Comments on the proposed Galloo Island Wind Farm submitted to the state Department of Environmental Conservation criticize the project's effects on birds and animals and ask for public access.

DEC collected 22 written comments on the draft environmental impact statement submitted by Galloo Island developer Upstate NY Power Corp. Oral comments were taken at two public hearings May 18. As lead agency, DEC collects comments and then determines whether the draft statement is complete.

In the written comments, government offices and individuals pointed to effects of the farm that had not been considered or were not fully explained.

Some comments just called for approval or disapproval of the plan to build 84 3-megawatt turbines on the island. Others asked for more information on the transmission line, which is under the authority of the state's Public Service Commission.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and The Nature Conservancy asked for more studies and protective procedures to avoid bird and bat kills. One method both brought up is waiting to turn the turbines on until the wind is at a higher speed, which proved to be an effective protection against killing flying creatures at the Casselman Wind Project in Somerset County, Pa., according to a study by the Bats and Wind Energy Cooperative and Pennsylvania Game Commission.

Instead of listing possible mitigation methods, the Fish and Wildlife Service asked for management techniques that change based on the number of birds and bats killed.

"Project approval should be conditioned upon an adaptive management plan to address wildlife mortality," wrote David A. Stilwell, field supervisor for the service.

Jim Howe, executive director of the Central and Western New York chapter of The Nature Conservancy, wrote, "Galloo Island is an important route for migrating birds and bats, and we encourage Upstate New York Power Corporation to consider operational closures to protect birds and bats during critical migratory periods."

Thomas Riley, chairman of the Onondaga Audubon Society's conservation committee, said the island is in a major bird migration corridor, near unique and shrinking bird habitat, and is an important raptor wintering area. He said there also are a significant number of threatened species as well as species of special concern.

He and the service asked for more bird studies for different populations, including grassland and raptor species. Raptor, wintering bird and breeding bird studies were completed over one year. The Fish and Wildlife Service recommended multiple years of studies.

One comment dealt with a different wildlife concern - the whitetail deer that were introduced for hunting by the current owners of the island. As part of the project development, Upstate NY Power plans to cull the population and no longer grow crops that feed the deer.

Gordon Whittington, editor-in-chief of North American Whitetail, Marietta, Ga., wrote that the white-tailed deer population likely would rebound quickly after the planned culling.

"Indeed, I believe it is likely to soon exceed any reasonable carrying capacity, whether or not there is a total loss of the agricultural crops historically cultivated to provide whitetail forage," he wrote.

That, in turn, would endanger the diversity of plant and animal species on the island. Instead, he suggested that whitetail hunting continue on the island, possibly limited to bow hunting.

A few called for continued public access to the island. Members of the public have used the island for private hunting parties and as a safe harbor. DEC owns a former Coast Guard station and another small parcel.

Former DEC Regional Director Thomas E. Brown, Cape Vincent, wrote that Lake Ontario islands are "scarce" and considered critical natural resources.

"A number of years ago the state gained limited public access to the island when it acquired the former Galloo Island Coast Guard station," he wrote. "The state in recent years has attempted to purchase the entire island."

He said the statement "needs to evaluate the environmental impact of converting this scarce and undeveloped island to an industrial site."

He argued the statement did not assess the effects from a lakewide and regional perspective. He said other sites in the state should be considered as part of the assessment.

Thomas B. Lyons, director of resource management for the state Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, asked for more precise information on the visual simulations that were used to predict what the project will look like from different mainland locations.

He wrote that the closest park - Robert G. Wehle State Park - and the Sackets Harbor Battlefield State Historic Site and Sackets Harbor Heritage Area will have a very different viewshed if the project is completed.

Building the project "will affect this historic water view, which has been unchanged since the Battle of Sackets Harbor" in 1813, he wrote.

He asked for more information on repositioning the turbines or decreasing their numbers to reduce visual effects.

The state Department of Public Service, which supports utility overseer Public Service Commission, also asked about reducing the number of turbines. In its letter, the department pointed to a handful of turbines that should be moved away from wetlands, off the island point and out of a sandy area.

The commission also said planned permanent structures should be moved out of reach of a turbine should it topple over.

DEC will consider the comments and determine whether the draft statement is complete. If considered valid, comments would have to be addressed in a final environmental impact statement.