Energy Efficient Area Proves Costly for Birds
Jul 11 -ALTAMONT -- Daily Breeze
When it comes to wind power, few places are more productive -- or more deadly to birds -- than this gusty stretch of rolling hills 50 miles east of San Francisco.
But the Altamont, where more than 5,000 windmills line the hilltops, has also
become a death trap for thousands of migrating birds that get chopped up in
fast-rotating turbine blades as they fly through or hunt for prey in this
mountainous region between the San Francisco Bay Area and the San Joaquin
Valley.
An estimated 1,700 to 4,700 birds are killed each year in the 50- square-mile
Altamont Pass Wind Resource Area. Of those fatalities, between 880 and 1,300 are
federally protected raptors such as burrowing owls, red-tailed hawks and golden
eagles, according to a study released last year by the California Energy
Commission.
"Altamont is killing more birds of prey than any other wind farm in
North America," said Jeff Miller, a wildlife advocate at the Center for
Biological Diversity. "Incredible numbers of raptors are being killed
there, and it's hard to believe it's not having effects on the
populations."
The bird killings have provoked a fight between the windmill operators and
environmentalists who were once reluctant to take on an industry that provides
an eco-friendly alternative to fossil fuels blamed for air pollution and global
warming.
Wildlife advocates have sued nine companies that run wind farms there and
appealed Alameda County's decisions to renew the turbine operating permits
without requiring measures to reduce bird collisions.
A Superior Court judge this week allowed the lawsuit to move forward, and the
case could go to trial late this year or early next year. The county Board of
Supervisors is expected to decide next week whether to force the turbine
operators to adopt measures to curb bird deaths, such as closing for winter or
scrapping the most lethal turbines.
The windmill owners agree that something must be done to protect the birds.
FPL Energy, which runs about half of the Altamont's turbines, has already taken
down about 100 of its most deadly windmills, said spokesman Steven Stengel.
But Stengel argues that requiring more extreme measures could put the wind
farms out of business.
"There's a balancing act here," Stengel said. "We have to be
able to reduce the bird mortality and at the same time allow the turbine
operators to operate in an economically responsible manner."