(New York State) DEC proposes wind energy bird, bat protection guidelines

[OKIsItJustMe]

http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/newyork/ny-bc-ny--windenergy-birds0124jan24,0,1966235.story

DEC proposes wind energy bird, bat protection guidelines

12:33 PM EST, January 24, 2008

ALBANY, N.Y.

State environmental officials want wind energy developers to pay closer attention to how their projects will affect birds and bats.

The Department of Environmental Conservation proposed a set of guidelines to promote wind power and minimize the danger to birds and bats.

Developers have been required to analyze how wind projects would affect wildlife before they are allowed to build and the new guidelines will standardize that review.

The guidelines released Thursday would determine how wind energy developers estimate bird and bat populations and how many would be killed by colliding with the giant towers and rotating blades

...

[DCKit]

1. The larger the turbines, the slower the blades turn.

Sorry to be so harsh, but if the bats and birds are too slow to get out of the way, it's survival of the fittest in action. The small, home-sized wind turbines could shred a flying animal, but the new ones, not so much. Additionally, both species have excellent hearing and should know or learn to avoid the turbines pretty quickly.

I personally know of two small turbines that have been installed in a rural area and operating for about eight years now. Nobody has yet to find a dead bat or bird under them.

Extensive studies have already been carried out in CA on this subject and they didn't even bother to take into account the environmental damage from fossil fuel fired plants in determining that the benefits of wind power outweighed the negatives.

I'm pretty sure we can thank the utilities for inventing this particular meme and drilling it into the brains of the environmentalists.

[OKIsItJustMe]

2. I'm aware of this

I'm also aware that it's a concern of some people.

So, here's what the DEC has to say:
http://www.dec.ny.gov/energy/40966.html

Wind Power

New York's wind resource has the potential to provide more than 5000 megawatts (MW) of clean energy. As of end of year 2007, six wind farms are operating with a rated capacity of 423 MW from 263 turbines in Madison, Wyoming, Lewis and Erie counties. Five other wind farms are under construction in Clinton, Wyoming and Steuben counties and will provide an additional 405 MW from 238 turbines when completed sometime in 2008. More than 30 additional wind farm siting proposals are actively undergoing environmental review by DEC biologists and environmental analysts.

Draft Guidelines for Conducting Bird and Bat Studies at Commercial Wind Energy Projects

The Department of Environmental Conservation has released for public review proposed Guidelines for Conducting Bird and Bat Studies at Commercial Wind Energy Projects. These guidelines inform potential wind developers of the information DEC needs about wind farm sites to assess impacts to birds and bats. The guidelines were developed through a stakeholder process sponsored by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority which included industry representatives as well as bird and bat biologists from government agencies, academia and non-governmental environmental groups.

Wind energy development is an important component of Governor Eliot Spitzer's clean renewable energy initiative in New York State as well as of New York's ability to achieve the Renewable Portfolio Standard of twenty-five percent (25%) of energy produced from renewable sources by the year 2013. With increased construction of wind turbines comes increased potential for birds and bats to collide with the towers and rotating blades. The proposed guidelines outline DEC's recommendations to commercial wind energy developers on how to characterize bird and bat resources at wind energy sites and how to document and estimate bird and bat mortality resulting from collisions with turbines. The protocols in the guidelines are intended to provide comparability of data collection among sites and between years so that the information from each site contributes to a statewide understanding of the ecological effects of wind energy generation. Protocols for both pre-construction studies and post-construction monitoring are included.

The guidelines (PDF, 135 Kb) are now available for review. Comments will be received until March 7, 2008 via mail to Brianna Gary, NYSDEC Bureau of Habitat, 625 Broadway 5th Floor, Albany, NY 12233-4756 or via email. To provide comments or for further information, contact the Habitat Protection Section mailbox. [e-mail]

As the Audubon Society puts it:
http://www.audubon.org/campaign/windPowerQA.html

...

Every source of energy has some environmental consequences. Most of today's rapidly growing demand for energy is now being met by natural gas and expanded coal-burning power plants, which are this country's single greatest source of the greenhouse-gas emissions that cause global warming. If we don't find ways to reduce these emissions, far more birds - and people - will be threatened by global warming than by wind turbines. Our challenge is thus to help design and locate wind-power projects that minimize the negative impacts on birds.

...

[DCKit]

3. I know you get it. I was just trying to clarify for other readers.

There are always going to be costs, but some would have us throw the baby out with the bathwater before considering any level of compromise. Rabid environmentalists haven't advanced their own cause, I don't think their input on alternative energy issues would be any more productive.

[malakai2]

4. Rabid environmentalists aside

This kind of review is required by the Endangered Species Act, the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act, and NEPA in some cases. The utilities, states, and Fed agencies want to get this right the first time around because there are many examples from the not-so-distant past of those same entities using your quick and dirty approach, then discovering it will cost huge sums to fix unforeseen problems. This drafting of best practices is routine for power companies these days precisely because of the effect intended by those Acts.

You reference the lack of carcasses under an installation upthread as proof that the installation did not kill any flying critters. What sort of survey method did you use?