The plight of these magnificent birds is probably "small change", given the world's present predicaments, but in my book at least, "progress" must not be allowed to fly in the face of conservation. I wonder if anyone will listen....

While the Audubon Society supports wind power, the group understandingly is lobbying state and local governments to require regional environmental impact studies before permitting proposed wind energy projects. In addition, Audubon wants each state to do a statewide survey to identify potential wind farm sites and overlay those sites with migratory bird pathways and bird and bat habitats.

But the fast-moving blades of the wind turbines form a gauntlet, a potential death trap for night-flying creatures that cannot see the danger ahead.

The notion that industrial-size wind energy facilities — arrays of huge wind turbines — will solve America's increasing electrical energy demands, while simultaneously enjoying the benefits of being environmentally ''green'' technology, is inaccurate.

Nothing in nature is ever quite that simple.

But the Texas Gulf Coast is properly described as the crown jewel of bird-watching venues. The Great Texas Coastal Birding Trail spans the entire 624 miles of our Gulf Coast, from Beaumont to Brownsville the first of its kind in the nation.

Australian Broadcasting Corporation
TV PROGRAM TRANSCRIPT
Broadcast: 17/04/2006
Government vetos wind farm development
Reporter: Mary Gearin

While Mass Audubon's primary expertise is bird life, we also believe that other potential impacts are important and should be examined.

Modern industrial wind turbines are just giant metal bird-killing guillotines.

Exercise your right as an American and be heard. Call the General Land Office at (512) 463-5001 and demand that the concerns of the scientific community be met before turbines are erected in the Gulf of Mexico. Absent that, we may finally experience Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring.

Your [Boston Globe] front page headline of March 29, "Audubon review supports wind farm" was a rush to judgment according to Vernon Lang, supervisor of Fish and Wildlife’s New England field office, the agency lead official on the Cape Wind proposal.
Editor's Note: This letter has been submitted to the Boston Globe.

How is the legal and moral requirement for the protection of our wildlife, in this instance Brolgas, reconciled with the certainty that they will be displaced and or killed by the turbines of this wind farm?

Editor's Note:This letter has appeared in several Australian newspapers.

There is no doubt in my mind that the Brolga, and many other birds, are at a great risk and would be killed by the Macarthur wind farm if it were to go ahead. Its time to give our native companions a fair go.

Editor's Note: This letter has appeared in several Australian papers.

Juniata Valley Audubon asks concerned residents to contact Gov. Ed Rendell, their senators and representatives and the Department of Environmental Protection to voice their displeasure over the gross waste of almost $400,000 to study a proposal that would cause so much harm to both outdoor recreation and wildlife, and provide only minuscule amounts of expensive, unreliable electricity.

It all sounds nice and crunchy on the surface, but Whole Foods might soon find itself picketed the same way Wal-Mart is, but instead of unions it'll be environmentalists.

My viewpoint was, and still is, that the huge towers (260 feet high), gigantic blades (add another 150 feet), blinking strobe lights, permanent removal of wind-hindering vegetation, and highly visible road and transmission infrastructures are totally inappropriate for wild, undeveloped, scenic and highly visible settings. And I said I thought that opponents should focus on those issues, as well as the small return in electricity for the massive public price paid, aesthetically and otherwise, and should perhaps stay away from the issue of bird mortality caused by the rapidly spinning blades. The jury is still out on that, I said, and conventional wisdom is that vastly more birds are killed by high-rise windows and free-running cats......Well, so much for conventional wisdom.

Editor's Note This opinion piece was written in response to a letter received from Lisa Linowes that is available via the link below.

In your column, you state bird mortality is a subject that wind energy opponents should stand down from. However, there is good reason for us to continue to shed light on this problem. To our knowledge, no commercial scale wind facility in the United States has been subject to pre-construction avian risk assessments that included remote sensing (radar or acoustical).

Editor's Note: Mr. Harrigan's reponse to this letter is available via the link below.

This is where the Buffalo Harbor Development Commission, the Niagara Greenway Commission and Higgins' waterfront planning come into play. It is essential that the NRIBA designation is understood and addressed by all planning agencies and decisions. It is critical that the threats to the area are understood and addressed. Appropriate development that recognizes both the fragility of the area and the global conservation consequences related to its stewardship and development should become a baseline indicator from which all planning grows.

Editor's Note: With at least five test towers already standing, wind developers in concert with local advocates are attempting to install hundreds of industrial wind turbines in the Niagara region. The threat to this fragile area is real. Both of the photos included in the text are available in the NWW photo library as Birdland on the Niagara 1 & 2.

I would like to think that the eagle was staking out its territory and, symbolically, making a statement, to wit: 'Don't tread on me!'

What are we in Highland to make of these statements and actions? Clearly, these men have a stake in seeing turbines on Highland’s ridges. Rather than responsibly considering the bird and bat impacts in any sort of serious way, they go to great lengths to stifle or belittle credible research recommending that wind turbines be put on hold until bat mortality can be understood and mitigated and until bird impacts can be studied.