This week, Cleveland Plain Dealer bird blogger, Jim McCarty, wrote a delightful article on the successes of Audubon's Seabird Restoration Program in nurturing and tracking the return of rare seabirds to Maine's coastal areas. Mr. McCarty is obviously a bird enthusiast who has spent time researching and writing about the risks to migrating birds should a "string of colossal power-producing windmills" be erected in Lake Erie.Â
This week he offered an update to his research by reporting on the U.S Fish and Wildlife Service ("USFWS") Advisory Committee now preparing turbine siting guidelines designed to protect birds from wind turbines. He wrote that this action by USFWS "came in response to pressure from environmental conservation groups" including the National Audubon Society and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and opined that a "bird-friendly boost from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service" will convince wind proponents to make necessary concessions in order to protect our feathered friends.
Unfortunately, Mr. McCarty's optimistic explanation for why USFWS established the Advisory Committee reflects a rewrite of history dating back to 2003. Windaction.org warns that he and other wildlife activists not take any solace in the Committee's work for a host of reasons.
A time line of the events as they relate to this Committee may help reveal why skepticism of its work product is warranted.
May, 2003: The US Fish and Wildlife Service released its Guidance on Avoiding and Minimizing Wildlife Impacted from Wind Turbines. USFWS regional directors were informed that "wind energy facilities can adversely impact wildlife, especially birds and bats, and their habitats. More facilities with larger turbines can lead to cumulative effects that will initiate or contribute to the decline of some wildlife populations." The Service made it clear that the guidelines did not negate or otherwise weaken existing federal laws protecting wildlife. The guidelines called for a minimum of three years of preconstruction studies to assess risk to migrating birds.
January 2006: The wind industry viewed the USFWS Guidelines as "impractical, inappropriately restrictive, and developed without adequate industry input". A letter surfaced, authored by Mark Sinclair of Clean Energy States Alliance, a wind advocacy group, announcing a collaborative process for resolving wind/wildlife conflicts. His letter stated the outcome of this process "may result in a product that is significantly different than the existing USFWS Interim Guidance". Members of the collaborative included USFWS, the American Wind Energy Association - the powerful wind industry trade group - National Audubon Society, Sinclair's Clean Energy States Alliance, and others. The meetings were not publicly noticed, nor were they open to the public. Laurie Jodziewicz, spokeswoman for AWEA, said the point of the group was to "develop guidelines that everyone could agree on."Â
Make no mistake. This effort was not triggered by environmental conservation groups. To the contrary, such groups, including National Audubon, were complicit in the industry's effort to weaken our national Guidelines.Â
January 31, 2006: The founders of Windaction.org with others sent a letter to Interior Secretary Gale Norton inquiring about the collaborative process and asking whether USFWS intended to "comply with the basic openness and accountability provisions of the Federal Advisory Committee Act ("FACA"), 5 U.S.C. App 2." FACAÂ applies to any committee established or utilized by one or more agencies in the interest of obtaining advice or recommendations for the Federal Government. Its provisions also require that committees be fairly balanced in terms of points of view represented and the function to be performed.
We were rightly concerned that closed-door meetings would simply be an opportunity for the wind industry and its advocates to force revisions of the agency's Guidance in a manner that made turbine siting and operation easier, but detrimental to wildlife.
February 9, 2006: Scheduled first meeting of the Collaborative. Upon receipt of our January 31 letter, the process was canceled.
March 2007: The USFWS announced it would be forming an Advisory Committee based on FACA. The intent of the Committee was to evaluate and develop guidelines for the safe siting of wind energy facilities.
October 2007: The Committee and members list were formally announced. Of the 22 members (including Mark Sinclair) none possessed research expertise or experience involving bat interactions with wind turbines nor expertise in bird impacts especially with respect to effects on migratory birds using the Appalachian mountain ridges in the eastern U.S. Other expert deficiencies were glaring.Â
January 17, 2008: Windaction.org and others submitted a letter to Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorn informing him that the composition of the committee was illegally skewed in favor of wind industry representatives and the selection process ignored leading experts on critical wildlife impacts.
Shortly after, Dr. Clait Braun declined his appointment to the Committee telling Windaction.org that one reason was that the Committee was stacked in favor of wind interests. Others declined participation leaving a few openings. In response to our letter, the Service scrambled to fill the slots with bat "experts".
March 6, 2008: USFWS Career Deputy Director Ken Stansell responded in a proforma letter stating "We believe the selection of the members met the goal of achieving balance" among geographic regions, wildlife interests and industry interests.
January and April, 2009: The first few drafts of the guidelines were released by the Committee for public comment.
May 11, 2009: Windaction.org and others submitted a second letter to Secretary Salizar requesting he immediately suspend work on the committee citing excessive industry influence in preparing the Committee's draft recommendations.
To date, our concerns with the Committee's membership have been ignored.
Scientists have written to USFWS expressing concern with the draft guidelines including Dr. Shawn Smallwood, a prominent biologist in the area of impacts of wind turbines on avian life. Those familiar with the history of the Committee and the 'agendas' of its individual members have little faith that its work product will serve any value in protecting vulnerable wildlife resources - a job we would have thought to be the highest priority for the USFWS.
Windaction.org encourages greater Congressional oversight by the House Natural Resources Committee. Some States are being more proactive than the Feds. For instance, Mr. McCarty and other bird enthusiasts may wish to look to New York State for its guidance released in January 2009.
Report paves way for wildlife-friendly wind power in Monterey County.238282009-10-27T20:21:39Z2009-10-27T20:21:39ZThe thousand of birds killed by the wind turbines at Altamont Pass tainted the reputation of the renewable energy source.
But according to a recent report by the Ventana Wildlife Society and the Stanford Solar and Wind Energy Project, smaller wind-power projects may be able to harvest energy in some parts of Monterey County without harming the endangered California condor.
"The condor is the main thing that's been holding up the development of wind-power projects in Monterey County," said John Roitz.
Do wind turbines kill wildlife? .233282009-09-27T01:55:49Z2009-09-27T01:55:49ZWind turbine memorial. Illustration: Rob Biddulph Imagine that at the flick of a switch, you could not only turn a light on or off but select which power source you were going to use. Would an eco warrior choose wind power or coal? Surely this is a no-brainer.
Not necessarily.
Windmills called threat to raptor migration route.226992009-08-16T07:35:40Z2009-08-16T07:35:40ZTurbines already are taking a heavy toll in West Virginia and Pennsylvania. The Pennsylvania Game Commission released a report last spring showing the death rate is highest for bats, which additionally face being wiped out by a mysterious phenomenon called "white-nose syndrome."
The evidence has mounted since studies in 2004 showed 1,500 to 4,000 bats annually were killed by the 44 turbines on West Virginia's Backbone Mountain.
Birds vs. Environmentalists? The wind industry may be green, but it's proving deadly to wildlife.226762009-08-13T15:39:10Z2009-08-13T15:39:10ZWind energy has been touted as cost-effective to produce clean energy as well as jobs. That promise, along with new government subsidies, has helped wind turbines pop up on hills and fields throughout America. But not every environmentalist is happy about that development. Critics charge that wind-energy development can cause habitat fragmentation-a displacement of a species that can eventually reduce its numbers-as well as the deaths of birds and bats (a species that is especially vulnerable due to its low reproductive rates) that collide with the wind turbines' massive rotor blades. Wind creates energy, problems for Okla..217252009-06-24T19:17:09Z2009-06-24T19:17:09ZWind turbines in Oklahoma may be good for producing clean energy, but they are bad news for bats and the lesser prairie chicken.
As government officials try to harness the Oklahoma wind as a practical power source, they must also be mindful of the birds and bats most affected by wind farms.Western Oklahoma is home to bat colonies and the lesser prairie chicken, but the area also has some of the best real estate for wind farms.
Wind project will kill wildlife, biologist says.214792009-06-07T12:45:45Z2009-06-07T12:45:45ZA state wildlife biologist says the Whistling Ridge Wind Project, proposed for a timbered ridge in eastern Skamania County, could cause high wildlife mortality, especially for bats and raptors.
Surveys of the 1,152-acre site, including those done for the applicant, Bingen-based SDS Lumber Co., show the area is heavily used by bats, raptors and other birds, biologist Michael Ritter said in formal comments to the state agency that will decide whether to approve the project.
Wind turbines and migratory birds: A serious problem?.213412009-05-24T10:20:26Z2009-05-24T10:20:26ZWind turbines are responsible for the deaths of between 10,000 and 40,000 birds each year, according to the American Bird Conservancy.
Debate over the significance of the threat turbine blades pose to migratory birds is about as old as the concept of wind farms themselves. It began in Altamont Pass, Calif., site of one of the first U.S. wind farms, where there were more than 4,000 turbines. Hundreds of bird carcasses were found on the farm grounds, leading bird conservationists to propagate information that wind turbines were inherently deadly to birds.
Wildlife concerns voiced at wind park hearing.208382009-04-21T12:54:56Z2009-04-21T12:54:56ZConcerns about the safety of birds and bats were voiced at a state hearing yesterday on a proposal to construct a wind-energy park in Coos County. ...A subcontractor for the developer conducted a study of the birds and bats in the project area, but Don Kent, a member of the site committee and the Natural Heritage Board, said it was inadequate.Avian center official: Windmills could impact migration.201072009-02-20T05:09:09Z2009-02-20T05:09:09ZWendy Perrone, executive director of the Three Rivers Avian Center in Brooks, W.Va., said Friday that she had not seen all the details about the project, but there are some concerns.
"The mountain range is a migration route used for many decades and centuries....from butterflies to bats up to and including eagles," she said.
Windmill projects have a potential for killing bats. Why this happens is not yet clear, Perrone said.
DEC gives guidelines for turbine bird studies.200492009-02-17T20:02:45Z2009-02-17T20:02:45ZWind energy developers in New York now have guidelines on how to survey potential turbine sites for their impact on birds and bats.
Earlier this month, the state Department of Environmental Conservation issued its advice regarding how to minimize damage to bat and bird habitats.
"These guidelines set forth DEC's recommendations to commercial wind energy developers on how to characterize bird and bat resources at on-shore wind energy sites and how to estimate and document impacts resulting from the construction and operation of these projects."
DEC Issues Guidelines for Conducting Bird and Bat Studies at Commercial Wind Energy Projects.198462009-02-06T04:32:00Z2009-02-06T04:32:00ZNew York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Commissioner Pete Grannis today announced that the agency has issued guidelines for evaluating the potential impacts of commercial wind energy projects on birds and bats in New York State.
"While wind energy has significant environmental benefits when compared to energy produced from fossil fuel, DEC must consider any potential negative environmental impacts of wind energy production when evaluating proposed projects," said Commissioner Grannis.
MMS gives Cape Wind favorable review except for birds, navigation and visual impacts.195872009-01-20T14:42:12Z2009-01-20T14:42:12ZThe Minerals Management Service's 800 page Final Environmental Impact Statement on Cape Wind was released on Friday and in a largely favorable review found nearly all impacts to be negligible or minor.
The few exceptions, where the 130 turbine wind farm would potentially or certainly have moderate to major impact were on birds, especially marine birds such as terns or sea ducks, on navigation and safety of recreational or commercial fishing boats, although those effects could be mitigated, and on visual resources of Nantucket Sound.
Professor says wind turbines a threat to bats, birds.190452008-12-01T08:16:48Z2008-12-01T08:16:48ZKunz, an internationally known bat researcher and director of BU’s Center for Ecology and Conservation Biology, said wind turbines annually kill many raptors as well as tens of thousands of bats in the United States. Since these turbines have been promoted as an answer to America’s energy woes, Kunz called for more research into the environmental effects of wind power. He also warned that high numbers of bat fatalities may cause populations of insects to increase dramatically. ...Unfortunately, Kunz said, many power companies refuse to fund research on the impacts of wind farms and some even deny scientists access to turbines to count bird and bat fatalities. Proposed windmill area teeming with birds.185992008-10-30T23:58:40Z2008-10-30T23:58:40ZOngoing studies of birds, marine mammals and sea turtles off the Jersey Shore have found an abundance of life in an area where hundreds of wind turbines could be spinning by 2020, participants in a public meeting said today. ..."We're trying to figure out where are the areas of sensitive habitat, if you
will, areas that perhaps we should think twice about or avoid before we build
something," he said. "The objective here is to try and steer these facilities to areas where impacts will be reduced."
Birds, bats cause end of wind-turbine project on South Mountain land.181742008-09-29T10:35:28Z2008-09-29T10:35:28ZA Northumberland County firm has backed off a plan to build wind turbines on South Mountain in eastern Lebanon County. ...But birds and bats got in the way of the plans, said Justin R. Dunkelberger, chief executive for Penn Wind.
He explained that the South Mountain site is part of a bird-migration path and is also frequented by bats.
"As a wind developer, we have to be concerned with birds and bats," Dunkelberger said. "We want to be responsible developers."
Birds and windmills don't mix.179712008-09-14T18:08:53Z2008-09-14T18:08:53ZWhile the open sky is big enough for 400-foot-high wind turbines and migratory birds, animal conservationists are airing their concerns about the threat windmills pose to wildlife.
"Any place thinking about installation (of wind turbines) should take years studying the issue," Keith Bildstein, director of conservation science at Hawk Mountain Sanctuary, said Friday. "That is a prescription the wind industry apparently finds distasteful."
Bildstein and other local conservationists and bird-watchers say the wind industry fails to adequately study bird migration patterns before wind projects break ground.
Gauging wind power's impact; Group focuses on the wildlife.172892008-08-09T14:56:33Z2008-08-09T14:56:33ZAbout 140 people got another look at the coming world of wind power Friday.
Birds and bats were major topics, but the basic message was that there needs to be more study of the impact of wind farms and turbines.
"We're kind of finding our way along with the industry," Kathy Boydston, a biologist with Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, told the gathering at the Ambassador Hotel in Amarillo.
Experts are trying to find ways to deter birds and bats from hitting turbines, but the lack of information on how many fall victim and how it happens is lacking.
