Alameda County supervisors approved on Tuesday a new three-month, bird-monitoring contract to study the impacts of the Altamont Pass wind turbines on scores of birds, including golden eagles, red-tailed hawks, burrowing owls and other protected species. Supervisors approved the $450,000 contract with environmental consulting firm Jones & Stokes by a 3-2 vote.

Alameda County supervisors approved on Tuesday a new three-month, bird-monitoring contract to study the impacts of the Altamont Pass wind turbines on scores of birds, including golden eagles, red-tailed hawks, burrowing owls and other protected species.

Supervisors approved the $450,000 contract with environmental consulting firm Jones & Stokes by a 3-2 vote, with Keith Carson and Gail Steele opposed. The new deal runs from July 1 to Oct. 14.

In spring 2007, the board approved a $1.4 million, one-year contract with three groups - UC Santa Cruz, WEST Inc. and Jones & Stokes - to perform bird monitoring. At that time, supervisors were concerned the cost had spiraled out of control. In 2006, supervisors rejected a $3 million, three-year plan to monitor bird deaths in the Altamont Pass.

According to a study released in 2004 by the California Energy Commission, an estimated 1,700 to 4,700 birds die each year by flying into whirling turbine blades or by being electrocuted by transmission lines that thread through the 50,000-acre Altamont Wind Resource Area.

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