Those anti-wind-power rumors about wind turbines killing huge numbers of birds? BULLSHIT!

[backscatter712]

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/04/12/1082718/-British-Study-Wind-Turbines-are-NOT-Bird-Killers-Republicans-We-Hate-Wind-Power-

From The Guardian:

A large majority of birds can co-exist or thrive with operating windfarms, but some species are harmed during construction
A large majority of birds can co-exist or thrive with operating windfarms, but some species are harmed during construction
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Severin Carrell, Scotland correspondent
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 12 April 2012 13.20 BST

A major new study has quashed fears that onshore windfarms are causing long-term damage to bird populations, but found new evidence that some species are harmed when windfarms are built.

The study by conservationists into the impacts on 10 of the key species of British upland bird, including several suffering serious population declines, concluded that a large majority of species can co-exist or thrive with windfarms once they are operating.

Even here on DU, people push those rumors. Now we know better!

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. read this from your own link

A major new study has quashed fears that onshore windfarms are causing long-term damage to bird populations, but found new evidence that some species are harmed when windfarms are built.

They are NOT completely harmless

[snooper2]

2. Nothing is completely harmless

Even wooden spoons pose significant hazards!

&feature=related

[zbdent]

6. read about the perils of dihydrous oxide ...

[LanternWaste]

13. Which may be rather harmful if

Which may be rather harmful if taking the form of venous embolisms or arterial gas embolisms.

[zbdent]

15. or inhaled in large quantities ...

[LanternWaste]

16. bumper-stickers philosophies notwithstanding.

Hence, the validity of the claim that nothing is completely harmless... bumper-stickers philosophies notwithstanding.

[Ecumenist]

3. What's the difference between the turbines on windfarms and the windmills that have been at work

in the Netherlands for HUNDREDS OF YEARS? I'm certain that you will have SOME bird deaths by virtue of the fact that the turbines are a new artifact to the environment but why hasn't this been an issue i areas where there is a LONG history of using wind mills?

[nadinbrzezinski]

5. Concentration, we are having that issue in Jamul and Ocotillo right now

It is not the turbine itself, but how close they are to each other and a few other things.

By the way I am all for green energy... but they do have a few problems. Also some of the companies doing this are cooking some of their own data. Hell at least one was part of Kellog brown and root and these days part of the Carlyle group and a larger energy company involved in a few things like oh Fracking.

Oh and the risk is lower by orders of magnitude than oh San Onofre, but you want a wind farm with towers up to four hundred feet tall ON AN ACTIVE FAULT LINE? I do not mean around it, ON IT? (San Onofre has two reactors, each on each side of an actual active fault line too)

[Ecumenist]

8. I know about San Onofre. I'm in the north State and have NEVER been happy with reactors in

California because of our high seismic activity. I was THRILLED when Rancho Seco was decommissioned in the late 80's.
As it applies to the density of the wind farm installation, that make ALOT more sense.

[nadinbrzezinski]

10. The other problem is construction, my editor has literally been chasing

that one down... because of some of the practices locally.

Another problem that the OP is probably unaware, and the more I learn the more I realize that we need a second look on the techniques, and yes regulations.

Some of these towers fall for apparently no reason, and blades have been known to come off for again apparently no reason. You are talking of a few tons here.

The towers falling seems to be related to shoddy, as in very shoddy, construction of the base. Imagine one of these falling on a road with traffic.

Soon will be asking a few questions from seismologists on the risks of putting these things ON ACTUAL faults.

As I said I am all for green technologies, but there is a dark side to all of these things...

[Ecumenist]

11. Yeah, I agree with you. Here in the north, there is a "wind farm" @ the Altamont Pass.

There has been alot of issues with bird deaths because of the location, (high up in the coastal range). The vast majority of bird mortalities are raptors, ie, golden eagles, red hawks, kestrels etc. They're in the process of upgrading and restructuring the farm to try to remedy or mitigate the dangers to the wildlife.

[nadinbrzezinski]

12. Same here, raptors are not having an easy time

and even the OP article adressed that, which is SOME species have issues.

[JDPriestly]

18. What green technologies would you prefer?

[nadinbrzezinski]

20. Distributive, as in solar in every roof, as first line

and yes solar has a dark side too

[JDPriestly]

21. I agree about solar on every roof.

[madokie]

7. I think the reason you don't read about it here is

its an inconvenient truth. Can't be scaring the people about windmills if we all knew that wind turbines are not as bad as some would want us to believe.
We have the oily coalie nuke boys to thank for that misconception too.

[JVS]

19. I have no position in this argument, but I've seen a lot of wind turbines built and installed...

in my area. These structures are 260 feet high at the hub with blades 50 feet long that have to be hauled out by oversized trucks. This means that the highest reach of a blade is 310 feet, or approximately as high as a 40 story building. Now I don't know if a field of these turbines is detrimental to nearby wildlife, but they are definitely much larger than older technology, and their effect on wildlife is worth looking into.

[jsmirman]

24. This seems to be correct - location, location, location

I have a pretty limited knowledge-base on this issue.

I have questioned people who know a heck of a lot more about it than I do, and my understanding of what I heard back is that the opposition is to projects being built in the wrong places and without any of the necessary impact studies.

As in, the complaint is not about them being built, but about them being built in unnecessarily disruptive/deadly areas, and about the projects being raced through so certain property owners can make a killing - and that these things are jammed through because basic studies would reveal that the wind farms should be built in Location B, as opposed to Location A.

Animal and environmental causes do not always align, but I actually can't think of a single animal advocate I know who doesn't care about the environment. And I know a lot of animal advocates. The first animal law conference I ever attended was on the links and shared interests of the two movements.

Before people are quick to jump on the "denigrate animal advocates by any possible means" bandwagon here, think about the statement I'm making. I have literally never met an animal advocate who wasn't also deeply concerned about the environment. If they exist, I think they are a terrifically small minority of the overall movement.

[Ian David]

4. Birds can learn to avoid turbines. They can't learn to avoid acid rain. n/t

[WolverineDG]

9. There are turbines all over Spain

birds too. Hmm.

[LanternWaste]

14. spent a weekend at the Green Mountain Energy Wind Farm in Brazos, TX last year

Had the opportunity to spend a weekend at the Green Mountain Energy Wind Farm in Brazos, TX last year. Pretty cool stuff all the way around. Provides electricity to 25,000 families in TX (number may have increased since then). That's only one of about twenty-five or thirty wind farms in TX... we're slowly getting away from the Oil State (to the Parched & Dry State unfortunately).

[MineralMan]

17. Wind farms are proliferating in southern Minnesota. Driving on I-90 on the way to Sioux Falls,

I saw hundreds of turbines, along with new power lines for distribution. It continued into South Dakota. Do they harm birds? I don't know, to tell you the truth, nor do I know how many birds are killed or what percentage of migrating birds are killed. I do know that the power is needed. Still, looking at the spacing and other factors, it looks to me as if birds with eyes wouldn't have much trouble navigating safely through those wind farms.

[jenwilson]

22. Electricity is more important than their life

That's really the agenda behind this "study."

[former9thward]

23. Show your study to the golden eagles that are being killed.

Scores of golden eagles have been killed after striking the thousands of wind turbines in the Bay Area, raising questions about California's move toward alternative power.

The death count, averaging 67 a year for three decades, worries field biologists because the turbines, which have been providing thousands of homes with emissions-free electricity since the 1980s, lie within a region of rolling grasslands and riparian canyons containing one of the highest densities of nesting golden eagles in the United States.


"It would take 167 pairs of local nesting golden eagles to produce enough young to compensate for their mortality rate related to wind energy production," said field biologist Doug Bell, manager of East Bay Regional Park District's wildlife program. "We only have 60 pairs."



http://articles.latimes.com/2011/jun/06/local/la-me-adv-wind-eagles-20110606

[XemaSab]

25. Here are the species that were studied:

Red grouse
Golden plover
Lapwing
Dunlin
Snipe
Curlew
Meadow pipit
Skylark
Stonechat
Wheatear

Interesting that they picked a grouse, five shorebirds, and four passerines. Apparently, all of these species breed near the wind farms there. Most of our wind farms are sited nowhere near shorebird breeding habitat, and raptors are the main species that are at risk.