“Shockingly high” numbers of bird and bat deaths caused by one of Canada’s biggest wind farms should serve as a warning to planners of other projects that may be built in crucial wildlife zones, one of the country’s key conservation groups says.
“Shockingly high” numbers of bird and bat deaths caused by one of Canada’s biggest wind farms should serve as a warning to planners of other projects that may be built in crucial wildlife zones, one of the country’s key conservation groups says.
The pioneering wind farm built (starting in 1982) in Altamont Pass (southeast of San Francisco) is directly in line with the Pacific Flyway and is so notorious for bird kills that the windmills are required to be shut down during certain parts of the year.
The physical requirements of the Altamont location mandate that grass growing on the hillsides below the fan blades be kept trimmed (to prevent grass fires during the dry summer and fall). This makes the rodent wildlife much easier to observe, drawing birds of prey. The fan blades kill 880 to 1300 golden eagles and other raptors each year. Yet the Federal and state authorities have taken little action to reduce the kills.
Naturally, the 5400 wind mills only produce electricity when the winds blow. The maximum demand for electricity occurs during the hottest weather (to power air conditioners). Of course, the hottest days are accompanied by a lack of wind, since when the winds blow, the weather is cooler and there’s less demand for air conditioning.
But Californians can feel good about being among the first to establish a major production facility for “renewable” power. This IS just about feeling good, isn’t it?