Wind Power News: Wildlife
These news and opinion items are gathered by National Wind Watch 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.
Lobsters deformed and left unable to swim ‘because of wind farm power cables’
Lobsters are being deformed by wind farm cables and being left unable to swim, a new study has claimed. Electric magnetic fields created by the cables which transport energy from offshore wind farms make lobster larvae three times more like to grow deformed – with bent tail sections most common, according to Heriot-Watt University scientists. These deformities can also include disrupted eye development and the paper says that this resulted in the creatures being three times more likely to fail . . . Complete story »
Lobsters are being deformed and left unable to swim because of undersea cables
Lobsters are being deformed and left unable to swim by wind farm cables, a study has warned. Scientists at Heriot-Watt University exposed over 4,000 lobster and crab eggs to electromagnetic fields similar to those experienced near underwater cables. Researchers working at a specialist facility at St Abbs Marine Station off the east coast of Scotland found lobsters were three times more likely to be deformed after being exposed to the fields, with bent and reduced tail sections the most common . . . Complete story »
Lobsters left deformed by power cables
Lobsters exposed as eggs to the electromagnetic field of subsea power cables are more likely to develop deformities and swim poorly, a study suggests. Marine scientists from Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh and St Abbs Marine Station in the Borders used a specialist aquarium laboratory to expose 4,000 lobster and crab eggs to a field equivalent to that experienced near underwater cables. Researchers found lobsters’ larvae exposed to the field were three times more likely to be deformed than those which . . . Complete story »
Wind energy company fined for deaths of 150 eagles, pleads guilty to criminal charges
Opponents of wind farms in San Diego’s East County have long voiced concerns over potentially deadly impacts on eagles. Now a major wind energy company, NextEra Energy, a subsidiary of ESI Energy, has pleaded guilty to violating the Migratory Bird Treaty Act and killing 150 eagles at multiple wind energy facilities. The company was ordered to pay over $8 million in fines and restitution for violations at wind farms in Wyoming and Nex Mexico, but also acknowledged deaths of Bald . . . Complete story »
Ruling on eagle deaths divides wind power industry
The sentencing of a wind energy company this week in the deaths of at least 150 eagles has brought renewed focus to the complicated relationship between wind turbines and birds. A subsidiary of NextEra Energy, the world’s biggest generator of wind and solar power, pleaded guilty to three deaths of bald and golden eagles in Wyoming and New Mexico. It also acknowledged that more than 100 other eagles had been killed across 50 of its 54 wind farms, primarily during . . . Complete story »
Renewables company pleads guilty, must pay $8 million for wind-turbine deaths of 150 eagles
A renewable-energy company subsidiary pleaded guilty on federal criminal charges Tuesday and ordered to pay $8 million in fines and restitution for killing more than 150 eagles at wind farms in eight states. In addition ESI Energy, a subsidiary of renewables giant NextEra Energy, received five years of probation on three counts of violating the Migratory Bird Treaty Act stemming from the deaths of nine eagles in wind farms in Wyoming and New Mexico. Golden and bald eagles at 50 . . . Complete story »
Wind energy company kills 150 eagles in US, pleads guilty
A subsidiary of one of the largest U.S. providers of renewable energy pleaded guilty to criminal charges and was ordered to pay over $8 million in fines and restitution after at least 150 eagles were killed at its wind farms in eight states, federal prosecutors said Wednesday. NextEra Energy subsidiary ESI Energy was also sentenced to five years probation after being charged with three counts of violating the Migratory Bird Treaty Act during a court appearance in Cheyenne, Wyoming. The . . . Complete story »
Wind project developer charged in deaths of golden and bald eagles
A wind power development company whose windmills across the country have been blamed for the deaths of 150 golden and bald eagles over the past decade has been cited in the deaths of nine of the birds in Wyoming and New Mexico. The federal government on Friday filed three misdemeanor charges against ESI Energy over the deaths of birds at the Cedar Springs wind development in Converse County, the Roundhouse development in Laramie County and the New Mexico Wind project . . . Complete story »
Wind turbines kill up to 3,000 birds and bats in Asturias
Between 2,000 and 3,000 birds and bats have been killed by wind turbines in Asturias since they were first implemented, according to estimates made by SEO/BirdLife. The environmental NGO, which has analysed the information published by the Government of Asturias, has argued that the public figures – only 372 incidents between 2001 and 2020 – do not consider factors such as the rate of detectability in the search for carcasses or the rate of disappearance of carcasses due to scavengers. . . . Complete story »
LADWP wants to kill endangered California condors at wind farm
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced Thursday an application had been filed by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power for a permit to “take”, defined as “to kill or injure”, California condors at its Pine Tree Wind Farm. Presumably, taking would be accomplished by the spinning blades of the farm’s 90 wind turbines, each of which is 339 feet tall. Located in Tehachapi the PTWF is the largest municipally-owned wind power project in the U.S. Completed in . . . Complete story »
