Wind Industry Ignores Bird Conservationists

Wind Energy / Related Environmental Issues / Environmental Impact

Date posted: 06/04/15

Dr. Conca reports that the American Bird Conservancy has tried to get the wind-energy industry to care just a little about where they put those huge wind turbines so as to minimize bird kills. But their lack of concern suggests that the Federal Government must step in and regulate the siting of wind turbines so that their effect on migratory and other sensitive bird populations is minimized. It seems that the $100 billion wind market is just too lucrative to care about a few birds. The American Bird Conservancy recently found that over 80,000 wind turbines have been, or are planned to be, erected in critical areas of federally-protected birds in America. 24,000 turbines alone are in the migration corridor of the whooping crane, probably the rarest and most spectacular bird in the U.S. perhaps (ABC report, Lower Columbia Basin Audubon Society). Attempts to manage the wind industry with voluntary permitting guidelines are clearly not working, said Dr. Michael Hutchins, Director of American Bird Conservancy Bird Smart Wind Energy Campaign. Wind developers are siting turbines in areas of vital importance to birds and other wildlife, and this new data shows that the current voluntary system needs to be replaced with a mandatory permitting system. Our elected officials need to care about this. Just like any technology, there are good places to build and bad places to build.