Resource Library Category: West Virginia
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Documents presented here are not the product of nor are they necessarily endorsed by National Wind Watch. This resource library is provided to assist anyone wishing to research the issue of industrial wind power and the impacts of its development. The information should be evaluated by each reader to come to their own conclusions about the many areas of debate.
Infrared Video Clips of Bats Interacting with Wind Turbines
Author: Horn, Jason; Arnett, Edward; and Kunz, Thomas
Bats Interacting with Wind Turbines
from: Horn et al. 2008 Journal of Wildlife Management 72:1 123-132
The video clips on this site are presented to support a study that appears in the Journal of Wildlife Management. This study deals with the recent finding that forest-dwelling bats are often found dead beneath operating wind turbines at wind energy facilities. We used thermal infrared video cameras to record the flight behavior of bats at night near these turbines in an attempt to understand the . . .
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Behavioral Responses of Bats to Operating Wind Turbines
Author: Horn, Jason; Arnett, Edward; and Kunz, Thomas
ABSTRACT
Wind power is one of the fastest growing sectors of the energy industry. Recent studies have reported large numbers of migratory tree-roosting bats being killed at utility-scale wind power facilities, especially in the eastern United States. We used thermal infrared (TIR) cameras to assess the flight behavior of bats at wind turbines because this technology makes it possible to observe the nocturnal behavior of bats and birds independently of supplemental light sources. We conducted this study at the Mountaineer Wind . . .
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USFS Public Comment Letter
Author: Friends of Beautiful Pendleton County
Friends of Beautiful Pendleton County, Inc. was formed by concerned citizens and landowners in Pendleton County, West Virginia to preserve our rich heritage, protect the priceless natural environment, and ensure that citizens receive responsible, factual information. We have endeavored to determine the possible impacts of the proposed Forest Service Directives for Wind Energy on Pendleton County, which is approximately thirty eight percent national forest consisting of both the Monongahela National Forest and the George Washington National Forest.
We value this opportunity . . .
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Huge Windmill "Plants" Fail as "Green Energy" and Fail to Provide Any Significant Amount of Electricity
Author: Dodds, Pamela; and Dodds, Arther
A very good overview of the low benefits and high adverse impacts of industrial wind energy, courtesy of the Laurel Mountain Preservation Association.
Introduction: Huge windmill “plants” cannot supply “green” electricity
Huge windmills will not cause any coal-fired plant to go out of service and therefore will not reduce greenhouse gases
It is a fallacy to contend that electricity produced by huge windmills can be considered for “renewable energy credits”
Substantial energy is lost using the current methods of electricity production
New technology and energy . . .
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Displacing Mountaintop Removal Mining with Wind Turbines
Author: Boone, Dan; and Webb, Rick
We thank Mr. Hathaway for providing his analysis, and we certainly share his concern about the destruction associated with mountaintop removal mining. However, we find that his analysis doesn’t stand-up to close examination.
Our first objection concerns Mr. Hathaway’s basic premise that wind-powered generation will reduce the need for coal-fueled generation. The recent National Academies report on Environmental Impacts of Wind-Energy Projects compared U.S. Department of Energy projections for growth in electricity demand with projections for growth in wind generation. Between . . .
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Letter from Rep. Mollohan to W. Va. Division of Energy
Author: Mollohan, Alan
October 31, 2007, letter from U.S. Representative Alan Mollohan to Jeff Herholdt, director of the West Virginia Division of Energy, concerning industrial wind energy development provisions of the proposed W.Va. energy plan:
… these provisions are badly flawed, in that they entirely disregard the serious environmental concerns that are raised by industrial wind-energy development in the mid-Atlantic region. Those concerns have been articulated by, among others, an expert study committee of the National Academy of Sciences, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife . . .
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Ecological impacts of wind energy development on bats
Author: Kunz, Thomas; Arnett, Edward; Erickson, Wallace; Hoar, Alexander; Johnson, Gregory; Larkin, Ronald; Strickland, M. Dale; Thresher, Robert; and Tuttle, Merlin
Thomas Kunz, of the Center for Ecology and Conservation Biology, Boston University, with colleagues from Bat Conservation International, Western EcoSystems Technology, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Illinois Natural History Survey, and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, reviews the state of knowledge about impacts of wind energy facilities on bats. Published in Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, August 2007.
Of particular concern is the cumulative effect of continuing wind energy development. Based on existing studies and the proposal queue . . .
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Relationships Between Bats and Wind Turbines
Author: Bats and Wind Energy Cooperative (BWEC)
An Assessment of Fatality Search Protocols, Patterns of Fatality, and Behavioral Interactions with Wind Turbines — A Summary of Findings from the Bats and Wind Energy Cooperative’s 2004 Field Season
Download “Relationships between Bats and Wind Turbines”
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Friends of Blackwater Complaint
Author: Meyer and Glitzenstein, attorneys
Lawsuit brought by the Friends of Blackwater, Charleston, West Virginia, against the US Dept of the Interior and the US Fish and Wildlife Service.
Download “Friends of Blackwater Complaint for Declaratory and Injunctive Relief”
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West Virginia
Congressman Mollohan letter to Public Service Commission of West Virginia
Author: Mollohan, Alan
Comments by U.S. Representative Alan Mollohan concerning the application by Beech Ridge Energy, owned by Invenergy Investment Company, for an industrial wind-energy facility on mountain ridgelines in Greenbrier County, West Virginia.
Download “Mollohan letter to WVPSC”
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