand Wailea Resort for Lights That Harm Endangered Seabirds

Despite prior warnings, bright lights at luxury resort continue to injure Hawaiian seabirds
that breed nowhere else on the planet

February 7, 2022 Document

Complaint against Grand Wailea Resort for ESA violations

Lawsuit filed against Grand Wailea Resort for bright lights that endanger native birds

A Hawaiian petrel chick in its burrow.
September 15, 2021 Press Release

Maui Grand Wailea Resort Put on Notice for Lights that Kill Endangered Seabirds

Bright lights at luxury resort continue to injure and kill Hawaiian seabirds that live nowhere else on the planet