Natural Energy Or Natural Nuisance?
Wind Farms Blow Debate Into The Columbia Gorge
By Joseph Friedrichs, 10-30-07
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| Caption: There's certainly no shortage of wind in the Columbia Gorge. | |
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For now, life on Seven Mile Hill is quiet. The deer move easily. Eagles soar with grace. The few families in the area stare at vast, rolling hills. Yet as the Columbia River Gorge continues to face swarms of growth and development, one of the growing dilemmas of our region has become all the more pertinent: What is more important—taking advantage of a natural, efficient power supply or conserving the beauty of a national treasure?
A proposed wind farm on Seven Mile Hill near the tiny town of Mosier, Oregon is the centerpiece of the trouble that stems from development near a protected scenic area. The Cascade Wind Project, proposed by UPC Wind Partners, has thus far drawn serious opposition from not only residents of Mosier, but throughout the Gorge and beyond. The farm would be built just outside the Scenic Area boundary, and the 389-foot-high turbines of the 40 towers would be clearly visible from many areas in the Gorge, including Interstate 84 and McCall Point Trail.
“This proposal is a slap in the face of the protection rights that everybody in the Gorge has had to live up to for the past twenty years,” says Mike Rockwell, a real estate agent who lives in Mosier. “It’s simply not a wise location.”
It’s possible that Oregon’s (sometimes blind) enthusiasm for renewable energy will help rally support for the wind farm. After all, each 1.5-megawatt turbine on the farm would produce enough electricity to power the equivalent of 300 homes annually. And it’s no secret that the four families who own the 5,800 acres that UPC Wind has designated for the project will reap serious financial rewards (although neither UPC nor the landowners will disclose a specific amount, it will likely be in the tens of thousands of dollars annually).
Criticism of the project derives from the potential loss of what compels so many to live in the Columbia Gorge: natural beauty.
“The towers would be highly visible at places where people come to recreate, see wildflowers or even live,” says Michael Lang, the conservation director for The Friends of the Columbia Gorge.
Many residents of the Gorge have strongly voiced their opposition to the project, saying that they don’t want giant wind towers obliterating their views. Others have voiced concern for wildlife, most specifically for the dozens of species of birds that nest in the Gorge. Fog—certainly not a rarity during winter in the gorge—aggravates the problem for all birds because they simply can’t see as well. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has stated that wind towers should not be near wetlands or other known bird or bat concentration areas or in areas with a high incidence of fog or low cloud ceilings, particularly during spring and fall migrations. The Columbia River happens to be one of the only east-west flyways through the Oregon Cascades, thus is filled with migratory birds.
In addition, many Mosier residents are concerned their quiet community will be overrun with booming trucks hauling loads of huge equipment to and from the project site.
“We have been listening to the community’s comments and concerns,” says Krista Kisch, vice president of Business Development - West Region for UPC Wind, “and will continue working to address those concerns as the project moves ahead.”
Mosier is a small, independent community where you might expect to hear a pin drop from one end of town to the other. Yet, when I spent an hour in town recently I observed seven semi-trucks hauling loads of gravel rumbling directly through town, using the same road UPC would use to haul their loads to Seven Mile Hill. I also couldn’t help but notice the relentless purr of traffic on nearby Interstate 84. Then there was the eardrum-smashing sound of a westbound train as it charged past town.
According to Dotty DeVaney, a contract planner for the city of Mosier, no documents have come from UPC officials outlining what roads would be used or created to carry materials to Seven Mile Hill. In addition, UPC has not ensured Mosier or Wasco County that any roads used during construction will be in the same condition or better once the project is completed, says DeVaney.
It’s probable that if construction of the wind farm goes through it will be a horrible nuisance to some Mosier residents and the surrounding area. Truck traffic on the road to Seven Mile will increase dramatically, particularly during the several years it will take to construct the project. What needs to be considered by the opposition is whether the long-term benefits of the wind farm outweigh the nuisance and inconvenience of its construction?
“We support renewable energy and wind farms,” says Lang. “Siting is the critical issue.”
Regardless of one’s personal views about wind farms, Oregon passed a state renewable energy standard this spring that requires electric utility companies to issue 25 percent of their services from renewable sources by 2025.
“UPC Wind believes that the proposed Cascade Wind Project will make an important contribution to help meet Oregon’s goal of increasing the state’s renewable energy sources,” says Kisch.
Lang asserts that Wasco County and state laws currently limit or prohibit wind energy use near the Gorge, and that “commercial energy generation is outright prohibited in the Scenic Area.”
One problem facing the proposal has been a lack of communication between UPC officials and concerned citizens or organizations, says Lang.
“We have not had constructive dialogue with UPC,” he said, adding that the company is using a “rigid approach” to handling the situation.
According to Kisch, the Oregon Department of Energy has requested additional information from UPC and that they “are taking the time necessary to fully consider and address all of the issues raised.”
As the demand for pollution-free power continues to rise from the “green” West, wind farms proliferate. Until now, the towers have gone up further east, in remote fields and rangeland where few people travel to take in scenic amenities. It’s a different story in the Gorge, where hundreds of thousands of tourists travel each year to hike, bike, windsurf or simply relax outdoors.
Rockwell argues that “To have the hills lined with wind towers that are 400-hundred feet tall totally detracts from the intent of the Scenic Act.”
This is not the first wind farm proposed near the Scenic Area’s boundary. During the past decade several farms, including those on Seven Mile Hill and an Enron proposal 30 miles to the east have failed to pass even the application process. Other wind farms have already been constructed near Wasco and Arlington. However, the farm on Seven Mile Hill will be closer to the Scenic Area than any of others to date.
The Oregon Department of Energy ruled UPC’s preliminary application for the wind farm on Seven Mile Hill incomplete in July. UPC was told it had to be more specific about noise levels, wildlife impacts and other details. Even if the follow-up report comes through before the end of the year, as it is expected to do, a final ruling on the project could be years out, ODE officials have indicated.
By the year 2025 there is no doubt more wind farms will continue to develop throughout Oregon. And in the mean time, Seven Mile Hill’s future waits quietly with soaring eagles, a few surrounding homes and the elements.
[End of article]The issue of raptor and other bird mortality could well end up being more important than the visuals...
Comment By Westboy, 10-30-07Nice piece! Thanks for your insights into this important issue. Once something like this is installed, it's likely to be in place for many decades to come. What will the natural landscape look like with these? Will it impact the wildlife in the area? If it does, there will be no going back.
Comment By David J. Bullock, 10-31-07I'm a resident of Sevenmile Hill looking directly at the proposed site. Your article was good. One thing it didn't address is the issue of property values. They have already been affected in a negative manner.
The residents in this area believe in renewable energy. The issue is location, location, location.
I am one of the "few" (2000+) mentioned in this article that lives in the Seven Mile Hill Area. I have a few issues with this article:
1 - The picture caption - no shortage of wind - For 3 - 4 months of the year, during the hottest part of the year, this is true. The wind blows hard and steady. The rest of the year, it hardly blows at all.
2 - The problem of the visual impact isn't that the 400 ft towers would be only "visible", it's that they would DOMINATE an otherwise natural landscape.
3 - Whether the long-term benefits of the wind farm outweigh the nuisance and inconvenience of its CONSTRUCTION is not what needs to be considered. The key issues are the long-term impact on the area's wildlife (bird and mammal), residents and natural scenic heritage. So let's consider the benefits of the windfarm. The proposed towers are claimed to produce 1.5MW of power - that is when the wind is blowing at 28 mph. That happened for one hour on Sevenmile in 2006 according to the official OSU meteorological records. It blew at half of that wind speed 2.5% of the time. The turbine manufacturers will tell you that power production rate is cut to one eighth when the wind speed is half capacity. So when you ask, "what is more important- taking advantage of a natural, efficient power supply or conserving the beauty of a national treasure?", you are asking the wrong question.
The most disingenuous statement about birds came from the wind power people who said that windmills kill fewer birds than cats.
Holy Crap!!! Depending on whose study you read, whose paper, whose peer reviewed dissertation, cats kill any where from a biilion birds each year in North America to two and one half billion birds. That domestic and feral cats decimate birds to that extent is mind boggling to me, a farmer, who has been branded as the bird killer of all time for our use of pesticides....or so you would be led to believe. I read labels, follow them, and not only do not kill birds, I try real hard never to harm beneficial insects. Birds eat bugs. The coyote that is currently chewing drip irrigation lines in half eats mice living in the sawdust under the drip lines. I don't shoot him either. He is so young and dumb I just couldn't even though he leaves a pile of poop about every day on the cement apron in front of the shop.
Not only do the turbines kill birds when they are whirling, but stopped they kill birds that run into them at night during spring migration. And tall buildings and cell towers take their toll.
Tax forgiving government is the reason for wind power excesses. And guilt ridden consumers paying more for wind power than alternatives, just to soothe their gentle souls, is another reason for a non-economic power production method.
We really need to bite the bullet, and build some nuke power plants, and save the air shed, burn far fewer fossil fuels, and don't kill as much wildlife with dams and wind turbines. How frigging stupid are we as a nation, anyway? And now that algore and the nobels have been exposed as nothing more than middle of the road mutual fund shills in the carbon credits business, we really should look at it like we we taught. If it walks like a duck, quacks, poops green and white on the stoop, and leaves mud and feathers around the water dish, it is a damned DUCK!!! New nuke technology, not mega coal mines, is the answer. And all the fashionable conscience salvation stuff is no more than that. Ethanol from corn is just a squirt in the national gas tank, but it kicks the crap out of the poor in escalating food prices. The environmental damage our planet incurs to build the batteries for the Prius is staggering. But those are where the tax credits are found, and tax policy drives the process. Tax policy is determined by people who have a dog in the fight, and for their benefit. Business is almost forced onto paths that don't lead to good results just by tax and financial policy. Watch the mortgage markets for the next several years. And lumber is now selling at 1980 prices. Prosperity!!! And we all can afford to pay a lot more for wind power just by checking the box on the bill, and boy, does it feel good!!! or not if you lose your job.
The windmills are more doggle than boon. And although graceful and very arty on the landscape, enough is enough. A soaring raptor has a place in the biosphere, too, and windmills kill way too may each year. I would rather have nukes and some beauty left on the landscape, than endless arrays of flop flops whirring around...if the wind blows.
My family has owned 40 ac. of land in Mosier oregon for over 30 years. we are 13 miles south of mosier off ketchum road. We are apposed to wind power in this area because of fire danger. We have no protection from wildfire. we have a holding pond on our land. during the sheldon ridge fire this pond was used by helicopters to put out hot spots. What would we ever do if a fire broke out on ketchum road because of wind mills? we would be stuck and have no way out, because ketchum road is in passable to the south towards mt. hood. Find a better spot for these wind mills. Oregon is a vast state and we have wind everywhere. Don't put these mills on top of where people live it is not the right thing to do..thank you dolores harrison
Comment By KO, 11-09-07Nice piece. Any news on the proposed plan for a wind farm near Underwood, Washington..also near the Scenic Area boundary?
Comment By M. McCallum, 11-14-07Most of the comments here are from people with personal agenda's not clearly supported with evidence. Nuke plants produce millions of gallons of hot water, steam, that is vented into the environment. The damage is clear, fish, thermal inversions. The
waste products are lethal for thousands of years. These systems fail
they are designed, operated, maintained by people that sometimes fail.
As to traffic, what do think any construction requires? To plant trees requires a truck and a road to transport the seedlings.
Why would a wind farm reduce the property value? Seeing the symbol of energy independence, no oil, no coal. Want power? See a smoke stack or a wind mill? I don't like (trying to breath) smoke from wood stoves that are used with a damper (who thought this up) to heat houses that are poorly insulated. Better roads make fighting wild fires easier not the lack of roads prevent them. thousands of lightning fires vs less than a hundred from a hot vehicle or careless driver. Build more holding ponds! one? Who thought up this plan. If you live near fuel, then 1st step protect yourself by better design.
Want to preserve raptors, stop building cars, trucks, airplanes - differental speed kills thousands more, not slow speed turbine blades. Start by putting perches on tall buildings, trees, etc. Electricity and grids kill birds. Generate power closer to the users. Remove the need - remove the grid save more birds. save us all.
Not easy to do but with careful design, we could stop the need for wars, poverty, anger, rage, and the reasons why we are fighting vs working together.
We're polishing the handrails while the ship is sinking. As a country and a race we have lost the luxury of being nimbies. We need to build renewable energy facilities as fast as possible wherever we can. Global warming will cause up to 2/3 of all species to go extinct and cause massive global die off of forests. What good is your view, property value, local habitat, if that happens? It time to gain some perspective people. Quit thinking short term and think about the lives of your grandkids.
A PIMBY - Put It In My Backyard
Bottomline...that a really easy thing to say while you're not looking at the prospect of 'living' within these massive industrial complexes. I suspect you would see it quite differently if one was knocking at your back door...I know it change my view after really understanding what these are all about. Based on your comments I suspect you know little about the details of wind generation and what help it with provide at protecting '2/3 of all species' going extinct. I think you would be surprised at how little they will help!
Comment By bottomline, 12-04-07Westboy...I have a small wind turbine in my backyard. My house is off the grid. I love to look at these monster turbines. For me they symbolize hope for mankind. I am a renewable energy consultant specializing in small scale renewable energy systems. I have been working in the field for over 10 years. I think I understand it. Wind energy will be one essential componant of a carbon free energy future along with solar, bio, nuclear, hydro, wave, etc. Germany gets 10% of its energy from wind farms, Denmark gets almost 20%. They work, they are effective, and they will continue to become more effective.
PIMBY
Thank God this is behind us. What a big group of people can do. What we did was move moutains. Thanks to the Barkers who made this issue known to everybody. Thanks Beagel, Jill. Also thank You to all who made noise!!
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