The Allegheny Plateau Audubon Society has produced a video: A Rough Wind: The
Impact of Industrial Windmill Facilities on Birds and Other Wildlife,
This video is focused on PA but clearly concerns Virginia's mountains as well.
It's 20 minutes long (file size is 210 Mb), so you will need a reasonably fast
internet connection to download. It features excerpts of an interview with
ornithologist Chan Robbins and some straight-talk from Audubon staff and others
concerned about direct wildlife mortality and forest fragmentation impacts due
to pending proliferation of wind turbines on forested ridgetops.
To download, go to: http://www2.shol.com/windwatch and right-click on the one ;
file that is posted ("aroughwind.mpg"), choose "save target as" and copy to
harddrive. File size is 210 MB.
Note that the video discusses the effect of Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS)
legislation that has passed in nearby states. RPS legislation will drive wind
development and potentially override environmental concerns. In Virginia's
upcoming General Assembly session there will be a well-organized, well-meaning,
but not well-informed, push for RPS legislation in Virginia that will drive
industrial-scale wind development on our ridges, in the Bay, and on the coast.
Rick Webb
Monterey, Virginia
www.VaWind.org
