migration cut short
At Montana’s Biggest Wind Farm, Bat Deaths Surprise Researchers
An ongoing study at Judith Gap suggests that birds may be in the clear, but bats are running into trouble.By Elizabeth L. Harrison, Guest Writer, 6-21-08
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| A Judith Gap turbine. Photo by Bill Oram. | |
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As wind power gears up in Montana, the effects of large-scale wind projects on wildlife remain a concern: Birds may be in the clear, but bats are running into trouble.
Turbine-related fatalities at Judith Gap Wind Energy Center near Harlowton were 1,206 bats and 406 birds, according to a 2007 preliminary study (opens PDF) prepared by TRC Solutions’ Laramie, Wyo. office.
Roger Schoumacher, a biologist and consultant for TRC, said the bat fatality count is higher than what generally occurs in the West.
For more than a year, TRC has been preparing the first post-construction avian and bat fatality monitoring and grassland bird displacement surveys—at a cost of more than $200,000—for Judith Gap Energy, LLC, which is owned by Chicago-based Invenergy. The wind farm is the largest in Montana, spanning 14,300 acres of public land in Wheatland County.
Now, Invenergy has decided to go ahead with another year of study, said Judith Gap operations manager John Bacon, to get a “better feel” for the reasons behind the high bat mortality rate.
“The bats were a surprise for us,” he said.
Janet Ellis, a wind policy specialist with the Montana Audubon in Helena, said the bats found at Judith Gap were all forest bats from Alberta, Canada, coming through in August and September during fall migration.
“It wasn’t expected at all,” she said. “But we know so little about bats.”
According to Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Biologist Allison Begley, many bird groups advocate for better-sited wind farms in order to lessen the impact on wildlife.
“Nobody’s opposed to green energy,” said Begley, who sits on the technical advisory committee for Judith Gap. “As far as wind energy and bird interactions, it seems that, using some preconstruction surveys, a well-sited wind farm has much fewer impacts on birds.”
In the late ‘80s, thousands of dead birds were collected at Altamont Pass and Solano County Wind Resource Areas near Livermore, Calif. The farm’s 7,000 turbines make up the largest wind farm in North America, and unfortunately for birds, the most dangerous. The death count sparked cries from the National Audubon Society and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and inspired a slew of follow-up studies on large-scale wind developments across the U.S., which has led to better turbine designs—employed at Judith Gap—to mitigate the effects on birds.
Paul Williamson, director of hydrogen and alternative energy research and development at the University of Montana, said the reason for so many bird kills in California had partly to do with siting and turbine construction.
“When the wind turbines were first starting to be put in, California leaders didn’t know a couple things. They put some turbines in the flyways,” he said. “They didn’t know at what height to put wind turbines—some birds fly at one height and others [at] another.” And so birds were sliced and diced while attempting to pass through the rotor planes or when landing on top of the towers.
At ten to 20 rpm, the three propellers of the 90-some turbines at Judith Gap rotate slower than the original towers constructed for the California farm, and they do not consist of the lattice construction that can be less bird-friendly.
Bacon said at this point, the bird death count itself is not significant enough to hinder growth at Judith Gap, but if the results of the extended survey indicate an extremely large impact on bats, the cut-in speed of the turbines might have to be set higher.
“Turbines start at 6 mph. There’s been some work done where they know when bats are flying through the area, they’re flying through in lower winds,” he said. “If the winds are higher, they don’t fly. So what we could do is change our cut-in speed to 10 mph.”
Audubon would like the Montana Department of Environmental Quality to work with stakeholders to ensure new wind projects minimize impacts on wildlife.
“In general, in Montana wind farms are going to have more of a habitat fragmentation,” Ellis said. “The bat issue raises some concerns about the impacts of wind turbines on bats in specific areas.”
One of the positive things about the Judith Gap wind farm, she added, is that it doesn’t have a vast amount of water, which means no shore birds and fewer waterfowl frequenting the area.
“[Wind farms] all kill some birds,” Ellis said, “What we’re trying to do is figure out a way to make them have the least impact.” One way to do this, she said, is by coming up with criteria companies can follow.
“Hopefully the Judith Gap stuff is going to come out, and hopefully it’s still going to be a good site,” she said. “It’s the best site you could find in a place like Montana.”
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Comments
The birds are noted, but not by species. That always makes me suspicious from the git-go. Do the turbines kill endangered birds? Threatened birds? or just starlings?
The insane rush to "green" energy by the left, with all the tax breaks and government loans, pushed by incomplete science, will have bad result after bad result. When you quit raising food and start raising crops for energy, the end is coming. Drill offshore, and save the bats. Drill in ANWR, and save the birds.
We know that wind turbines kill bird in unacceptable number when they are sited in migratory flyways and Important Bird Areas. IBA
MA Audubon conditions their support of the Cape Wind project, proposed for a migratory flyway and IBA with endangered species present, on the acceptance of post construction Adaptive Management Monitoring and Mitigation by the public and project reviewing agencies. MA Audubon is involved in the permitting process! And, they have denied their staff scientists' testimony that up to 6,600 birds per year will be killed by Cape Wind.
This MA Audubon condition of Cape Wind support represents a contract for counting bird carcasses, when the technology does not exist to do so over water, according to USFWS. But, the contract is undisclosed and worth approximately $8 million dollars over the term prescribed by MA Audubon, "beginning at construction" if Cape Wind is permitted and construction begins.
Pre-construction analysis of bird and bat issues is key. As there is no proven way to mitigate avian mortalities over land or water post construction by wind turbines.
http://www.iberica2000.org/Es/Articulo.asp?Id=3686
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2008/01/02/MNITTM9FA.DTL&type=printable
THE DEADLY TOLL OF WIND POWER
Despite yearlong effort to curb bird deaths by turbines on the Altamont
Pass, many still have perished
for more information email
So why not mitigate wind turbines by domestic cat bounties. Get rid of x number of cats, and one more wind turbine can be built. Cats are killing more than a billion, MORE THAN A BILLION, birds in North America each year---EACH YEAR!! A BILLION PER YEAR!!!
So tie the two together. Have an acceptable cap on allowed bird deaths. And keep below the cap by reducing feline predation to next to nothing, at the same time keeping wind turbines turned off during bird migrations. Dams have to be regulated as to operations to save salmon, and turbines can be regulated to disallow bird and bat deaths.
Some astute scientist studied cats and says many live on rodents. They also kill snakes which also eat rodents. Cats are killers of anything smaller that moves, has a heartbeat. Bats are also killed by cats. And, they are an introduced exotic animal on this landscape. Keep wind power and get rid of out of doors cats.
So I now have shot my mouth about cats, and guess what? The defenders of cats will the very same people who don't want turbines killing birds. OK for their cats, not OK for turbines, or farmers, loggers, high rise buildings, cell towers, radio transmission towers, the list is long. It should be addressed, because birds being killed by green energy while logging is disallowed is insane public policy. The windmills kill birds, and forest fires in tree choked forests kill the forests, and the bird habitat. How long can birds survive this one-two punch we continue to throw at them? The cats are the third strike.
Do you contend that we have not done enough to rid ourselves entirely of birds and cats? Are you aware that the DOI/USFWS has interim wind turbine siting guidelines that state that areas where endangered species are present should be avoided when siting wind turbines. Do you think that they belong everywhere? If so, the AWEA has been successful in their PR efforts.
To: Chris M. Bazar
Community Development Director
Alameda County:
“Increasingly, the operators of wind farms are recognizing that siting is a critically important factor in the construction of new facilities, with some sites causing less environmental damage than others. The local, national and international concerns about the operations at Altamont attest to the reality that Altamont is not an appropriate site for wind farms.”
“We agree with those spokespeople of the industry who point out that many more birds are killed by collisions with windows, wires and towering structures including skyscrapers. Domestic and feral cats take an unacceptable number of birds and other wildlife. But golden eagles, red-tailed hawks, burrowing owls, and other species of particular concern are killed in disproportionate numbers at Altamont.”
“Citizens of Alameda County place an increasing value on wildlife. This value must now be a component of longer-term planning. Wind farms will provide energy but will kill birds and bats; they must therefore be located, at least in the future, in areas where damage is minimal.”
Peter H. Bloom
W. Grainger Hunt
Hans J. Peeters
Robert W. Risebrough
Brian J. Walton
“Our combined credentials include more than 175 years as practicing scientists in fields related to wildlife conservation with a particular focus on raptorial birds.”
The fine for the killing of one endangered Golden Eagle by a wind turbine is $500,000.
Cape Wind is proposed by a private developer for an area where endangered birds are present and under protection of federal laws.
Insane public policy neglects to tie reduction of harmful emissions by wind turbines by index to generous public subsidies.
The irony is that Cape Wind is an offshore wind turbine proposal that the world's largest wind turbine manufacturer, Vestas, now claims is not a good plan. Royal Dutch Shell just pulled out of the London Array; and three US offshore wind projects have been scrapped due to anticipated costs too burdensome for ratepayers within the past year, Texas, Delaware and Long Island.
Nick, citation please.
If you walk into a camera store and ask the clerk, "Do your cameras work?" Chances are you'll be told, "Yes, why of course they work."
Denmark no longer exports Legos as children have opted to go high tech. Denmark exports $1.5 billion in wind turbines, annually.
'Put not thy faith in the Princes of Wind'
by Howard C. Hayden, Professor Emeritus of Physics, University of Connecticut:
"In recent years, the little country Denmark has gained a certain amount of fame with its wind turbines. No, they don’t get much electricity from them. They sell them to suckers."
Industry produced, non-peer reviewed, wind energy promotional brochures, studies, will be considered but not relied upon by me.
Wind power will not result in the closure of fossil fuel plants.
Industrial wind power represents the diversification of energy investment portfolios by Big Oil. They've got you covered. It doesn't matter if it's effective or a solution to global warming, so long as you think it's effective.
Thomas G. Donlon stated in his column in the May 16, 2005 issue of Barrons:
“In addition to environmental damage, wind power has an economic flaw that any GE engineer ought to be able to imagine: Since no human power can turn the wind on and off when it’s wanted for electricity, every bit of wind power capacity must be backed up by another generating source…Immelt, an engineer, understands this but he provided the executive’s counter argument”,
“The customers want it, so it’s GE’s job to produce it.”
Jeffrey Immelt is the CEO and Chairman of the Board of GE, operating in more than 100 countries, employing over 300,000 people, with revenues of over $131 billion in 2002.
Immelt concedes that he understands the flaws behind the premise that wind turbines provide any “solution.”
GE is responding to demand by supplying the GE CEO acknowledged placebo, wind turbines.
The goal of industry relative to wind energy is tax sheltering, not clean air. If the goal was clean air, (instead of our pockets), generous public subsidies they require would be tied by index to reduction in harmful emissions by them.
Do you need gas for your pick up truck, or is it really someone else needs for you to need gas?
Every salesman, field man, processor rep, or visitor, who comes to the farm, gets to stop on the way and pick up something I have ordered or need. I have the liquid fertilizer delivery guy bringing some fence posts tomorrow. My field man won't come this way without calling me to ask if I am out of any potable water dope, micro nutrients, organic phosphates, whatever. And I could have been doing that all along and not burning my gas to go get stuff. And I am sure there are many more tightwad, penny pinching, nickel stretching deals I will find before this is all over.
I have not forgotten Enron, and the California energy crisis. In the back of my mind, I see nefarious energy traders scattered throughout the world trading oil, and the price of a barrel of oil is propped up by trading schemers, and there will be some short sellers show up when longs run out of momentum, and then the deal will fall as fast as it went up. Those magnum oil tankers, those ocean behemoths, are driving down the ocean full of oil, and then that cargo gets sold somewhere else, and the tanker turns on a new course, and it might get sold several times before it ever reaches a port to unload. Not unlike rail cars of 2x4s headed east unsold, or sold and rerouted. When the market comes to a standstill, the traders will make it move, up or down, because trading is what they do, and trade they will. Price means nothing. Margins mean everything.
UPS and FedEx get more of my time, too. And the catalog people ought to be dancing in the streets. I don't drive, and they deliver. 10 miles from a town of a quarter million and I am not driving there anymore.
The wind turbine deal is fashionable and very tax sheltered. We get what we get because the Congress fashions the tax laws to force the issue. The free market is the free to tax you market of Congress, and the free to give you taxes market, also. The economic freedom in this country now, is the freedom to take the subsidy or not take it. If you don't like the wind turbines killing birds, then buy a better Congressman. The one you got has let you down.
Life is a compromise. Then you die. But wait! There's more! Your death will be cause for celebration for some organisms... even as those you carry around (more numerous than your own cells, I understand) will have to git along somehow else.
Engineering is one of the more difficult disciplines one can go into, but many do, and have some success at it. Generalized ranting at the drawbacks of this or that, and how one group is more hypocritical than another has a considerably lower threshold for entry, and so we are blessed with a greater wealth of ranters than problem solvers.
Either way, we're not going to run out of problems.
I'm all for more liberal arts and liberals, but I wouldn't agree with your conclusion. Engineering is exactly about technology's "human impact," and learning how to avoid, minimize and mitigate negative consequences, whether intended or unintended.
The issue needs to be addressed through curriculum scope, breadth, and length. I'd rather see the support and expectation for 5-year undergraduate programs than to say you need a graduate degree, and throttle the pool of applicants. (The claim that people with graduate degrees are more well-rounded could also make an interesting discussion.)
I would have no problem with a 5 year engineering program that had as a result a more rounded person solving problems. No problem at all. In this technology dominated age, it is probably needed more than we know.
http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2006/09/08/bats-turbines.html
or
http://www.nationalwind.org/events/wildlife/2006-3/presentations/bats/baerwald.pdf .
The coal burning deal is about low sulfur coal, and less acid rain. That is why Wyoming coal goes to Atlanta to run the nation's largest coal fired generators. The issue with high head hydro is that it is cheap and makes little green house gas. Fish die, but if they lived, 90% would be taken for food anyway. Maybe we eat beef, farts and all, and not fish. It is all very complicated. Which means all the easy solutions are false. But we do need to lessen the bird and bat deaths. Maybe those turbines can't run during migration, especially during migration at night. That could be sensible as well as workable.
I have heard that wind in a big snow pack year like this one raises cain with the hydro people who have to forgo hydro to allow the more expensive turbines to generate because the power is bought and paid for by green users. tee hee. Want some bat guts with that green tea and brown rice? How about some nice tanagers and some finches. I'll even throw in a couple of fat raptors...no Omega oils in finch flesh, I guess. And no salmon because the fishermen caught all the spawners at sea as bycatch in other fisheries. Tanager tartar it will be.....
Point is, every thing we do has consequences for some one/thing else. Here in southwest Indiana we have the world's largest concentration of coal fired power plants. Concomitant to this fact are the resulting pollution and health effects. Not to mention the massive degradation to the environment from mining the coal.
You will probably not find many bird carcasses around these power plants but their overall death toll is surely astronomical for almost all living things. Wind turbines kill animals without a doubt. What human activity doesn't? Intelligent siting of wind facilities will ameliorate many of these fatalities but won't remove them.
I would rather have the wind farms than the coal plants. There will need to be other more dependable sources to meet peak demand but coal and other fossil fuels have to go.
The comment regarding cats is dead on. Feral cats are an environmental holocaust. Their defenders/apologists are deaf, dumb and blind to reality.
The American Wind Energy Association:
"It was not until an avian study in 2003 at a project in West Virginia discovered relatively high numbers of bat fatalities that the issue became the most significant wildlife concern for the wind energy industry."
http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/story?id=50137
When will US FWS interim wind turbine siting guidelines be required instead of voluntary observance?
supporting:
http://www.abcbirds.org/newsandreports/releases/070430_testimony.html
Donald Michael Fry, PhD Director, Pesticides and Birds Program of the American Bird Conservancy to Chairwoman Bordello and distinguished members of the Fisheries, Wildlife and Oceans Subcommittee on May 1, 2007; Oversight Hearing on: “Gone with the Wind: Impacts of Wind Turbines on Birds and Bats.”
“The Fish and Wildlife Service developed an interim series of voluntary siting guidelines in 2003, and revised them after a prolonged comment period in 2005. Federal guidelines must be required rather than voluntary. The wind industry has provided ample evidence that voluntary guidelines are regarded as unimportant and are thus summarily dismissed”
The Department of the Interior and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service guidelines for siting wind towers in 2003:
"--Avoid placing turbines in documented locations of any species of wildlife, fish, or plant protected under the ESA.
-- Avoid locating turbines in known local bird-migration pathways or in areas where birds are highly concentrated, unless mortality risk is low (e.g., birds rarely enter the rotor-swept area). Examples of high-concentration areas for birds are wetlands, state or federal refuges, private duck clubs, staging areas, rookeries, roosts, riparian areas along streams, and landfills.
-- Avoid known daily-movement flyways (e.g., between roosting and feeding areas) and areas with a high incidence of fog, mist, low cloud ceilings, and low visibility."
So, poor wind management can result in killing salmon and steelhead in the Columbia and other rivers. Add fish to animals killed by wind power.
The AWEA lauched a "hysterical" attack when the current Chairman of Natural Resources, Nick J. Rahall II, introduced a bill that would have made wind turbine siting guidelines mandatory.
Cape Wind selected the site, Nantucket Sound, as special interest legislation in the Energy Policy Act of 2005 bestowed a "no bid" deal on this developer for this location.
MA Audubon stands to reap $8 million dollars for counting bird carcasses post construction if Cape Wind is permitted and construction begins in Nantucket Sound. While the technology to count carcasses over water does not even exist according to US FWS.
Pombo's parent's lease their land to wind developers. His antics to benefit wind developers landed him in the number one spot of the top twenty most corrupt members of Congress, (Citizens for Ethics in Washington).
I had never considered the salmon and steelhead, nitrogen necrosis, but add marine mammals to the list of creatures threatened by Cape Wind, some endangered.
When development of these projects is directed by industry, instead of by industry experience that has resulted in siting guidelines, it's the handiwork of the profit driven multinational corporations, corrupt agencies and leaders. Wind turbines don't belong everywhere, but try and mandate their siting and reduce their profit potential.
David Cottingham, Executive Director of the Marine Mammal Commission, the federal agency established under the Marine Mammal Protection Act, 2/23/2005 to the USACE Col. Koning, re: Cape Wind:
“There is little doubt that activities associated with the proposed action, particularly the use of pile drivers for tower construction will result in the taking of marine mammals by harassment.”
Scroby Sands:
"A WINDFARM is being blamed for the deaths of scores of baby seals. Staff at the wildlife hospital at Winterton, Norfolk, say hundreds of seals on Scroby Sands off Great Yarmouth have been so disturbed by the 300-foot turbines there that it is affecting their breeding. Many pups are born dead or abandoned by frightened mums. Jaime Allison, a biologist at the hospital, said: "A definite pattern is emerging. It's hard not to conclude the wind farm is responsible."
http://c.moreover.com/click/here.pl?r331203734
“New Blow to Scroby windfarm” of 11/27/2006
http://www.wind-watch.org/news/2006/11/27/
new-blow-to-scroby-windfarm
Review of State and Federal Marine Protection of the Ecological Resources of Nantucket Sound, a report by the Center for Coastal Studies (January 28, 2003), includes the following excerpts:
“The waters of Nantucket Sound provide habitat for several species of seals and porpoises, including the gray seal, harbor seal, and harbor porpoise."
"These waters are particularly significant to gray seals which have a well-documented and growing breeding colony in Nantucket Sound, representing the southern-most breeding colony in the world, and the only known breeding colony in the United States."
"The gray seal is listed as a species of “special concern” on the Massachusetts List of Endangered, Threatened and Special Concern.”
So wouldn't a thinking person figure, sooner or later, that animals that fly long distances, in migrations, would use a tail wind whenever possible? Wouldn't you think that the windier a place might be, the better chance of seeing large numbers of migrants seasonally?
It would follow, then, that wind farms have an obligation to not operate in times of migrations. Not that tough to understand. There is a time to sow, and a time to reap. Neither is the time to kill an enormous number of birds to be "green." Not a workable solution to power....
Shut downs cost wind developers money and they're only interested in their bottom line. The "father" of Adaptive Management, monitoring and mitigation is Dr. Shawn K. Smallwood. He sent a 64 page summary of the history of Altamont to me just yesterday. Shut downs have been used as a form of mitigation to stem the slaughter of endangered species that continues. The history of Altamont is a history of non-compliance by wind developers/operators. Endangered birds habituate the areas where the towers are not operational during migratory season. The 2 month shut down was not effective in the reduction of avian mortalities as mitigation. There was a recommendation of 4 months shut down. Non-compliance by wind developers and operators has compromised efforts to stem mortalities of endangered species. In fact, there are more deaths of burrowing owls in Altamont now than there were before the implimentation of mitigation measures.
The problem is that enforcement of federal laws is lacking according to avian experts as well as Chairman Rahall. The fine for the death of one Golden Eagle by a wind turbine is $500,000.
As you may note from my earlier post, 2003 was when the AWEA first recognized a problem with bats being killed by wind turbines. What have they done to mitigate this problem in any way since 2003?
Nothing.
In order for a workable solution to be workable, there has to be a good faith effort on the part of the wind companies. As well as teeth in the federal laws that provide protection to endangered species, and keep the wind companies "honest".
Jeffrey Immelt, the CEO and Chairman of the Board of GE, on wind turbines, placebos, and why we need them.
"Because that is where they keep the money."
Willy Sutton, bank robber, responding to the question, "Why do you rob banks?"
<a >Unusual Facts</a>
Held: Thursday, July 10, 2008, at 10:00 a.m.
Testimony (excerpt)
George Wallace, PhD
Vice President for International Programs
American Bird Conservancy
Last year, my colleague at ABC, Dr. Michael Fry presented testimony to the full Committee on the ongoing impact of commercial wind energy production. While the actual number of birds killed by wind turbines is unknown, estimates have been made in the range of 30,000 to 60,000 birds per year at the current level of wind development. However, the wind industry is prepared to increase the number of turbines 30 fold over the next 20 years in order to fulfill the President’s request that renewable energy projects supply 20% of the nation’s energy needs by 2030. At the current estimated mortality rate, the wind industry will be killing 900,000 to 1.8 million birds per year. While this number is a relatively small percentage of the total number of birds estimated to live in North America, many of the bird species being killed are already declining for other reasons, and losses of more than a million birds per year would exacerbate these declines.
ABC recommends that any renewal of the production tax credit by Congress include provisions that require minimizing bird and bat kills by wind projects, and require developers to follow standard Best Management Practices in avoiding and minimizing bird and wildlife impacts in order to qualify for the full, taxpayer-provided subsidy."
An excellent strategy that recognizes the wind industry's priority, $$$.
Bravo, ABC!!!
The American Wind Energy Association:
"It was not until an avian study in 2003 at a project in West Virginia discovered relatively high numbers of bat fatalities that the issue became the most significant wildlife concern for the wind energy industry."
http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/story?id=50137
Addressing much needed cross pollination of information:
http://www.greatfallstribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080720/NEWS01/807200303
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25 August 2008
NewScientist.com news service
"Beware: exploding lungs" is not a sign one would expect to see at a wind farm. But a new study suggests this is the main reason bats die in large numbers around wind turbines.
The risk that wind turbines pose to birds is well known and has dogged debates over wind energy. In fact, several studies have suggested the risk to bats is greater. In May 2007, the US National Research Council published the results of a survey of US wind farms showing that two bat species accounted for 60% of winged animals killed. Migrating birds, meanwhile, appear to steer clear of the turbines.
Why bats - who echolocate moving objects - are killed by turbines has remained a mystery until now. The research council thought the high-frequency noise from the turbines' gears and blades could be disrupting the bats' echolocation systems.
In fact, a new study shows that the moving blades cause a drop in pressure that makes the delicate lungs of bats suddenly expand, bursting the tissue's blood vessels. This is known as a barotrauma, and is well-known to scuba divers..."
http://environment.newscientist.com/article/dn14593-wind-turbines-make-bat-lungs-explode.html
"The movement of wind-turbine blades creates a vortex of lower air pressure around the blade tips similar to the vortex at the tip of aeroplane wings."
Most planes are adding winglets to reduce those tip vortices. Perhaps an improved blade design could reduce the risk to bats?
The article doesn't address what bats are doing close enough to get into trouble in the first place. Perhaps bat food is getting entrained in the vortices and they're going after that? If winglets can't solve the problem completely, we're back to thinking about bat repellents.
How about instead following the recommendations of the lead bat researcher involved with the recent "barotrauma" research, who indicated that the "most promising" mitigation strategy is to shut down the wind turbines during low wind conditions at nights when bats are concentrating in the vicinity of wind farm? Her recommendation occurs at the end of this recent article - see: http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2008/08/25/wind-turbine-bats.html .
However, the wind industry has been opposed to this mitigation strategy from the first time it was recommended - in 2004! For confirmation of my claim, check out the box at bottom of p. 3 in an article published in Bat Conservation International's magazine: http://www.vawind.org/Assets/Docs/Battered.pdf , as well as read the WV Gazette article about FPL's refusal to allow independent bat research to occur at any of its many wind farms - http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/media-archive/FPLEnergyVetoStymiesBatStudyGroupSays.pdf .
In addition, there is ample scientific research and expert opinion which suggests that wind farms shouldn't be sited where they pose a high risk of significant bat mortality - such as along forested Appalachian ridges. Yet wind energy developers backed by AWEA are pursuing numerous, large wind farm projects in this most problematic region.
Boosters of wind farms should reconsider whether they wish to remain as blind as bats...
APWRA, Altamont, wind turbines were shut down and powered back up when endangered birds were perched on them to the horror of true avian advocates. One of the carcassess remains in the refridgerator and the offending party skates the $500,000. penalty associated for killing one golden eagle.
Why? Chairman of Natural Resources states no enforcement action of the laws that protect endangered species is being taken. We need to prosecute these criminals.
On "Adaptive Management"...
Carl G. Thelander to CA Energy Resources and Development Commission:
"As stated above, the industry has been making and breaking promises to solve the bird problem for many years. Presenting 'Adaptive Management Plans' is not new to the industry. Seven years ago in 1998, industry Consultants Paul Kerlinger and Richard Curry presented an avian mitigation plan for the APWRA at a meeting of the National Wind Coordinating Committee. In that plan, the authors referred to an Adaptive Management Program that was comprised of such things as: priority treatment of high risk turbines, testing and installing perch guards, developing a peer-review process for evaluating the efficacy of perch guards, and providing assistance to the County in its rodent abatement program at the APWRA. This proposed Adaptive Management Program was a proposal that gained more time for the APWRA owners to avoid paying for any effective mitigation, and it was never implemented."
On barring independent researchers:
The House Subcommittee on Fisheries, Wildlife and Oceans
Oversight Hearing on: "Gone with the Wind: Impacts of Wind Turbines on Birds and Bats."
Testimony of Donald Michael Fry, PhD
Director, Pesticides and Birds Program
American Bird Conservancy
May 1, 2007
Room 1324 Longworth House Office Building.
"In fact, when independent researchers finally gained access to the Altamont Pass area, under contract from the California Energy Commission, the results of their research and documentation were viscously attacked by staff from the California Wind Energy Association. Every effort was made to discredit the research and personally discredit the researchers. The NWCC website provides an excellent bibliographic resource to much of this information, and documents and links are available at: http://www.nationalwind.org/workgroups/wildlife/"
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