Back to the caves: We can't generate electricity using oil or gas. That pollutes or expels global warming gases. We can't use hydro; screws up fish runs. Producing solar panels means lots of nasty chemicals in the manufacturing process.
And here goes wind power.
Deadly turbines
GROUP SUES OVER THOUSANDS OF BIRDS KILLED BY ALTAMONT PASS WINDMILLS
By Robin Evans
Mercury News
Jeff Miller of the Center for Biological Diversity stands in front of dozens of huge wind turbines at the Altamont Pass near Livermore.
The thousands of windmills that generate environmentally friendly energy on the hills and canyons on the edge of the Bay Area have proven to be ecologically harmful. Birds are killed by the thousands each year in the turbine blades, and on Monday a local environmental group filed suit to make the Altamont Pass windmills less deadly to winged wildlife.
The suit, filed against windmill owners in U.S. District Court in Northern California, seeks a permanent injunction against further harm to eagles, hawks and other birds, penalties for violation of state and federal wildlife laws protecting those birds, restitution for the damage already done and steps to make the Alameda County windmill complex less deadly.
``We're asking the judge to throw the book at them,'' said Jeff Miller, spokesman for the Center for Biological Diversity, the plaintiff. ``We're not suggesting they're going to be shut down. We are suggesting turbine owners out there need take some measures to reduce the bird kill, and that they come up with some adequate mitigation or compensation.''
Owners of the windmills say they have already tried to make their turbines safer for birds, and county planning officials said they have determined the windmills can operate as they are. But Miller said that with the continuing destruction of birds and the absence of strong enforcement by state and federal wildlife officials of laws governing protected birds -- such as golden eagles and burrowing owls -- a lawsuit was the only option.
The rolling, windswept hills and valleys that make up the Altamont Pass through Alameda and Contra Costa counties contain one of the highest densities of raptors and breeding pairs of golden eagles in the world. Biologists say thousands of birds, including up to 60 golden eagles and hundreds of other hawks, owls and raptors are killed -- and more injured -- each year by flying into the windmill blades as they dive for ground prey or try to perch on the structures.
The area holds thousands of tall wind turbines, well known to drivers along Interstate 580, that are spun by gusty winds and generate electricity.
The suit is particularly timely, Miller said, because Alameda County is in the process of renewing permits for the wind farms for the first time in 20 years, and the companies that own the windmills are in the process of putting in newer turbines.
The Center for Biological Diversity has appealed Alameda County's renewal in November of 14 permits covering some 1,400 windmills. Officials are expected to approve 15 more permits for the vast majority of the county's 4,000 windmills next week, he said.
There are about 7,000 turbines in the region, Miller said. More than half are owned by two companies, Florida Power & Light Group, which has 2,000, and a Denmark company, NEG Micon. They are named in the suit, along with the remaining windmill owners, Grep Bay Area Holdings, Green Ridge Power and Altamont Power, all Delaware-based companies.
Industry, counties, state and federal wildlife officials and environmental groups have been studying the bird-kill phenomenon for years and experimenting with varying solutions -- with varying results.
``It's so unfair to say we have not been actively trying to do anything,'' said Florida Power & Light spokesman Steve Stengel. ``We've done everything from installing perch guards to painting rotor blades.''
He said the company also has supported research and rodent-control efforts, such as attempts to provide cover for rodents near the bases of the turbines to keep hunting birds from diving for prey.
``Historically at the Altamont, what you'll find is that there is conflicting information, thoughts on what will be effective and won't be effective,'' Stengel said.
The perches, intended to give birds a safe place to land away from the turbine blades, proved not to be effective, he said. And while it was once thought that rocks piled at the base of the windmills would obscure nearby prey, it merely fostered a greater number of small creatures. A recent study based on 20 years of observation at Altamont by BioResource Consultants of Ojai now advises discontinuing rodent-control programs.
Such findings are part of the reason why the county says it is not pushing for stronger controls. Alameda County's assistant planning director, Darryl Gray, said an option that can appear helpful at one stage may prove harmful later. ``You can see how fluid it is,'' he said.
Mitigation measures recommended in the lawsuit range from the simple to the more complex and costly. Simple measures include putting fences around windmills to keep cattle away and allow the growth of grasses to hide small prey, and discouraging the population of small animals near the turbines, for example by moving rock piles away from the base.
More significant actions would require moving towers out of canyons -- where birds prefer to hunt -- and clustering them on hillsides. Miller said that while the companies are upgrading the windmills, they could figure out the most lethal turbine locations and remove them.
``They tend to be in valleys. A recent study showed 80 percent of bird kills took place at 12 percent of the turbines,'' he said.
Miller said there is no interest in stopping what is an environmentally sound source of renewable energy. Birds will be killed as long as there are windmills, he acknowledged.
``If the owners come to us and say they want to do something, we certainly would sit down and try to reach a settlement,'' he said.
``But if they circle the wagons and say `Fish and Wildlife never did anything, so we're not going to do anything,' we'll go after them. Fifteen years has been long enough.''
mercurynews.com
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Yeah, but those "canyons"- -passes- -are precisely where the wind is most reliable because they offer the lowest elevation routes between high and low pressure areas. Birds, of course, are looking for just those low-elevation routes.
The Altamont pass mentioned at the top of the article is well known for its windiness. There are signs there for cars and trucks to beware of high winds. It offers one of two low elevation passes between the low-pressure (hot) Central Valley and the high pressure (cold) Pacific Ocean. The other is the Sacremento River Valley which would present the same problem for birds. |
