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Wind Power News: Wyoming
These news and opinion items are gathered by National Wind Watch in its noncommercial educational mission to help keep readers informed about developments related to industrial wind energy. They do not necessarily reflect the opinions of National Wind Watch. They are the products of and owned by the organizations or individuals noted and are shared here according to “fair use” and “fair dealing” provisions of copyright law. The original articles, links to which are provided, may have additional links and photos and other media that were not included here.
Opponents want to stop $500M Wyoming wind farm, say it will kill eagles and bats
Wyoming archaeology and conservation groups, an eagle expert and two Albany County residents are asking a judge to stop a federal energy bureau and the U.S. Energy Secretary from advancing a vital step in building up to 149 wind turbines in the southeastern Wyoming county. The critics say the devices will kill eagles and bats, harass wildlife, blast the locals with constant noise, and mar the landscape and the skyline of the Ames Monument National Historic Landmark. The $500 million . . . Complete story »
Preservationists nationwide say that wind energy is harming America’s historic sites
A pyramid in Wyoming, lighthouses in New England, and the site where Japanese-Americans were incarcerated in World War II are some of the historic sites that are being threatened by wind development, preservationists say. The Bureau of Land Management earlier this month approved a 241-turbine wind farm near Twin Falls, Idaho, about a two-hour drive from Boise. From the time it was announced, the project was met with opposition from ranchers, environmentalists and Native American tribes. This managed to get . . . Complete story »
14-year-old Casper wind farm has not turned a blade in at least 3 years
For the past 14 years they have loomed over the landscape of northeastern Casper, once the symbol of the county’s first step into green energy. Now some say they are just an eyesore. The blades of the 11 240-feet high, 450,000-pound turbines haven’t caught the wind for a few years. Casper resident Terry Wingerter said he was one of the Natrona County commissioners who approved the initial project in 2009. He wishes now he would have voted differently on the wind . . . Complete story »
UW researchers study the relationship between insects and wind turbines
For some time, scientists have been sounding the alarm on the decline of various insect species due to changes in land use and how those shifts will be exacerbated by climate change. However, insects are often an afterthought in the discussion of conservation issues related to wind energy infrastructure. A recent University of Wyoming graduate led a study that looked at the current knowledge in the relationship between wind turbines and insects – an area of research about which little is . . . Complete story »
Landfill may be next stop after lightning blows up turbine blade near Cheyenne
A half-shredded blade hanging from a wind turbine just off Interstate 80 west of Cheyenne is a reminder that these towering electricity generators are not immune to the sometimes-violent hail and lightning storms that roll through southeastern Wyoming. A single wind turbine tower with a destroyed blade hangs from the nacelle of one of those just a few hundred feet north of I-80. It’s hard to miss. It’s half the size of a 130-foot-long blade and has what looks like . . . Complete story »
BLM extends comment period on proposed Sweetwater County windpower facility
The Bureau of Land Management announced on Monday that it is extending the public scoping period for the Jackalope Wind Energy project in Sweetwater County to May 2nd. The proposed 213-wind generator project is planned on 293,000 acres of private, state and public lands in a checkerboard section of lands south of the Table Rock townsite west of Wamsutter. Less than half of the land, 146-thousand acres, is federal and administered by the BLM. At full capacity, the project could . . . Complete story »
Meet the expert on turbine eagle deaths the wind energy industry turned on
Back in the late 1990s, ecologist Shawn Smallwood didn’t think much about connecting avian and bat deaths with the whooshing blades of wind turbines. It was a concept foreign to him. But then a long-distance jogging partner he worked with at the University of California-Davis asked him to tag along in a “fatality search” with dogs to sniff out dead bird and bat carcasses caused by the thousands of turbines that dot the picturesque Altamont Pass, a low-lying mountainous region . . . Complete story »
The Air Force asks Congress to protect its nuclear launch sites from encroaching wind turbines
“They’re monstrous, and then you have gigantic blades spinning on them as well. Not only is that a physical obstacle, but those turbines, they create the hazards like turbulence as well. That can be really dangerous for us to fly into. So it’s a very complex situation, when you have to deal with those.” Complete story »
In-depth: ‘Beyond belief’: Industrial wind developments could threaten fragile desert ecosystem
The scope and size of these projects are mind-boggling. A landmark interregional transmission line project has broken ground this week to carry high-voltage electricity 732 miles from the largest wind farm in North America to Nevada. The TransWest Express Transmission Project (TWE) will take electricity generated by the $5 billion, 3,000 megawatt, 600-turbine Chokecherry and Sierra Madre Wind Energy Project (CSMWE) located in Carbon County, Wyoming, to the Market substation in Eldorado Valley, Nevada, which lies within the largely untouched . . . Complete story »
Criminal cases for killing eagles decline as wind turbine dangers grow
Criminal cases brought by U.S. wildlife officials for killing or harming protected bald and golden eagles dropped sharply in recent years, even as officials ramped up issuing permits that will allow wind energy companies to kill thousands of eagles without legal consequence. The falloff in enforcement of eagle protection laws – which has accelerated under President Joe Biden – was revealed in U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service data obtained by The Associated Press. It comes amid growing concern that a proliferation of . . . Complete story »
