The Fish and Wildlife Service and Wind Energy Development have established the Project Planning Program that reviews potential wind energy developments on public lands through the National Environmental Policy Act. Under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act, the Endangered Species Act, the Service has established a Wind Turbine Siting Working Group in 2002, to “develop a set of comprehensive national guidelines for siting and constructing wind energy facilities”. The purpose of the guidelines was to help protect “wildlife resources streamline the site selection and design process.
Wind energy is one of the lowest-priced renewable energy technologies available today. The wind is an affordable, inexhaustible energy that provides jobs, powers the economy without causing pollution. Wind energy is clean generating no hazardous wastes or depleting natural resources. Wind towers can revitalize the economy of rural communities, providing income through lease or royalty payments to farmers and other landowners.Service Program Roles in Wind Energy Development is required by the Endangered Species Act to assist other Federal agencies in “ensuring that any action they authorize, implement, or fund, including wind energy developments, will not jeopardize the continued existence of any federally endangered or threatened species”.
However, the American Bird Conservancy (ABC), a not-for profit organization whose mission is “to conserve native wild birds and their habitats throughout the Americas”. They analyzed the recent U.S. studies and concluded that bird mortality at wind turbine projects varies from less than one bird/turbine/year to as high as 7.5 birds/per turbine/year. This means that between 10,000 and 40,000 birds may be killed each year at wind farms across the country and about 80% of which are songbirds, and 10% may be birds of prey. Bats are also subject to high mortality at wind farms frequently at considerably higher rates than birds.Bats are also impacted; a good illustration is the West Virginian dispute, a wind developer called Beech Ridge Energy applied to build a 122-turbine project along an Appalachian ridgeline in Greenbrier County. The county is home to the Indiana bat, which the federal government listed as endangered in 1967. A federal judge’s ruling that stopped the construction to protect an endangered bat “underscores the growing conflicts between green energy and imperiled wildlife”. In this case, an assessment of the project had estimated that it would annually kill 6,746 bats of all kinds.
Many innovations must be made in the near future to mitigate the negative effects of wind farms on wildlife. New generators could be built to standards that minimize the potential for bird kills. Wind is a new technology and not enough investment has been made so far. U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary Steven Chu announced recently the selection of 53 new wind energy projects for up to $8.5 million in total DOE funding. These investments will lead progress on the technology employed to develop wind energy, but also in the science to assess its potential impacts to birds and bats. A Wind Turbine Guidelines Advisory Committee composed of 22 members appointed by the Secretary established guidelines for, siting, operating, and preventing avian and other wildlife impacts that have been issued by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
References:
The Fish and Wildlife Service and Wind Energy Development http://www.fws.gov/habitatconservation/wind.html
Interim Guidelines to Avoid and Minimize Wildlife Impacts from Wind Turbines. http://www.fws.gov/habitatconservation/Service%20Interim%20Guidelines.pdf
American Birds Conservancy. http://www.abcbirds.org/conservationissues/threats/energyproduction/wind.html
New York Times. Green Inc., December 10, 2009. Judge Halts Wind Farm Over Bats. http://greeninc.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/12/10/judge-halts-wind-farm-over-bats/?scp=2&sq=wildlife&st=cse
