Reprinted from a March 30, 2008 column in the Morgantown Dominion Post
There has been much talk, and a fair amount of construction, of windmills in West Virginia. Of course, the reason is power, and apparently there are many pros and cons on the issue. On the pro side, some say we need to come up with power sources that get us out from under the big oil-producing countries. Others say there is no free lunch. Windmills cannot supply "green" electricity. They can’t store energy. They aren’t efficient. There isn’t enough preconstruction evaluation of wind turbine sites. The arguments for both sides go on and on.
I’m a wildlife biologist, so my bias is toward wildlife. And relative to wildlife and windmills, there is a growing amount of science that is negative for windmills. The January 2008 volume of the journal, "Wildlife Management" has several articles on the impacts of windmills on wildlife.
One study was done at the Altamont Pass Wind Resource Area in California. Windmills first began operating there in the 1980's and by 1998 there were 5,400 windmills operating in this one area alone. Think about that. If these windmills generated the power at the capacity for which they were constructed, there would be emission-free electricity for 230,000 homes. Apparently that isn’t happening, but that’s an issue for another time. Let’s stick to the impacts on wildlife.
There are up to 62 turbines in rows. Many rows are on ridge tops, though some are on slopes and in valleys. For the most part the windmills you’ve seen in West Virginia are also placed on ridge tops. Therein lies the problem. Sure, that is where you are likely to get more wind, but that is also where you are going to get the most migrating birds and bats. They use wind currents during migration. All forms of energy production impact wildlife, and if windmills don’t do all that much damage to birds and bats, then there isn’t a problem. But the data show otherwise.
During a 5-year period here are some of the birds found dead at Altamont Pass Wind Resource Area. There were 213 red-tailed hawks, 196 doves, 96 meadowlarks, 70 burrowing owls, 59 kestrels, and 54 golden eagles. In fact there were a total of 519 hawks and owls found. Then there were smaller numbers of many song bird species and a total of 1,157 birds found.
You could say that on a per windmill basis, per year, the mortalities aren’t all that high. After all, you only found 1,157 birds dead under 5,400 windmills over 5 years. But, that may not be the issue. The issue is the fact that 1,157 birds died, among which were many hawks and owls including 54 golden eagles. Considering that in some cases the researchers didn’t get to a windmill, or a row of windmills for 90 days the numbers of dead birds was obviously much higher. Lots of small birds would disappear or be taken by ground predators in that time.
The same journal had another paper that assessed patterns of bat fatalities from 19 different wind turbine facilities in 6 areas of the United States (5) and Canada (1). Bats were killed in highest numbers in late summer and fall, during the time of migration. When looking at a row of wind turbines, it appeared that more bats were killed near the end of the turbine strings, but all turbines in the row killed bats.
One could assume that lights near a windmill would attract insects at night and this would then lead to higher bat mortality. However, there was no difference in mortality rates from windmills that were lit compared to those that had no lights. Most bats were killed on nights when there was low wind speed and fatalities increased right before and right after a storm front moved thru.
The authors suggest that if you curtail the windmills during low wind periods in late summer and fall, bat mortalities would decrease substantially. For example, if that was done at the Mountaineer facility here in West Virginia, bat mortalities would drop by 85 percent. The authors predict that in the Mid-Atlantic Highlands of Eastern United States, with the predicted number of windmills being built or projected to be built, we could lose between 33,000 and 110,000 bats each year. This would be devastating for migratory tree bats, and other bat species as well.
A third study used thermal imaging to study flight patterns of bats around windmills. They found that bats were attracted to patches of insects near windmills. Forest edges favor insects, and when you build a windmill on a ridge in West Virginia, you are going to cut down timber, create an opening for the windmill, and create forest edges that attract insects and bats. Another negative factor is the fact that tree nesting bats apparently fly close to the windmill and windmill blades to check it out as a possible roost site. In fact, they land on the windmill and the blades. Bad strategy when the blade is moving. Ultrasounds coming from the windmills may also attract bats.
Are windmills coming to West Virginia ridge tops? You bet. We already have the set on Backbone Mountain in Tucker and Preston Counties. Then there is the NedPower turbines under construction in Grant County. US Wind Force will begin construction of turbines along Rt. 92 in Grant/Tucker Counties. A project to put 120 turbines in Greenbrier County was permitted but is tied up in the WV Supreme Court (for information go to www.wvmcre.org). There is another pending project in Pendleton County (www.fobpc.com), and an application has been filed for Randolph County. AES Corporation recently indicated they will file an application to build 65 turbines in Barbour County (www.LaurelMountainPreservationAssociation.org). Then there is a company called Gamesa that has proposed 50 turbines for Grant/Tucker, 30 for Nicholas, 75 for Randolph, and 30 for McDowell County (www.wvhighlands.org/PDFs/GamesaWind2008pdf).
Are these projects good for West Virginia citizens? You will get arguments on both sides, but there are lots of unanswered questions. Are they bad for birds and bats? That one is easy to answer.
