Are we considering all the costs?

Michael Butler

Recently, Sen. Lamar Alexander took to the floor of the U.S. Senate to discuss an important issue: a proposed wind farm that would be located in Cumberland County, if approved. His opposition was quickly followed by Rep.Diane Black, who also came out against the proposal by writing to several federal agencies voicing her concerns.

So why are they opposing this? "Clean" energy like wind must be a positive thing for the environment, right? And it must therefore also be a good thing for wildlife, too, yes?

The truth is, the impacts of wind farms are significant and they are decidedly not positive for Tennessee's environment and wildlife. These numbers tell the story.

?23 ? Number of wind turbines proposed for the Crab Orchard Wind Farm.?71 ? Number of megawatts (MW) the project will produce. For comparisons sake,
Watts Bar Units 1 and 2 generate right at 2,500 MW.?52 ? Dollar figure of the federal subsidy per megawatt hour (MWh) for wind power. For comparison, the federal subsidy for hydropower is $0.84/MWh, coal $0.64/MWh, natural gas and oil $0.63/MWh, and nuclear $3.10/MWh. Only solar receives a higher subsidy at $968/MWh.?18 ? Percent of time that wind is estimated as available to run the Crab Orchard Wind Farm.?0 ? Amount of base-load electricity TVA says is needed at this time. (Wind power only provides base-load electricity.)?600 ? Height in feet of each wind turbine (three times the height of Neyland Stadium), with blades as long as a football field. This incredible mass of steel and aluminum would be plainly visible from I-40 and the surrounding area.?1,000 ? Distance in feet at which a turbine is as loud as an air conditioning unit.

Doesn't seem to make much financial sense, does it? A wind farm of this size would also alter the natural landscape forever. But how about the impact on wildlife?

?600,000+ - Estimated number of birds killed by wind farms in the U.S. annually.?800,000+ - Estimated number of bats killed by wind farms in the U.S. annually.?2,000 - Number of bats killed in two months at the Backbone Mountain wind farm in West Virginia.?1,800 - Number of acres proposed to be used by the Crab Orchard Wind Farm. This number does not include acreage needed to provide transmission lines to the site ? a change in habitat requiring large applications of herbicide to maintain.?2,500,000 - The number of dollars paid by Oregon based PacifiCorp Energy for violating the Migratory Bird Treaty Act when federal investigators discovered the carcasses of 38 golden eagles and 336 other protected birds (e.g., hawks, blackbirds, larks, wrens and sparrows) at two PacifiCorp wind projects in the state.

Simply put, wind farms kill wildlife both directly and indirectly, lots of wildlife. Add to this problem the significant habitat destruction resulting from sight preparation and the required transmission line corridors and the impacts grow even larger and are permanent. Research into the impacts of wind farms on non-flying wildlife is scarce and are not yet fully understood. The wind energy industry has been largely given a pass on its impacts on wildlife, and the cost/benefit analysis of wind power begins to look like a lot of hot air.

The question we must ultimately ask ourselves is this: Do we want to use public tax dollars to subsidize an unneeded private business to chop up our public wildlife?

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Michael Butler is chief executive officer for the Tennessee Wildlife Federation. Visit their website at tnwf.org.

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