GAO calls for more oversight of wind farms

WASHINGTON - A government report urged federal officials on Monday to take a more active role in weighing the impact of wind power farms on bird and bat deaths, saying local and state regulators sometimes lack the necessary expertise.

The report by the Government Accountability Office, Congress' investigative arm, found that the federal government offers minimal oversight in approving wind power plants, leaving decision-making at the state and local level.

As a result, the GAO found, "No one is considering the impacts of wind power on a regional or 'ecosystem' scale - a scale that often spans governmental jurisdictions."

The GAO urged the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to work with state and local officials to alert them about proposed wind farms' impacts on wildlife.

Wind power is one of the fastest-growing sources of renewable energy, and the Department of Energy calls for wind to generate 5 percent of the nation's electricity by 2020, up from less than 1 percent.

Wind energy poses a dilemma for environmentalists who support its pollution-free electricity but have grown increasingly alarmed at its death toll on birds and bats.

The Altamont Pass in California, for example, kills an estimated 1,700 to 4,700 birds a year, including between 880 and 1,300 federally protected raptors such as burrowing owls, red-tailed hawks and golden eagles. Meanwhile, thousands of bats have been killed by wind turbines on wind farms in West Virginia and Pennsylvania.

The GAO said it was difficult to quantify wind power's impact on wildlife, but noted that millions of birds are killed by other causes, such as collisions with buildings and towers, poisoning by pesticides and attacks by domestic and feral cats.

"In the context of other sources of avian mortalities, it does not appear that wind power is responsible for a significant number of dead birds," the GAO said.

The American Wind Energy Association, the trade group for the wind power industry, seized on that conclusion.

"Despite its modest impacts, the more (wind) is used instead of fossil fuels, the better for the environment and for consumers," said the group's executive director, Randall Swisher.

But the congressmen who requested the study, West Virginia Democratic Reps. Nick Rahall and Alan Mollohan, said the report showed that wind energy expansion should be approached with caution.

"We must balance our use of our natural resources with their protection to help ensure that our robust tourism industry and sense of Mountaineer pride do not suffer from poor foresight," said Rahall, the ranking Democrat on the House Resources Committee.

Added Mollohan: "We don't have enough information about the number of birds and bats that are being killed, why they are being killed, or whether any effective strategies can be devised for keeping wildlife away from the blades."

Wayne Pacelle, president and CEO of The Humane Society of the United States, said all alternative energy sources have positive and negative sides.

"For wind power, the downside is that the blades can kill birds in substantial numbers," he said. "Site selection is crucial in helping minimize this adverse impact."

The GAO said few studies have been done to determine effective solutions to minimize bat and bird deaths at wind farms.

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Government Accountability Office: http://www.gao.gov

American Wind Energy Association: http://www.awea.org/