This letter, on behalf of Center for Biological Diversity, Hawk Migration Association of North America, The Humane Society of the United States, Industrial Wind Action Group, D. Daniel Boone, and others, was delivered to Department of Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne on Jan 17, 2008. The letter responds to the apparent industry bias in Kempthorn's selection of committee members for DOI's Wind Turbine Guidelines Advisory Committee formed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

By Fax (w/o Attachments) and Mail

Dirk Kempthorne
Secretary
U.S. Department of the Interior
1849 C Street, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20240

H. Dale Hall
Director
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
1849 C Street, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20240

Dear Secretary Kempthorne and Director Hall:

On behalf of the Center for Biological Diversity, Hawk Migration Association of North America, The Humane Society of the United States, Industrial Wind Action Group, D. Daniel Boone, Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound, Chautauqua County Citizens for Responsible Wind Power, Friends of Blackwater Canyon, Green Berkshires, Inc., Juniata Valley Audubon, Maryland Conservation Council, Protect the Flint Hills, Ripley Hawk Watch, Save Our Allegheny Ridges, and the Wildlife Advocacy Project, we are writing to notify you that the recently announced membership of the Wind Turbine Guidelines Advisory Committee ("Committee") violates the requirements of the Federal Advisory Committee Act, 5 U.S.C. App. II ("FACA"), that all chartered advisory committees must be "fairly balanced in terms of the points of view represented and the functions to be performed by the advisory committee," and "will not be inappropriately influenced by . . . any special interest." Id. at § 5(b).

Congress had several objectives in imposing these obligations on all advisory committees. In particular, Congress intended the "fairly balanced" requirement "to ensure that persons or groups directly affected by the work of a particular advisory committee would have some representation on the committee." National Anti-Hunger Coalition v. Executive Comm. Of the President's Private Sector Survey on Cost Control, 711 F.2d 1071, 1074 n. 2 (D.C. Cir. 1983) (citing S. Rep. No. 1098, 92d Cong., 2d Sess. 9 (1972)). In addition, Congress desired to "protect against the ‘danger of allowing special interest groups to exercise undue influence upon the Government through the[ir] dominance of advisory committees which deal with matters in which they have vested interests.'" Public Citizen v. National Advisory Committee on Microbiological Criteria for Foods, 886 F.2d 419, 425 (D.C. Cir. 1989) (Friedman, J., concurring) (quoting H.R. Rep. No. 1017, 92d Cong., 2d Sess. 6 (1972) ("1972 House Report")).

... The entire letter can be downloaded in .pdf format by clicking on the link below.

 

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