We believe that wildlife kills can be prevented or minimized, and we advocate broad collaboration to achieve this end. However, until reliable solutions are developed, high risk areas should be avoided. These include locations along major migratory corridors or within the normal flight range of large roosting and feeding aggregations of birds or bats.

This study focused on nocturnal migration patterns and flight behaviors during the peak periods of passerine and bat migration during fall 2005 at the proposed Highland New Wind Development in Highland Count. Virginia. The key results of our study were: (I) the mean overall fall passage rate was 385 targetsikmh; (2)mean nightly passage rates ranged from 9 to 2,762 targetshh, (3) the percentage of targets passing below 125 m agl was 11.5%; (4) the estimated turbine passage rate of nocturnal migrants passing within the airspace occupied by each proposed turbine was 3.4-24.7 migrantslturbineid during the fall study period; (5) fall migrants flying at or below maximal turbine height consisted of 88% birds and 12% bats; and (6) passage rates, flight altitudes, and visual observation rates of birds and bats did not differ between the two survey sites within the project area.

The Steuben County Industrial Development Agency (IDA), as lead agency in the State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA) process, is considering potential impacts from construction of 53 wind energy turbines which would generate approximately 79 megawatts of power. Turbine structures are anticipated to be approximately 389 feet tall from the ground to the highest blade tip. Structures such as a substation, 4.8 miles of buried cable, an unspecified amount of overhead transmission lines, and 3.4 miles of access roads must also be built in the 33,000 acre project area. This project is situated at the southern end of the Finger Lakes, near the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) Hi Tor Wildlife Management Area, the Hi Tor Bird Conservation Area, and generally along a north-south oriented ridge.

This submission deals only with the potential impact on the natural environment and in particular birds and bats.

The generation of electricity by wind is a growing industry in Pennsylvania. While wind energy is certainly an attractive alternative to the pollution produced by fossil fuel power plants, all potential environmental impacts must be measured if electricity produced this way is to truly qualify as “green energy.” Surprisingly, only minimal environmental studies need to be done to site a wind farm in Pennsylvania. Improper siting of some wind farms in the U.S. has impacted migratory bird, resident bird, and bat populations. We present bird-impaction data from an industrial facility 30 km south of a proposed wind farm in Luzurne County, Pennsylvania, that suggest caution in the blind embrace of this energy technology. Siting decisions are made at the local government levels and are primarily based on economic incentives. We argue (a) that this energy alternative must incorporate robust site-specific impaction studies at each wind farm to demonstrate effects throughout the Commonwealth, and (b) that local government officials be given the guidance necessary to encourage and provide environmental oversight to wind farms in their areas.

BBC Research & Consulting's 2005 report for the National Wind Coordinating Committee that studies 9 wind plant sitings in an effort to identify circumstances that distinguish welcomed projects from projects that were not accepted by communities.

...additional radar studies would be required to see if spring migration patterns are different than those measured in the fall. Typically spring migration is shorter than fall migration with fewer numbers in the shorter period of time. How this will affect the numbers of birds passing through the rotor swept volume is unknown. It is important to determine the seasonal timing, altitude and numbers of migrant birds passing over the proposed project site and the effects of weather upon their passage over a greater part of the whole year. In addition, it is possible to determine some of the bird and bat species passing through the project site by accoustical sensors to determine which species, that make vocal calls, are migrating through the site.

This letter from the West Virginia Field Office of the US Fish and Wildlife Service to NedPower Mount Storm responds to the developer's biological assessment for endangered bats at the proposed Mount Storm Windpower project site to be located in Grant County, West Virginia.

From: Sam Enfield - Atlantic Renewable Energy Corporation

Sent: Thu 2/12/2004

To: Jessica Almy, Humane Society, U.S.

Subject: FAQs about Bats and Wind Energy Turbines

Sorry, just to be a little more precise that I was in my prior e-mail.

....By way of introduction, I managed the development work on the Backbone Mountain Wind Project, now the Mountaineer Wind Energy Center, in West Virginia. Your FAQs about Bats and Wind Energy Turbines is good, although I just wanted to correct one statement about which I have specific knowledge.

The BWEC implemented research to improve fatality search protocols for bats and to evaluate interactions between bats and wind turbines from 31 July through 13 September 2004, the period when bat fatalities have most often been reported at wind facilities. The goal was to establish a basis for developing solutions to prevent or minimize threats to bats at wind energy facilities.