Wind Power News: January 2012
These news and opinion items are gathered by National Wind Watch to help keep readers informed about developments related to industrial wind energy. They are the products of the organizations or individuals noted and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of National Wind Watch.
SEO/BirdLife presenta una nueva guía para la evaluación del impacto de parques eólicos en aves y murciélagos
[SEO/BirdLife has a new guide for evaluating the impact of wind farms on birds and bats: The more than 18,000 wind turbines in Spain could be causing an annual mortality of 6 to 18 million birds and bats] Los más de 18.000 aerogeneradores que hay en España, podrían estar causando una mortalidad anual de aves y murciélagos comprendida entre los 6 y 18 millones de individuos Durante hoy y mañana se celebrará en Jerez de la Frontera el primer congreso . . .
Ontario government refuses to apply environmental law
Places endangered species of Ostrander Point in jeopardy – Picton, ON / September 14, 2011 – The Ontario government has suspended application of its environmental laws to a globally recognized Important Bird Area at Ostrander Point, Prince Edward County. That is the legal opinion obtained from a leading Canadian environmental lawyer and announced today at a news conference in Prince Edward County by the Prince Edward County South Shore Conservancy. The legal opinion states “there is no legal basis for . . .
New wind guidelines anger bird, bat groups
Siting guidelines: Industry too influential in drafting, critics say. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service released revised wind power siting guidelines, but bird and bat advocates say they still lack the teeth to force developers to consider the long-term effects of turbines on wildlife. Staff at the American Bird Conservancy said the guidelines lead to “‘rubber-stamping’ of wind projects.” “Given the administration’s commitment to scientific integrity, it’s hard to understand why the peer-reviewed work of agency scientists was dismissed in . . .
A bad wind blowing: Resisting industrial wind turbines from the Everglades to the Boundary Mountains
In a Palm Beach Post article from earlier this year: A St. Louis company, Wind Capital Group, says they hopes to build Florida’s first wind farm, on thousands of acres of sugar land east of Belle Glade. The region is known as the Everglades Agricultural Area, and thought to be a crucial component to restoring the greater Everglades watershed. But has been increasingly been encroached upon by industrial development proposals, including rock mines, an “inland port” and FPL’s controversial 3800 . . .
Parques eólicos, amenaza de aves
Wind energy facilities threaten birds The Spanish Ornithological Society has warned that the Castilla–La Mancha wind energy plan is “a danger” to biodiversity. Wind turbines and their power lines cause the death of 1.3 million birds per years, says SEO/BirdLife. No siempre es cierto que el fin justifique los medios, pero en este caso se cumple aquello de que se viste un santo para desvestir a otro. Y es que si bien las energías renovables evitan la proliferación de nucleares . . .
Lesser prairie chicken may cripple Oklahoma’s wind energy industry
A small wild chicken may stand in the way of Oklahoma harvesting billions of dollars from wind energy developers, a state legislator said Thursday. Population numbers of the lesser prairie chicken, which is under evaluation for the endangered species list, have been declining for decades, long before companies started building wind turbine towers and transmission lines in western Oklahoma. But conservation officials say the towers and lines pose another hindrance to the lesser prairie chicken’s ever-shrinking natural habitat. “This is . . .
Exposed: Mass Audubon’s financial interest in Cape Wind
Mass Audubon is a Minerals Management Service (MMS) identified “Key Partner” involved in the collection of avian data, analysis, and commenting upon the same in the Cape Wind project environmental review under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). NEPA analysis should remain objective. However, Mass Audubon offered their “support” for Cape Wind during this project’s NEPA review in their 2006 press release called “Challenge”. The “Challenge” condition of Mass Audubon’s Cape Wind “support” is agency acceptance of Adaptive Management monitoring . . .
Group’s environmental wind change
Up to 6,600 avian mortalities will take place every year at the Nantucket offshore wind farm Cape Wind, according to the Massachusetts Audubon Society’s staff scientists.* Yet Mass Audubon still offers its support for Cape Wind – with a condition (“The Gulf’s bird toll,” Comment & Analysis, Wednesday). Mass Audubon will implement a service, to be funded by Cape Wind, beginning at construction. The service, Adaptive Management (AM) monitoring and mitigation, is handled by a contract valued at approximately $8 . . .
The turbine peddlers represent green fraud: Message from a wildlife biologist
There is growing worldwide opposition to the deadly propeller style wind turbine for good reason. There has been a corporate/government cover-up for over 25 years concerning the extreme danger they pose to birds and bats. For those that have not seen it, take a look at the YouTube video “fatal accident with vulture on a windmill”. A Griffon Vulture gets smashed out of the sky by the innocent looking blades of a propeller style wind turbine. The wind turbine in . . .
Golden eagles fall prey to wind industry
The controversy surrounding wind farms in America has been brewing for over 25 years. The debate centers around the use of the deadly propeller style wind turbines and the large death toll to what are supposedly protected species. One of these species, the federally protected golden eagle, has been at the forefront of this debate from the beginning. This is for good reason, because at Altamont Pass California, 50-75 golden eagles have been killed each year in the blades of . . .
