Windfarm may have negative impacts for birds and bats, says EIS

MADISON, Wisconsin, US, June 1, 2005 (Refocus Weekly)

A proposed 200 MW windfarm would have potential impacts on avian and bat resources, concludes a final Environmental Impact Statement.

Forward Energy wants to install 133 turbines over 32,400 acres in the Brownsville area of Wisconsin, and applied to the state Public Service Commission for approval. Public hearings will be held in June, and the EIS reflects input from public meetings on the draft that examines the impact of construction and operation of the windfarm on the site, farmland, surrounding highways, noise levels and on wildlife, including the impact of the turbines on local bird and bat populations.

A final ruling from the PSC is expected by the end of June.

The project would generate shared revenue payments of US$566,000 to Dodge and Fond du Lac counties, and another $400,000 to four towns in the area. Turbines would be 1.2 miles from an internationally-recognized natural resource that is used by hundreds of thousands of birds.

“It is this project’s proximity to Horicon Marsh that raises most of the avian impact concerns,” notes the EIS, because the marshes, farm land and woodlot provide nesting, foraging and resting habitat for a greater diversity and number of birds than in other agricultural areas. The unique nature of the area makes it difficult to compare to existing windfarms in other locations, it notes.

“This poses the question of whether a windfarm which might cause bird mortality or bird avoidance is compatible with an area that attracts important populations of protected and rare birds, and very high number of common birds,” the report concludes. The project could pose risk to species listed under the Endangered Species Act and protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, both of which prohibit the taking of protected species. Some of the species include whooping cranes, sandhill cranes, eagles, hawks and bats.

A total of 45 federal and state-listed threatened or endangered bird species could be present near the project, and the project “could pose some level of risk to species” listed under endangered species or migratory bird leiglsation. One of the most sensitive rare birds in the area is the whooping crane, and the Wisconsin experimental population consists of only 36 whooping cranes which migrate along a corridor between Florida and Wisconsin.

“The loss of one whooping crane could significantly impact the ability to reestablish these very rare birds,” it notes. “There is also a possibility that construction and operation of a windfarm close to Horicon Marsh could deter the reintroduction of additional wild whooping cranes in the region.”

“The bird groups that appear to have the highest mortality risk from windfarms include raptors, small birds, and some large birds,” it says. “Though Canada geese were the most observed bird species in the project area, they are not known to be susceptible to colliding with turbines, and any mortality due to the project would probably not affect their population dynamics.”

Forward did not conduct any field surveys to assess the risk to bats, but studies at other windfarms have documented collision mortality of seven bat species known to occur in Wisconsin, including the two state species of special concern. The impact on bats can be both displacement and disturbance, as well as collision impacts, and “due to the low
reproductive rates of bats and that wind turbine fatalities are primarily adults, bat mortalities from wind turbines may have a disproportionate impact on the reproductive populations of bat species.”

“With the exception of potential impacts on avian and bat resources, the proposed Forward project would have few serious effects on natural resources,” the EIA explains.
The proposal would be compatible with existing land uses and farming operations, with some impact on private airstrips but not for public airports, and it would not emit air pollutants, require water for cooling purposes or require wastewater to be discharged
from the plant.

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