VA birders,
I am truely impressed with the knowledgeable responses I have received toGiven the global impact of climate changes resulting from our overuse
my original post regarding wind energy. I am especially sympathetic to the
folks in Highland County who may see their landscape changed dramatically by
the introduction of Wind turbines. My sister just bought land in Highland
county and they were very opposed to wind turbines. The times I have birded
in
Highland County have been extremely remarkable both in terms of the birds
seen
and the natural beauty of the area. Every birding trip I have taken to
Highland county has left me wandering what it would take for me to move
there.
it is dependent upon creating viable alternatives to our current dependence
on fossil fuels. Unfortunately, the current administration has seen fit to
formulate it's energy policy without the input from environmental groups. Nor
have they allowed the American public to even have access to the notes to the
meetings chaired by Dick Cheney which will determine the direction of our
nation's energy policy. Even when these notes were subpoenaed by another
government agency (the name of which escapes me at the moment). Perhaps there
are
better alternatives to Wind Energy but I doubt that any of our current energy
sources can claim to be as environmentally friendly as wind energy. Nuclear
power plants, hydroelectric, Coal........all have major environmental costs.
I
believe there are some alternatives out there that could be significantly
more benign then Wind energy including hydrogen cells and solar energy.
However, I cannot claim to know that for a fact. There may be drawbacks to
those
alternative energy sources as well. Clearly we as a society and birders in
particular need to become more informed and more outspoken in this arena.
Clearly
birding as a hobby cannot escape the realities of the environmental disaster
that global warming entails. The fact that our country refused to sign the
Kyoto (spelling)? treaty clearly indicates that the vast majority of
Americans do not believe that Global Warming is real or that it can have a
massive
impact on our environment and life on our planet. I do not share that
assessment.
Thanks, Rick. Again, some good points, and I'm ready to set aside the "pen"
with respect to va-birds if you are.
You ask:
Is anyone really arguing that precaution
is not warranted? Is anyone really arguing that adequate safeguards are in
place?
No, I can't argue that--mostly because I know very little about Virginia's
regulatory scheme. And certainly, caution is warranted to some degree.
I'm troubled, though, by the nature of your comments. I don't have anything
against regulation of wind, but I'd like to see it undertaken in a spirit
of true
fairness. Such a spirit would acknowledge some things that I haven't seen
in your posts:
- Our current system of generating electricity is an ongoing environmental
disaster. Coal, the source of more than half our electricity, exacts huge
environmental costs at every step of its lifecycle, from the habitat
disruption and pollution that accompany mining to the air pollution,
greenhouse gases, and mercury from combustion to the habitat disruption
and pollution that accompany waste disposal.
- Global warming, caused in part by the fossil fuel combustion from which
we obtain ~70% of our electricity use, threatens habitat destruction on a
global scale and massive impacts on wildlife.
- Wind energy, notwithstanding its flaws, remains one of the cleanest and
least-damaging options we have for generating electricity. The task before
us is not to prevent or slow it as much as we can, but to capture its
benefits
while minimizing its direct impacts as far as reasonably possible.
You've defined the issues with wind pretty well. I hope that you are
equally
willing to recognize its benefits.
Regards,
Tom Gray
American Wind Energy Association
At 09:36 AM 12/28/2003 -0500, Rick Webb wrote:
Concerning the discussion about industrial-scale windpower development andexisting
avian impacts:
It is clear that well-intentioned people can reach different conclusions
about the potential problem. But all of us should agree that there is a lot
we don't know.
Questions need to be raised about the adequacy and applicability of
research. Questions also need to be raised about the environmentaltradeoffs
and whether wind development in Virginia can make a real difference inproceed
relation to our ever-increasing consumption of electricity. And it's clear
we cannot resolve all the issues in this forum. We need objective and
independent assessment.
Unfortunately, it looks like wind development in Virginia may proceed in a
regulatory vacuum. There is no state-level authority that will insure
effective pre-construction assessment and post-construction monitoring of
wind development. Local zoning ordinances were not written to address
industrial-scale wind energy projects, and rural zoning boards are not
equipped to deal with the issues.
Is there any reason to expect that wind development in Virginia will
slowly and cautiously? Hundreds of turbines are already slated forregion,
construction in surrounding states, and when Congress approves the federal
energy bill, the renewal of tax credits and other incentives will drive the
process in Virginia. It has been reported that officials throughout
Virginia's mountain counties are receiving inquiries from wind energy
development companies. The Highland County Board of Supervisors alone has
been contacted by eight different companies. The company that proposes the
30-turbine project on Allegheny Mountain in Highland County indicates that
the project will "catalyze" 900 mws of additional development in the
i.e., 500-600 additional turbines from just one company.landscape
We are facing dramatic change in much of Virginia's remaining wild
and most-pristine wildlife habitat. Is anyone really arguing thatprecaution
is not warranted? Is anyone really arguing that adequate safeguards are in
place?
Rick Webb
Monterey, Virginia
----- Original Message -----
From: "Tom Gray" <tomgray@xxxxxxx>
To: <va-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Saturday, December 27, 2003 9:29 PM
Subject: [va-bird] Re: windpower Post article
Rick,power
Good post, but I think I must pick a few nits (see below).
Regards,
Tom Gray
American Wind Energy Association
At 05:56 PM 12/27/2003 -0500, Rick Webb wrote:
William,
In response to your questions, this is what I understand concerning
potential avian impacts of wind development in the Appalachian Mountains:
- Migrating birds and bats tend to be channeled along our north-south
oriented ridges in their twice yearly migrations. These are the same
locations where turbines are most favorably located for maximum wind
numberpotential.
With regard to bats, I'll accept this, in view of the unexpectedly high
of bats killed at the new Mountaineer wind project in West Virginia (~500may
carcasses found during this year's fall migration, actual numbers killed
be several times higher due to fact that carcasses are small, easilymissed by
searchers and easily scavenged). This is a serious issue that is alreadybeing
researched.for
With regard to birds, it is still a theory that is not supported by the
fatality
numbers from Mountaineer. Another theory is that many birds use valleys
migration.than
- Modern turbines can be as high as 465 feet tall, including rotors
(blades). The blades sweep large areas at speeds that are much faster
expandingbirds or bats can detect.
Sentence #1 is correct, sentence #2 unproven.
- Although cell towers are associated with some bird mortality, they are
widely dispersed, they don't have whirling blades, and they have not been
concentrated on mountain ridges.
True. On the other hand, there are many, many more communications towers
installed around the U.S. than wind turbines, and their number is
faster. Also, most are guyed, and the length of guy wire expandsexponentially
with height--many researchers feel that the big kills associated with tallattract
communications towers are partially the result of disoriented birds flying
around them and colliding with the wires.
- Turbines must be lighted at night for aviation safety. Lights may
turbinesand disorient birds.
- Although much is not known about bird migration patterns and flight
levels, there are times, particularly during low cloud cover, when flight
elevation and turbine height coincide. This would be particularly so when
tower height and ridge height are combined.
- Wind development of the magnitude required to meet renewable energy
objectives will require many thousands of turbines, creating a turbine
gauntlet. For example, one pending project in WV will involve 200
veryalong 12 miles of the Allegheny Front.
Whether "gauntlet" is an accurate characterization remains to be seen, and
depends to some degree on how accurate the theory about ridgeline
migration is.
- The new Mountaineer Wind Farm in WV provides recent examples of avian
impacts in the Appalachian region, including 30+ birds found killed after
one foggy night last August and 475 bats found killed over the summer of
2003. Total mortality may greatly exceed observed mortality due to
collection inefficiency and removal by scavengers.
Although there is much we don't know about the potential magnitude of the
impact, we do know that the magnitude of wind energy development may be
otherlarge. If this development is to proceed in a responsible manner, we will
not throw caution to the wind. We will go slowly and study the potential
problems carefully.
Rick Webb
Monterey, Virginia
This last is certainly sage counsel. Perhaps we could also keep a few
things in mind:are
- Wind energy has been around for more than 20 years, and our country
now gets 0.4% of its electricity from wind. In general, we HAVE gone
extremely slow, although I realize that the last couple of years have seen
a sudden flurry of proposals in Appalachia.
- In general, wind energy displaces electricity from other sources that
more damaging to birds and to the biosphere as well. I won't include ato
recital here, because I dislike being a "bully" by writing long responses
short messages. I'll just cite one reference, "The Environmentalsuch
Imperative for Renewable Energy: An Update" --it's on the Web and
anyone can find it using Google.
It is appropriate to insist that wind projects be designed and built in
a way as to minimize environmental impact as far as reasonably possible.email to va-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx. To unsubscribe, send email to
However, the net environmental effect of wind projects is likely to be
strongly positive, even if there are some negative local impacts.
You are subscribed to VA-BIRD. To post to this mailing list, simply send
va-bird-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'unsubscribe' in the Subject field.
You are subscribed to VA-BIRD. To post to this mailing list, simply send
email to va-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx. To unsubscribe, send email to
va-bird-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'unsubscribe' in the Subject field.
You are subscribed to VA-BIRD. To post to this mailing list, simply send
email to va-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx. To unsubscribe, send email to
va-bird-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'unsubscribe' in the Subject field.
