Articles filed under Impact on Wildlife
Zulu, who is Minister of Small Business Development, is also acting in the place of Environmental Affairs Minister Nomvula Mokonyane, who is understood to be on compassionate leave during a period of mourning for her husband ...According to recent testimony at the Zondo Commission of Inquiry into State Capture, Mokonyane was deeply involved in a corrupt relationship with the Bosasa group of companies headed by Gavin Watson. There were concerns that this had created an unacceptable conflict of interest for her as she was the appeal authority in the family’s wind farm application.
Feathers fly over Watson wind farm plan
During these daily prayer sessions – the ex-employee thought they had been around late 2015 or early 2016 but was unable to recall exact dates – Gavin Watson had on “numerous occasions” mentioned the Roodeplaat wind farm project and the eagles. Watson had told those present – usually between five and ten, but sometimes as many as 15 employees – that his brother had an “environmental problem” with the presence of the eagles at Roodeplaat, and that he [Ronnie Watson] “would book someone to come and shoot these birds”.
Vineyard Wind commits to fisheries monitoring
Vineyard Wind says it will adopt research measures recommended by a local university to monitor the effects on fisheries of the 84-turbine offshore wind farm.
NOAA office questions Vineyard Wind study
In a March 15 letter, Michael Pentony, the head of the Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office, warned that the report on Vineyard Wind completed by the U.S Bureau of Ocean Energy Management in December included conclusions that were not well supported by data and needed additional analysis of several key angles of impact.
New Study: German Wind Turbines Kill 1,200 Tons Of Insects Per Year
Wind turbines for power generation should actually produce more electricity with increasing wind strength. However, this is exactly what they often do not do, which has confused experts for years. The puzzle could already have been solved in 2001 thanks to a new study: dead insects that stick to wind turbines should be responsible for the low yield.
’52 communities are fighting against wind in Ireland’
Major concerns have been raised this week about natural habitats and the environment, as wind farm developers continue to seek planning permission for wind farms from local authorities around the country.
Draft offshore wind energy rules put 30,000 megawatt wind power goal in limbo
The lease of an offshore wind power project can be cancelled if it is found to be “causing environmental damage to both flora and fauna beneath the sea and posing threat to human life and property while carrying out the activities under water and operation of the wind energy turbines during validity of the lease.” The draft rules also contemplate powers to the Centre to order closure of a wind farm pending an inquiry within a reasonable period if it finds “operation of the wind turbines is causing damage to environment or damage to property or pollution.”
Department of Conservation lodges submission against Kaimai wind farm
Council planning and environmental services manager Peter Thom said DOC's submission concerned the potential effects of the wind farm on threatened indigenous species and other biodiversity. One of those species is the threatened long-tailed bat, which DOC's submission says may be at risk of colliding with the turbines, or losing feeding and breeding habitat through the wind farm.
'Naive wind industry could destroy our way of life'
Clean power, green jobs, no emissions – the wind industry is used to being one of the good guys. But to Åsa Larsson-Blind, president of the Sami Council, it’s just the latest – and potentially most deadly – industrial threat to a fragile, ancient culture focused around reindeer herding up towards the Arctic Circle. “The wind industry often says it wants to have a dialogue,” Larsson-Blind told Recharge. “But I believe it thinks it is easier to accommodate than it actually is. I think it has a naïve view that it is just putting up some windmills, not taking away [reindeer] pastures.”
Wildlife Advocates Urge Caution in Siting Wind Farms
Jim Murphy, legal advocacy director at The National Wildlife Federation, says the switch to renewable energy is critical to combat climate change that threatens all life on the planet, but planners should locate onshore wind farms primarily in developed areas such as agricultural land and avoid wilderness that provides habitat for wildlife.
Proposed West Oahu wind farm gets voted down at neighborhood board meetings
Wednesday night, the Makakilo, Kapolei and Honokai Hale, passed a resolution 6 to 1 opposing the project, citing issues such as the impact on wildlife, a lack of wind due to climate change, the eyesore it would create on the mountain ridge line and the impact that would have on jobs, tourism, and housing.
Feds Say Hawaii Is Too Quick To Approve Wind Power Turbines
The federal government has charged that state officials are rushing to approve wind power projects without adequately considering environmental impacts, particularly the adverse consequences for an endangered species, the opeapea bat. The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service asked the Hawaii Public Utilities Commission in a Dec. 27 letter to stop approving any new wind turbines until state and federal officials have had the chance to meet with the facility owners and review the plans.
Focus on effect of wind farms on wildlife
Until now, the impact of a wind farm on wildlife has been measured by tallying the number of carcasses of a particular species and matching the figure against the local population. But without factoring in the “demographic cost”, this impact might be seriously underestimated, the report says.
Norway to build wind farm despite concerns of reindeer herders
Norway said on Friday it would build a wind park in an area used for reindeer grazing despite U.N. calls to suspend the project to study the impact on the indigenous herders’ livelihoods.
A cost-benefit analysis of wind farms and wildlife hazards
A first step towards quantifying the cost of a given wind farm in avian and chiropteran wildlife is estimating the number of a given species killed annually in that wind farm. Such estimation involves issues of sampling and detection, both of which have received extensive attention in the biological and statistical literature. But the number killed of any species in a wind farm per annum is not necessarily an adequate measure of the cost of the wind farm as regards this species.
Site work for wind energy project being monitored
Each of the 24 turbine sites requires about 10 acres of timber-clearing and road construction in sensitive environmental areas where high-quality tributaries and wetlands could be affected, chairman Jason Childs reported. ...Turbines will be nearly 660 feet high.
A wind farm could be coming to Southern Illinois. Why are environmentalists trying to stop it?
Opponents argue that the 600-foot-tall, 2,400-ton turbines would diminish the area’s natural beauty and harm sensitive geologic features that provide habitat to 16 endangered species, including bats and crustaceans that live in caves and underground streams. ...Opponents got a boost in October, when the Illinois Department of Natural Resources published a report, known as an Ecological Compliance Assessment Tool (EcoCAT), examining how natural areas and endangered species could be affected by the proposed wind farm. The agency made 19 recommendations. The first was for the developer to consider an alternate location.
Wind Farm Near Martha’s Vineyard In Jeopardy
Brady said the Block Island Wind Farm, owned by Deepwater, is only five turbines, tiny by comparison to Vineyard. Yet charter fishermen, who traditionally operate south of the wind farm from January through April, reported a dismal fishing season: the once bountiful cod had disappeared. Ørsted Energy, the parent company of Deepwater, like the owners of the Vineyard, have a practice of paying off fishermen whose livelihoods are damaged by the wind farms.
Environmental charity objects to 26-turbine Glendye wind farm
The firm believes the spot would be ideal for generating environmentally-friendly electricity, but objectors have argued it will have a negative impact on the natural environment and goes against Aberdeenshire Council’s local development plan.
Vineyard Wind project hit with setbacks as deadline approaches
At issue is the layout of the project. Fishermen want wide corridors, specifically a mile or wider oriented east to west. Current plans offer two 1-mile corridors, with only one running east to west. As an alternative, Vineyard Wind proposed using larger turbines with nearly 10 megawatts of capacity, thereby reducing the number of towers ...but pose risk to the project because they haven’t received design certification.