Resource Library Category: Wildlife
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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.
Evaluation de l'impact du parc éolien de Bouin (Vendée) sur l'avifaune et les chauves-souris
Author: Ligue pour la Protection des Oiseaux
“Evaluation of the impact of the Bouin (Vendée) wind energy facility on birds and bats”, by the Bird Protection League (France) Perrine Dulac, editor
Pour un sommaire français, voir à Fédération Environnement Durable (cliquer).
English summary by Mark Duchamp:
A five-year monitoring report of 8 wind turbines near the coast in Vendée, France, by the French ornithological society LPO (Ligue pour la Protection des Oiseaux), discloses the following:
bird mortality: 5.7 to 33.8 per turbine/year, depending upon the year and the estimation method. It . . .
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Sixty-Day Notice Letter of Intent to Sue for Violations of Section 7 of the Endangered Species Act
Author: Center for Biological Diversity et al.
On behalf of the Center for Biological Diversity, Friends of Blackwater, Heartwood, Adirondack Council, and Restore: The North Woods, this letter provides notice, pursuant to 16 U.S.C. § 1540(g), that the failure on the part of the action agencies — the United States Forest Service, the United States Army Corps of Engineers, the Tennessee Valley Authority, the National Park Service, the Department of Army, and the Federal Highway Administration — to re-initiate consultation as to the Gray bat, Indiana bat, . . .
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Industrial Wind Power in the Mountains of Virginia
Author: Virginia Wind
Overstated Benefits and Understated Costs
The attached brochure is provided as a counterpoint to the Virginia State Wind Symposium at James Madison University on June 18th and 19th [2008].
This symposium is sponsored by the Virginia Wind Energy Collaborative (VWEC), a state and federally funded organization that purports to promote balanced development of wind generated electricity in Virginia. The symposium, however, is remarkably unbalanced.
Although concerns have been widely raised about the overstated benefits and understated costs of industrial-scale wind development on our . . .
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Serán gigantes o serán molinos? [Are they giants or are they mills?]
Author: Gonzalez, Marian
[Click here for a partial translation to English by National Wind Watch]
Aunque la propuesta para construir 25 turbinas de viento en la zona de Guayanilla puede parecer acertada a primera vista, hay que estudiarla con cuidado antes de darle paso.
Los molinos propuestos por Windmar harían necesario el desmonte de 125 cuerdas de Bosque Seco Tropical, lo que implicaría que 500,000 árboles dejarían de prestar su servicio.
En nuestro país a diario vemos las consecuencias de tomar decisiones a la ligera, sin . . .
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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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Letter to Oklahoma Dept. of Wildlife Conservation
Author: Elmore, R. Dwayne; Davis, Craig; Baydack, Rick; Sherrod, Steve; Wolfe, Donald; and O'Connell, Timothy
We are writing this letter in response to the proposal recently presented by Oklahoma Gas and Electric Company to the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation (ODWC) regarding wind development on the Hal and Fern Cooper Wildlife Management Area (WMA). We … have serious concerns regarding the likely outcomes a decision to allow wind power development on WMAs will have. We have outlined these below for your consideration.
First, a decision to allow wind development on WMAs would set a precedent not . . .
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Views of Scotland Brief: Strange Bedfellows
Author: Views of Scotland
With marketing resources beyond the dreams of many corporations, let alone community groups, Greenpeace has run several populist campaigns over the years supporting wind-driven power generation.
The political alliance between ‘big energy’ and eco-lobby groups is neither new nor secret. The 2002 marketing deal between Greenpeace and nuclear and coal-firing giant RWE, for example, was controversial but at least open.
The activities revealed here are less public but add an unsavoury dimension to the group’s campaigns.
• On its own behalf or in . . .
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Behavioural and environmental correlates of soaring-bird mortality at on-shore wind turbines
Author: Barrios, Luis; and Rodríguez, Alejandro
Summary
1. Wind power plants represent a risk of bird mortality, but the effects are still poorly quantified. We measured bird mortality, analysed the factors that led birds to fly close to turbines, and proposed mitigation measures at two wind farms installed in the Straits of Gibraltar, one of the most important migration bottlenecks between Europe and Africa.
2. Bird corpses were surveyed along turbine lines and an associated power line to estimate mortality rates. The behaviour of birds observed within 250 . . .
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Northwest Oklahoma — Last Great Place To Ruin
Author: Selman, Sue
Rotary Club Speech, November, 2007, by Sue Selman, President, Save the Prairie, Woodward, Oklahoma, savetheprairie@hotmail.com
Will Rogers once said, “Even if you are on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there.” That is what I feel will happen to all of us if we don’t pay attention to what is going to happen here with the wind industry.
I want to thank you for inviting me here today. This tells me you are interested in being . . .
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