We don’t think much of the subsidized wind industry, but three dead bats aren’t “thousands.”
The Wall Street Journal reports,
New federal rules on how wind-power operators must manage threats to wildlife could create another challenge for the fast-growing industry as it seeks more footholds in the U.S. energy landscape.
The death of an endangered bat in September at a wind farm in Pennsylvania was the latest in a series of incidents that have caught the attention of regulators and conservation-minded scientists, who worry that large numbers of bats, bald eagles and other birds are being killed by wind turbines’ spinning blades.
In January, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is set to publish new guidelines telling wind-farm operators how to measure the danger to wildlife at new sites and how to monitor existing sites. The guidelines are voluntary, but those who don’t follow them are more likely to face fines or penalties if their turbines kill an animal protected by federal law.
Already, some operators are changing their plans in anticipation of more scrutiny. Last month, Pattern Energy Group dropped plans for a 44-turbine wind farm near Sacramento, Calif., saying it couldn’t sufficiently protect bald eagles and other birds. The company is developing other projects where it expects to encounter less wildlife, and testing radar that could detect birds or bats…
One of the first large U.S. wind projects—in California’s Altamont Pass—found itself in the spotlight in 2004 after a state study said the roughly 5,000 turbines at the site were killing thousands of birds, including protected eagles, hawks and owls. The operators of the wind farm agreed to cut bird deaths in half as part of a settlement with environmental groups.
Since then, companies have grown more sensitive to the issue, and some hire biologists to regularly scour the fields under the turbine blades.
That’s how Duke Energy Corp. discovered the carcass of a quarter-ounce Indiana bat this fall at its North Allegheny wind farm in western Pennsylvania. The company temporarily turned off its turbines at night during the bats’ migration season.
The two other endangered animals confirmed killed in recent years by wind turbines were also Indiana bats, which were found in 2009 at the Fowler Ridge wind farm in Benton County, Ind…
Some scientists believe thousands of bats, including non-endangered species like the Seminole bat, are dying each year in wind turbines, based on available counts of bat deaths at existing wind farms.
“Most biologists will tell you that over time and cumulatively, [bats] won’t be able to sustain these fatality rates,” said Ed Arnett, the director of science and policy for Bat Conservation International…