Using Smoke and Mirrors to Confound the Audience

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It is SO sad to see politicians appropriating environmental causes for their hidden agendas, with the cooperation and support of sincere conservancy organizations. I recieved this press release last week from the American Bird Conservancy:

Wind Energy Regulations Needed to Protect Birds

The U.S. House of Representatives’ Natural Resources Committee held a hearing May 23 on H.R. 2337, The Energy Policy Reform and Revitalization Act and has scheduled a vote for the bill in committee June 6. H.R. 2337 includes language requiring new regulations for the siting, construction and operation by wind projects to avoid or minimize impacts to birds and bats. ABC supports the intent of this language and believes that the safeguards provided for by the bill are long overdue.

Bird protection measures must become mandatory for wind energy projects because voluntary steps are being ignored by the wind energy industry. This was the message American Bird Conservancy’s (ABC) Dr. Michael Fry delivered in his May 1 testimony before the House Subcommittee on Fisheries, Wildlife, and Oceans. “Voluntary efforts to address the impacts of wind projects on birds and wildlife have been a failure,” said Dr. Fry. “There has been much discussion and almost no real action on the part of the wind industry to resolve bird collision issues.”

In addition, the House Ways and Means Committee is currently considering an extension of tax breaks for wind energy production. Tax credits for the industry should only be renewed if these bird protection measures are implemented. To keep the wind industry growing, its advocates are aiming to push Congress to extend a tax credit worth 1.9 cents per kilowatt-hour or approximately $4 billion per year. Currently, there is no requirement for any action on behalf of the wind energy industry to mitigate its impacts on federally protected migratory birds in order to get this tax break. “Any renewal of the production tax credit for wind energy should include provisions that require developers to follow best management practices to minimize bird and wildlife impacts,” said Dr. Fry.

According to a 2005 Worldwatch Institute Report, the United States led the world in wind energy installations. But according to the National Wind Coordinating Committee, this growing alternative energy source is already killing between 30,000 and 60,000 birds per year, including Golden Eagles, Red-tailed Hawks, Burrowing Owls, Mourning Doves, and over 50 species of migratory songbirds. Given the projected growth rate of the wind industry, between 900,000 and 1.8 million birds will likely be killed per year by wind turbines by 2030 unless protective measures are implemented.

ABC believes that with proper siting, operation, and monitoring, wind energy can provide clean, renewable energy for America’s future with minimal impacts to birds and bats. ABC emphasizes that before approval and construction of new wind energy projects, potential risks to birds and bats should be evaluated through site analyses. Sites requiring special scrutiny include areas that are frequented by federally listed endangered species, known bird migration pathways, places where birds are highly concentrated, and locations that have landscape features known to attract large numbers of raptors. Once in operation, monitoring for migrating birds can allow facilities to be temporarily turned off to avoid major impacts. For more information contact Dr. Michael Fry.

The Energy Policy Reform and Revitalization Act looks like a great step toward promoting clean, efficient energy and design, and it is supported by many groups like the American Bird Conservancy and the nonprofit Alliance to Save Energy. However, as usual the politicians have squeezed in a dangerous clause, the Global Warming Wildlife Survival Act that the above press release talks about, that would threaten to handicap wind energy development across the entire nation.

The press release brings up a good question about protecting wildlife, however the truth is that H.R. 2337 will require every wind project — including those already established — to meet new, stringent standards that have never been imposed on any other energy sector. Facilities that aren’t formally certified by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service could earn their owners a $50,000 fine or jail time, jeopardizing many private owners who use small wind installations for personal use on their own property.

It is a valid concern, but more questions are necessary. What is the negative impact of windmills compared with other human practices? (Why doesn’t the airline industry have to answer for the birds that get sucked into aircraft engines, for instance?) “A report released by the National Academy of Sciences earlier this month concluded that wind turbines cause about .003 percent of human-caused bird mortality. That’s about one thousand times lower than bird deaths from house cats,” reports Green Options‘ Maria Surma Manka. Wind energy and other technologies will have a vast positive impact on our carbon emissions level. Will they really endanger more wildlife now than they have the potential to protect long term, by a reduction in pollution output and temperature increase?

Also, who is behind this? I find it very telling that the U.S. House of Representatives’ Natural Resources Committee, which proposed H.R. 2337, is led by Chairman Nick Rahall of West Virginia — one of the nation’s largest suppliers of coal.

[more: House Bill Threatens Wind Power on Green Options Blog, and Coal State Rep Worried About Bats and Birds on Treehugger.com]

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