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 power
potential.
- Modern turbines can be as high as 465 feet tall, including rotors
(blades). The blades sweep large areas at speeds that are much faster than
birds or bats can detect.
- 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.
- Turbines must be lighted at night for aviation safety. Lights may attract
and 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 turbines
along 12 miles of the Allegheny Front.
- 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 very
large. 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
----- Original Message -----
From: <LeighTern@xxxxxxx>
To: <va-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Friday, December 26, 2003 10:22 PM
Subject: [va-bird] Re: windpower Post article
didn't
Why are windmills so hard on birds? I read the article in the post. I
find it very helpful. It didn't explain to me how or why windmills aremore
dangerous than any other tall structure ..........skyscrapper, radiotowers ,
Cell phone facilitators etc etc.email to va-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx. To unsubscribe, send email to
W
William Leigh
Leightern@xxxxxxx
Winchester VA
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