Environmental groups have attacked the Scottish Government for allowing the political drive for wind farms to overrule the science of saving wildlife. It is “very disappointing” that this has caused Scotland to fall behind the rest of the UK on protecting harbour porpoises, they say. In October 2014, the European Commission warned the UK government that it would be taken to court for failing to designate special areas of conservation for harbour porpoises.

Impact on Wildlife UK

The European Commission lodged the court action in October 2013, saying that large numbers of wind turbines and other developments have been authorised without adequate assessments of their environmental effects in the Kaliakra region, a migratory route and resting place for highly endangered species.

Impact on Wildlife Legal Europe

BULGARIA - According to a ruling at the European Court of Justice today, Bulgaria is failing to protect nature and putting threatened species at risk.

Impact on Wildlife Legal Europe

Nine controversial wind farms have been refused or blocked in the past 18 months because they were planned for areas which are designated as wild land. The developments would have seen more than 192 more turbines erected in some of the more remote and rugged parts of the country.

Impact on Wildlife Impact on Landscape Ireland

About 100 people attend a forum in Morro Bay hosted by Trident Winds. Residents questioned officials about impacts to fishing, views, lights and the environment. Trident plans to file the first of three dozen permit applications in January

Impact on Wildlife Impact on Landscape Impact on People USA California

The first phase identifies national conservation lands and designates areas of critical environmental concern, wildlife allocations, and national scenic and historic trail management corridors to conserve biological, cultural and other values. Furthermore, the DOI says special recreation management areas and extensive recreation management areas are identified to recognize and promote recreational opportunities and public access. Thus, these lands would be closed to renewable energy and benefit from adaptive management in the face of climate change, the agency explains.

Impact on Wildlife Impact on Landscape USA California

Even on paper, it was a wonder: Three expansive circles of shining mirrors supplicating three glowing 500-foot-tall towers, each engineered to turn the sun’s heat into electricity in the otherwise godforsaken Mojave Desert. The Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System offered a sparkling vision of our nature-powered future, whose every gigawatt would keep tons of coal’s heat-trapping pollutants out of the atmosphere. BrightSource Inc., a company based in Oakland, California, would design it; construction giant Bechtel would build it on 4,000 acres near the California-Nevada border. It would supply clean electricity to 140,000 homes.

Impact on Wildlife Impact on Birds USA California

There were many other concerns that commissioners also dealt with during the 9-hour hearing for northwestern North Dakota’s first proposed wind farm. A big one for Commissioner Brian P. Kalk, which he announced at the beginning of the hearing, is that the wind farm sits right in the middle of a whooping crane flyway. “This is not the first,” he said, “and it’s something we were able to work through, but I will be interested to see what you have planned for that.”

Impact on Wildlife Impact on Landscape Impact on People North Dakota

For decades, organizations including Vermont Natural Resources Council, Conservation Law Foundation, Sierra Club, Vermont Public Interest Research Group, Preservation Trust and others could be counted on to show up at the merest hint of potential development anywhere in Vermont. Lobbying in Montpellier and using Act 250 and local regulations, those groups helped preserve the landscape that we love.

Impact on Wildlife Impact on Landscape Vermont

"Amherst has the largest breeding population of the at-risk short-eared owl in southern Ontario," Wise said. "During the winter, Amherst supports the largest concentration of owl species of anywhere in eastern North America as far as we know. "We are all for green energy, but not at the expense of nature."

Impact on Wildlife Impact on Landscape Ontario

“From the beginning several years ago, we were astounded that the Ministry of Natural Resources would issue a permit that allowed development of a site as important to species at risk as Ostrander Point,” said Myrna Wood, PECFN president. “Over the years we continually have reminded the Ministry of Environment and the Ministry of Natural Resources that their responsibility to protect species at risk was being ignored by allowing development at Ostrander Point.”

Impact on Wildlife Ontario

A DEP staff analysis of the project raised concerns about the proposed wind farm’s potential impact on bats and migratory birds, citing a study by the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife that found the mortality risk to birds was the highest recorded for any project in northern New England.

Impact on Wildlife Maine

In its decision to refuse planning to the windfarm 4km from Kilmihil, Clare County Council cited the sole reason as the impact the wind farm would have on the fresh water pearl mussel in the nearby Doonbeg River.

Impact on Wildlife Ireland

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is trying to determine the best way to accommodate new wind energy projects while protecting endangered birds and bats that might be killed by running into wind turbines.

Impact on Wildlife USA Indiana

Workers building 30 wind turbines, access roads and transmission lines on Buck Mountain should protect timber rattlesnakes by doing earthwork between November and the end of March when the snakes hibernate, a state biologist wrote to a developer.

Impact on Wildlife Pennsylvania

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is developing an environmental impact statement to evaluate the potential of issuing incidental take permits for protected bird and bat species if regional wind industry development grows. According to a news release by the service, the states within the plan are Missouri, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin. It is called the Midwest Wind Energy Multi-Species Habitat Conservation Plan.

Impact on Wildlife Illinois Indiana Iowa Michigan Minnesota Missouri Ohio Wisconsin

“DIF&W believes the proposed project poses an undue risk of mortality to birds, particularly songbirds, during spring migration. Given the Bull Hill Project is already operational and that the Hancock Wind Project is permitted, MDIF&W believes that the proposed Weaver Wind Project will represent significant adverse cumulative impact to migrating birds, and recommends denial of the Weaver Wind Project.”

Impact on Wildlife Maine

The U.S. Bureau of Land Management announced Friday it had eliminated a quarter of the proposed Soda Mountain Solar project but will allow most of its construction on nearly 2,000 acres near Death Valley National Park and the Mojave National Preserve. ...The project is in an area where such development would be prohibited under the proposed Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan. 

Impact on Wildlife Impact on Landscape USA California

The Ontario Court of Appeal ruled on Monday that a 324-hectare, nine-turbine wind farm proposed for the south shore of Prince Edward County puts a population of endangered Blanding’s turtles at risk of dying out in that region’s wetland. The risk is posed not by the wind farm itself but by 5.4 kilometres of roads to and from the site. 

Impact on Wildlife Legal Ontario

The Ontario Court of Appeal has ruled that a proposed nine-turbine wind farm in Prince Edward County would cause “serious and irreversible harm” to the Blanding’s turtle, sending the case back to the Environmental Review Tribunal to determine an appropriate remedy.

Impact on Wildlife Legal Ontario