A lot of interesting conversation has transpired on this thread. It is a
very complex issue and can be very polarizing between individuals and within
oneself. I would like to present a couple of thoughts on why some have grave
concerns about wind turbines along Lake Erie ( I will keep these to bird
issues and stay away from the elephants in the room) and then list a couple
of sites to get another take on some of the citations mentioned yesterday.


There are considerable unknowns about lethal and sub-lethal effects on birds
and bats from commercial grade turbines (not talking about the personal
backyard types). The “low” mortality rates that keep getting mentioned needs
to be put in proper perspective. Just how hard is it to find a 3” bird in 2’
tall grass, brush, or rocky mountain tops? Where will a 10 gram warbler fall
when striking an object 400’ in the air moving over 100 mph? Is there
anything to find? If it does hit the ground in the search zone how many cat,
raccoon, rat, fox, skunk, etc., are out there earlier doing there own search
with better tools? The problem with every study reported, is that the
mortality rate is a minimum rate not an actual rate. There has been very
poor work conducted on sample design when including scavenging rate, and
detectability or if there is at least an attempt, reports generally ignore
the “confidence level” and “error margin” of how high it could be. Does one
dead bird mean one dead bird, or 10, or 100, or 1000? *We don’t know*. How
different is each site?


The second issue concerns at what height birds actually migrate. It is
generally reported by consultants for the wind industry that a very low % of
birds migrate at the height of the blade sweep. What is low %? For what
species? Again, most studies have had less than stellar sample design for
the question asked. Most agree that final migration altitude generally
exceed the 400’ height of high risk. But what about areas like the Lake Erie
coast which represents a major stopover site for shorebirds, passerines,
waterfowl, raptors, marshbirds, and waterbirds. They have to come down and
go back up. At what distance does descent begin? A great analogy I’ve heard
was if commercial airliners fly at 30,000 feet – there is no problem to put
a wind farm at the end of the runway. The whole equation, the thought
process, is changed when including stopover and feeding flights to the
picture of flight height and land use.


This is over simplified and there are no simple answers. Several of the
citations mentioned yesterday concerning the National Research Council (NRC)
report came from industry sources *
http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2007/05/wind-turbines-not-a-threat-to-u-s-bird-population-says-study-48393
*.
Check out the other viewpoint at
http://www.wind-watch.org/press-070509.phpand figure out where in the
middle the answers may lie.
Better yet go look at the NRC report and make your own interpretation *
http://www.cleanenergystates.org/Publications/NAS-NRC_wind_energy_final.pdf*.

Also, while a little dated it might help to read a thread to the Virginia
list serve from an individual that has been very active along the east coast
on wind projects.

http://www.windaction.org/documents/491


In 30+ years of a wildlife professional career this has been the most
complex issue I have seen.  It’s not about being for or against it’s about
responsibility, wise use, and informed intelligent decision making.


Mark Shieldcastle
Research Director
Black Swamp Bird Observatory
Oak Harbor


On Tue, Jan 26, 2010 at 7:51 AM, Sean Artman <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> "Every source of energy has some environmental consequences. Most of
> today's rapidly growing demand for energy is now being met by natural
> gas and expanded coal-burning power plants, which are this country's
> single greatest source of the greenhouse-gas emissions that cause
> global warming. If we don't find ways to reduce these emissions, far
> more birds—and people—will be threatened by global warming than by
> wind turbines. Our challenge is thus to help design and locate
> wind-power projects that minimize the negative impacts on birds."
> http://www.audubon.org/campaign/wind/audubon_view.html
>
>
> "After dozens of studies spanning nearly two decades, we now know that
> the Altamont Pass situation is unusual in the U.S. The high raptor
> mortality there was the result of a convergence of factors, some of
> which were due to the bad siting in the local ecosystem while others
> were due to the wind turbine and tower technology used at the time. In
> fact, a very different situation exists not far away at the San
> Gorgonio Pass Wind Farms near Palm Springs. A 1986 study found that 69
> million birds flew though the San Gorgonio Pass during the Spring and
> Fall migrations. During both migrating seasons, only 38 dead birds
> were found during that typical year, representing only 0.00006% of the
> migrating population."
> http://www.awea.org/faq/sagrillo/swbirds.html
>
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