Environmental Impacts of Wind-Energy Projects
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Key points concerning the benefits and risk based on information in the National Academies report (released May 3), from one of its committee members. Note the ranges of 2.5-11.5 birds and 15-28 bats killed annually per installed megawatt. For birds, that rate exceeds that in the notorious Altamont Pass Wind Resource Area (where it is estimated that 3-8 birds per installed megawatt are killed, 1.5-2 of them raptors). They are based on observations at existing sites in the Appalachian Mountains and do not consider cumulative effects of ever more facilities impinging on habitats and migration corridors.
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