Wind industry wants review of Wyo's grouse policy

Cheyenne Wind developers have asked the Department of the Interior to review Wyoming's sage grouse protection policy in light of the state's recent hard-line stance against building wind farms in important habitat areas for the chicken-sized birds.

The industry groups Interwest Energy Alliance, American Wind Energy Association and Renewable Northwest Project made the request in a letter sent Friday to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar. Interior Department Press Secretary Kendra Barkoff said Monday that Salazar was reviewing the letter.

Wind developers say they're concerned that Wyoming's position could "abruptly halt wind energy development in Wyoming's sage-grouse 'core areas' and have deleterious effects on renewable energy development across the Western United States."

The letter was a response to comments made by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Wyoming field office last week. The office told the Wyoming Game and Fish Department that turbines shouldn't be allowed in critical habitat �¿� known as core areas �¿� unless developers demonstrate they can be built with no impact on the birds.

Wyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal issued an executive order last August limiting development in sage grouse core areas. The state sought clarification from the Fish and Wildlife Service last week as it deals with pending proposals for wind farms in core areas.

Federal officials are considering the birds for possible listing as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act. They expect to make a decision next May.

Wind developers have been flocking to Wyoming to take advantage of the region's nearly constant winds. The U.S. Department of Energy rates the wind resource in parts of the state as being from good to superb. Wyoming ranks seventh in the nation for its potential wind-energy capacity, according to the American Wind Energy Association.

Much of the proposed wind development in core areas is on private or federal land, but the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality's Industrial Siting Council has permitting authority over industrial projects with construction costs of $173 million or more.

Ryan Lance, deputy chief of staff to Freudenthal, said the governor's office felt the Fish and Wildlife Service was clear in its opposition to building wind farms in core areas, as well as to research projects on wind turbine's impact on sage grouse in core areas.

"We read it much the same way the Game and Fish does, that if we cross that line we risk listing the species, which implicates all sorts of things in Wyoming, from our ability to move and graze cattle to oil and gas (development) to coal to wind development itself," Lance said.

The industry says wind farms should be permissible in core areas when developers use conservation measures and have mitigation plans.

Wyoming's "interpretation of federal policy which leaves no room for consideration of the differences in different project areas would ban the development of 10,000 megawatts of the highest-quality clean wind resources in Wyoming and in the nation," the letter said.

The developers argued that Salazar's office needs to provide clarity on its position about wind farms in grouse habitat, especially considering the Obama administration's support for renewable energy.

Lance said there's an abundance of wind capacity outside of the core areas, which cover about 23 percent of Wyoming. He said the state is also eager to hear Salazar's response to the wind developers.

"We hear quite often that (the federal government) is interested in developing renewables in the West, and certainly we have that interest," Lance said, "but they also tell us they're interested in protecting sage grouse."