May 25
The American Wind Energy Association is sharply criticizing a new bill it claims will essentially outlaw new wind power development and phase out existing wind farms.
Rep. Nick Rahall, D-W.Va., introduced the Energy Policy Reform and Revitalization Act of 2007, H.R. 2337, in the House Natural Resources Committee. A provision of the bill bars any new wind power project until the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service issues rules to certify wind turbines to protect birds and bats. It also would require all existing turbines to shut down for six months after the FWS rules are issued until they are certified.
The AWEA argues the rules could take several years to develop and would create an unworkable bureaucracy that will delay or halt the development of wind energy projects. The group also points to a National Academy of Sciences report released May 3 that concluded bird deaths caused by wind turbines are a minute fraction of total anthropogenic bird deaths. Wind turbines caused less than 0.003 percent, or three of every 100,000 bird deaths in 2003, a thousand times lower than birds killed by house cats, according the report.
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