Bird deaths stir oversight for U.S. wind power - Reuters

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

Bird deaths stir oversight for U.S. wind power
Fri Oct 5, 2007 12:41pm EDT

By Leonard Anderson

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - The growing U.S. wind
power industry is drawing increased scrutiny from
states and the federal government over the problem
of spinning wind turbines killing birds.

The California Energy Commission last week adopted
voluntary guidelines to reduce wind energy effects
on wildlife, and Washington state, Montana and
Texas among other states are reviewing measures.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, part of the
Department of the Interior, also is developing
voluntary procedures for wind projects, a
spokeswoman said.

Wind power, which is expected to increase by 26
percent in power generating capacity this year, is
mostly unregulated in the United States except by
county boards, city councils and local planning
commissions.

-snip-

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSN0542155920071005

[FogerRox]

1. NEW Gen. slow moving turbine blades are a hazard ?

Like birds are flying in between the blades....

[dbackjon]

6. Beings that millionis of birds are killed by STATIONARY towers

Every year, moving blades, no matter how slow, will be a hazard.

[Mojorabbit]

2. I hope they are

studying migration patterns and avoiding those areas. There has already been a drastic drop in the bird population. I hope they can come up with a way to fix this.

[liberal N proud]

3. We are worried about a few birds dying from a windmill? Meanwhile...

The entire planet is threatened by greenhouse gases and global warming from the carbon based fuels we continue to exhaust into the air and water.

:banghead:

[dbackjon]

7. Few Million birds....

And why shouldn't we worry about environmental impacts? Do we blindly want to trade one earth-trashing power source for another?

Or maybe, just maybe, we use our brains and try to find the best way to get renewable energy AND minimize environmental damage...

[diane in sf]

4. It's the older, smaller, faster spinning wind generators that act like bird blenders

edit for spelling

[FogerRox]

9. Basing any study on older data and not comparing old & new is silly

I heard birds fly between the blades.

[greenman3610]

5. This is bull. Deliberate attempt to slow wind down

TRUTH.
If the number of birds killed by wind turbines
were to increase by a factor of 100, it would
not quite be one percent of the number killed by
house cats each year.

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/05/cats_more_letha.php

[dbackjon]

8. FALSE

Environmental oversight/review is neccessary for ANYTHNG.

And all outdoor cats should be shot on sight....

[Nihil]

10. Someone's pulling strings to slow down the wind industry.

I bet more birds are *shot* in Texas & Montana than get killed by
wind generators. There are certainly higher rates of deaths from
impact with tall buildings and power lines.

Sigh.

[phantom power]

11. People are used to their energy hiding underground in wells and mines...

not making a nuisance of itself on our landscape. Like four thousand reactors, or 10 million wind turbines and grid storage facilities, or thousands of square miles of wave harvesters, or tidal turbines, etc.

Welcome to reality-based energy. Big, expensive and in our face.

[depakid]

13. Believe it or not, there's an oil rig right in Century City (LA)

I looked down on that thing every weekday for several years before someone told me that they'd pumping there right before my eyes!

The oil rig, shrouded in panels painted with brightly colored flowers, has operated for decades at the northwest corner of Spalding Drive and Olympic Boulevard. Michael G. Edwards, a vice president of VenocoInc., which owns the rig, said its 15 producing wells each day yield about 500 barrels of oil and 300,000 cubic feet of natural gas.

http://downloads.heartland.org/20201.pdf

[phantom power]

18. That's wild. Say, maybe we could paint the wind turbines like big flowers.

[GliderGuider]

19. Oh great. then everbody would be all worked up over the deaths of the bees

that got smooshed trying to fertilize them...

[Nihil]

20. There are some images that are just wrong ... (n/t)

:spray: :spank:

[malakai2]

12. Ah, Christ...

I come on this forum of this board expecting better.

Yes, erecting thousands (or more) of very tall obstacles in migration corridors, where wind speeds tend to be most beneficial for energy production, will cause bird and bat deaths. Erecting transmission lines and distribution lines across vast miles of previously open space, through which bird species unfamiliar with such obstacles migrate once or twice every year, will cause bird and bat deaths. Erecting distribution and transmission line poles without bird perch deterrents, so that raptors can electrocute themselves when they span transmission wires, will cause bird deaths. Erecting radio and TV towers, anything that creates a vertical obstacle and is supported by essentially invisible (at flight speed) guy wires, will cause bird and bat deaths. Top these obstacles with flashing lights, or especially pulsating red lights, and migrating birds will be attracted to and slowly circle the obstacles during night migration, increasing the potential for collision with the structure, other nearby structures, guy wires, and anything else that happens to be nearby.

Every one of these things is enough of a concern to the Fish and Wildlife Service that, when the agency isn't being interfered with politically, it reviews the biological consequences of these projects one by one or at least on a programmatic level. In several cases, industries have put together their own best practices handbooks so FWS doesn't come in and shut them down for any period of time to force compliance with ESA, MBTA, BGEPA, and a few other Federal laws. Literally tons of literature has been produced on these bird-structure interactions, and some of us go to work every day trying to apply what we (collectively) know about these interactions to minimize unwanted consequences of building these things where the wind is, and by therefore by definition where the birds are.

This isn't about pulling strings to slow down an industry. I expect to see that sort of cynical characterization of what we do on FreeRepublic, but not here. This is about employees of the FWS doing their jobs and enforcing the laws on the books. We can't just pick and choose what to enforce or not enforce because someone decides that decimating bird populations with structures is a lesser evil than decimating those populations chemically, through introduction of exotic species, through habitat loss, or through climate change. If you don't like that complying with the law is slowing down wind power (just a little bit, in reality), fine, go lobby for the repeal of the applicable laws and see if you like the alternative any better.

[malakai2]

14. And because I can't edit now...

Here's a useful link, and example of the sort of stuff that entire FWS programs are involved in: Avian Interactions Workshop Speech, 2000

[Nihil]

16. Thanks for the link

That was a fascinating article.
:hi:

[Nihil]

15. Sauce for goose, etc., ...

> We can't just pick and choose what to enforce or not enforce

That is precisely my point: Someone *does* pick & choose which
cases to pursue and which to let go ... strangely enough, the
ones with the most money to bribe, oops, "sponsor supporters"
tend to get away with blatant violations of the same laws that
are applied to less well-funded operations.

> ... when the agency isn't being interfered with politically ...

And when it is, expect to get called on it ... which is what I did.

Thank you for your work and I'm sorry if these comments make you
feel unappreciated. In this, as in most things, it's rarely down
to the worker in the field to make the choice - the decisions are
made on the golf courses and "special interest dinners".
:hi:

[dbackjon]

17. Excellent post!!

Thanks for putting out the rational argument!!