LOCATION/TYPE

NEWS HOME

[ exact phrase in "" • results by date ]

[ Google-powered • results by relevance ]



Archive
RSS

Add NWW headlines to your site (click here)

Get weekly updates

WHAT TO DO
when your community is targeted

RSS

RSS feeds and more

Keep Wind Watch online and independent!

Donate via Paypal

Donate via Stripe

Selected Documents

All Documents

Research Links

Alerts

Press Releases

FAQs

Campaign Material

Photos & Graphics

Videos

Allied Groups

Wind Watch is a registered educational charity, founded in 2005.

News Watch Home

Study takes air out of wind farm 

Credit:  Washington Daily News | www.wdnweb.com 23 May 2012 ~~

There has been a lot of discussion about a proposed 80-megawatt wind farm to be built by Pantego Wind Energy LLC, a subsidiary of Chicago-based Invenergy, on 11,000 acres near Terra Ceia and Pantego in the eastern corner of Beaufort County. In March, the Beaufort County Board of Commissioners expressed unanimous support for the plan.

But a new preliminary estimate – based on five months of bird counts in Beaufort County – from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service found that the wind farm could injure or kill as many as 20 bald eagles a year. Conservative estimates may be as low as four bald eagles killed a year. The estimate did not include the potential risk to thousands of migratory snowbirds that visit that part of the state every year.

“That’s a shocking number,” Kelly Fuller, wind campaign coordinator at the American Bird Conservancy in Washington, was quoted as saying in the McClatchy News Service story. “Even if we look at the low number, killing four bald eagles a year would be killing more than the current acknowledged eagle deaths of all U.S. wind farms combined for the whole history of the U.S. wind industry.”

On the positive side, the wind farm would create some temporary and permanent jobs as well as increase property-tax revenues. Farmers in the area can expect to profit from property-lease payments.

But the downside may not be worth it. In addition to the threat to wildlife, there is the possibility that the energy generated at the wind farm would be sold to areas outside Beaufort County.

Serious consideration needs to be given to all aspects of this plan before the first turbine begins to turn. Once that happens, there is no turning back.

Source:  Washington Daily News | www.wdnweb.com 23 May 2012

This article is the work of the source indicated. Any opinions expressed in it are not necessarily those of National Wind Watch.

The copyright of this article resides with the author or publisher indicated. As part of its noncommercial educational effort to present the environmental, social, scientific, and economic issues of large-scale wind power development to a global audience seeking such information, National Wind Watch endeavors to observe “fair use” as provided for in section 107 of U.S. Copyright Law and similar “fair dealing” provisions of the copyright laws of other nations. Send requests to excerpt, general inquiries, and comments via e-mail.

Wind Watch relies entirely
on User Funding
   Donate via Paypal
(via Paypal)
Donate via Stripe
(via Stripe)

Share:

e-mail X FB LI TG TG Share


News Watch Home

Get the Facts
CONTACT DONATE PRIVACY ABOUT SEARCH
© National Wind Watch, Inc.
Use of copyrighted material adheres to Fair Use.
"Wind Watch" is a registered trademark.

 Follow:

Wind Watch on X Wind Watch on Facebook

Wind Watch on Linked In Wind Watch on Mastodon