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Wind Power Buildout Could Kill Millions of Birds, Conservation Group Says

We need more data, the American Bird Conservancy said, adding that environmental oversight or assessment can help developers be certain that significant numbers of birds will not be harmed.

  • Feb 07, 2011

The American Bird Conservancy (ABC) said that the buildout of wind energy proposed by the federal government to meet a Department of Energy target of generating 20 percent of the nation’s electricity through wind power is expected to kill at least one million birds per year by 2030, and probably significantly more.

ABC considers the one million estimate (which is based on a 2005 paper, "A Summary and Comparison of Bird Mortality from Anthropogenic Causes with an Emphasis on Collisions" by Wallace Erickson et al) to be a significant underestimate of bird mortality. A more recent 2009 estimate by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), for example, indicated that approximately 440,000 birds were already being killed per year, ABC said. At the time, 22,000 turbines were in operation representing 25GW of installed capacity, a fraction of the 300GW of production capacity needed to meet the 2030 target. Wind farms are also expected to impact almost 20,000 square miles of terrestrial habitat, and more than 4,000 square miles of marine habitat by 2030, some of this critical to threatened species.

“The real answer is that we simply don’t yet have enough data to reliably estimate cumulative impacts, but once acquired they will likely far exceed current estimates. The growing and disproportionate 'take' of species of conservation concern also appears to be an issue relative to the overall number of birds killed, and that is another cause for worry,” said Albert Manville, Ph.D., of the FWS’s Division of Migratory Bird Management.

“We are plunging head-long into wind power, but so far, very few studies have been conducted that show what scale of impact it will really have on birds,” said Mike Parr, ABC’s vice president. “While American Bird Conservancy supports bird-smart wind power, we do not support the fast-tracking of wind projects without adequate environmental oversight or assessment that can help developers and the public be certain that significant numbers of birds will not be harmed.”

In the near future, the Department of the Interior is expected to issue industry guidelines on the siting and operation of wind power to reduce bird and other wildlife impacts. Whether these guidelines will be binding or not is a cause of major concern to conservationists. “We wouldn’t allow stop signs to be voluntary, so why would preventing the killing of birds, which violates the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, be voluntary?” said ABC’s Vice President of Conservation Advocacy, Darin Schroeder.

Another major concern about wind development is that certain sensitive species may be affected very significantly by wind build-out. These include the Golden Eagle, the Greater Sage-Grouse, and endangered species such as the Whooping Crane. These species can be impacted by transmission lines and the infrastructure associated with wind farms or by the turbines themselves.

ABC has requested a congressional hearing into the bird impacts of wind power.

Comments

Tue, Feb 15, 2011 Mark Michigan

Hello: The basic problem is that windmills are an inefficient use of money for your average homeowner who is connected to the grid. Home windmills don't exist on a large scale because the capital cost far outweighs any electric cost savings for us northern people. The capital cost has to come way down to make it a worthwhile purchase. This may also hold true for windmills on a large scale, such as constructed by power companies. Power companies would probably construct them on their own if they were profitable. Right now power companies are either receiving grants (which usually means they can't operate profitably without taxpayer support) or they are forced into using windmills or other alternative energy sources by mandatory regulations. Engineers and scientists wordlwide are working on less costly systems, but until they are successful, the cost of operation is not worth the energy they generate. I would love to have a windmill, but it is just too dang expensive.

Wed, Feb 9, 2011 Craig

Energy saving tips from Mega Watt: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUNISl0mr5g

Wed, Feb 9, 2011 Chris NC

Kill some birds and save the world? Maybe they could be composted into fossil fuel. Or we could just build the turbines closer to the ground and kill a few people, that should satisfy somebody. Science be hanged, truth be condemned, forge ahead brave soul.

Mon, Feb 7, 2011

So, we can't have wind power either? I thought the enemy was fossil fuels. I guess we'll have to go back to gathering around the communal campfire and cooking our meals over charcoal fires like they do in the poorest third world countries.

Mon, Feb 7, 2011 John Andrews Canada

Studies have already been done that show a turbine kills no more than 3 birds per year on average. That means there would be over 333,000 turbines installed over that time period. Quite an ambitious, if not unrealistic number. If you are worried about bird kills then get rid of your cats. The National Audubuon Society says 100 million birds a year fall prey to cats. Scientists estimate the number of birds killed by cars and trucks on the nation's highways to be 50 to 100 million a year. Those statistics were cited in reports published by the National Institute for Urban Wildlife and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Pesticides likely poison an estimated 67 million birds per year according to the Smithsonian Institution. Cutting hay may kill up to a million more birds a year. I could go on - but surely you get the point!

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