The American Bird Conservancy has tried to get the wind energy industry to care just a little about where they put those huge wind turbines so as to minimize bird kills. But the industry’s lack of concern suggests that the Federal Government must step in and regulate the siting of wind turbines so that their effect on migratory and other sensitive bird populations is minimized.
It seems that the $100 billion wind market is just too lucrative to care about a few birds.
The American Bird Conservancy recently found that over 80,000 wind turbines have been, or are planned to be, erected in critical areas of federally-protected birds in America. 24,000 turbines alone are in the migration corridor of the whooping crane, probably the nation’s rarest and most spectacular bird (ABC report, Lower Columbia Basin Audubon Society).
“Attempts to manage the wind industry with voluntary permitting guidelines are clearly not working,” said Dr. Michael Hutchins, Director of American Bird Conservancy’s Bird Smart Wind Energy Campaign. “Wind developers are siting turbines in areas of vital importance to birds and other wildlife, and this new data shows that the current voluntary system needs to be replaced with a mandatory permitting system.”
The Associated Press reached the same conclusion in an independent report (AP report).
It is sad when two groups who normally should be allies in the environmental movement get cross-wise of each other.
We all want low-carbon energy sources, and wind is the most politically-supported and incentivized low-carbon source. But there are better places to put them than on pristine mountain tops, in breeding strongholds of protected species, and along critical migratory flyways.
Just look at Tornado Alley, the most optimal place to site wind turbines in the United States. The wind blows so often, and at the right speeds, that wind turbine capacity factors exceed 40%, making wind the second largest generator of electricity in Kansas, South Dakota and Iowa.
Bird deaths in Tornado Alley from wind turbines are much less than in other windy areas because it’s outside major migratory routes (Chicago Department of Environment; FLAP Canada).
Shown here is a bladeless wind turbine from the new company Vortex in Spain... [+]
I understand the wind industry’s need to take advantage of the present tax and political climate that makes implementing wind cost-effective, before these tax advantages and state-mandates run out. But the wind industry is not interested in accommodating bird migration and population needs, even slightly.
This speaks volumes about their commitment to environmental protection. Citing global warming as a reason to invest in wind, while ignoring wildlife, is disingenuous at best.
According to the Wildlife Society Bulletin, about 600,000 birds are killed by wind farms in America each year, including over 80,000 raptors such as hawks, falcons and eagles.
A wind industry spokesman countered by saying “We don’t kill as many birds as cars do.”
I agree that many more birds are killed by flying into buildings and being hit by cars. Even more are killed by cats. But cats don’t kill whooping cranes and eagles don’t fly into windows. Birds killed by buildings, cats and cars are almost never endangered or protected, and throwing these huge numbers out there is just a way to evade environmental responsibility.
Audubon understands this better than anyone, and has come up with guidelines on how to site wind farms correctly to reduce the bird kills (Audubon). And the American Bird Conservancy identified specific areas across the country where federally-protected birds are particularly vulnerable to wind turbines.
Fortunately, these major migratory routes, breeding areas, and other sensitive bird habitats comprise less than 9% of the total U.S. land area, so are easily avoided with minimal economic impact to the wind industry.
Unfortunately, the industry doesn’t care. And the U.S. Department of the Interior does not have the resources or the authority to help.
Tunisian green energy startup Saphon Energy (http://www.saphonenergy.com) has created a new... [+]
The American Bird Conservancy and a coalition of more than 70 conservation organizations have urged the U.S. Department of the Interior and the Administration to develop an environmental impact statement specific to the wind industry that would identify appropriate areas for wind energy development, as well as areas where development should be avoided.
Instead, at the urging of wind energy lobbyists, the White House just gave the wind industry permission to kill eagles for the next 30 years (CBS News). I mean, this is a lot easier than performing an EIS.
Of course, turbines aren’t the only danger to eagles and other protected birds. Poaching of eagles and raptors for Native American ceremonial and competitive costumes is a horrible, but lucrative, endeavor. A handful of unethical individuals, hiding behind tribal sovereignty, kill almost as many eagles as wind turbines.
Similarly, sport-hunting of squirrels (how is this a thing?) causes lead-poisoning of eagles and raptors that eat the dead animals and digest the lead-shot, killing an inordinate number of eagles and other birds of prey.
All of these causes of death can be addressed – tribal leaders could care about eagles and poaching, we could easily replace Pb-shot with steel shot, and we could easily site wind farms in those areas that are not sensitive to these birds.
We can even let technology help buy building bladeless wind turbines (see figures). But even if these new designs perform as hoped, it will take years for them to displace traditional turbines, and we don’t have that luxury of time to save these iconic birds.
Widespread implementation of wind farms is relatively new. Frantically taking advantage of wind construction/production tax credits before they disappear is not a good reason to harm this special part of our ecosystem.
Our elected officials need to care about this. Just like any technology, there are good places to build and bad places to build.
We need to build in the good places.
