Energy development on public lands impact wildlife habitat. Wind developers are finding that the potential ESA listing of sage grouse is likely to significantly impact attempts to develop wind farms on public lands, especially in Wyoming :
Gov’s office disputes grouse impact – Casper Star-Tribune
A decision to block wind energy development from key sage grouse habitats in Wyoming could effectively nullify a significant portion of the state’s wind energy resource. But exactly how much is unclear.
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Brian Ertz
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I keep hearing rumblings out of the Wasco county area that wind mills are hell on birds. There is a biologist up there working for the power company looking into it, but he won’t say anything about it.
Additionally, here in the East (where wind farms are cropping up as we speak) the installation of large multi-turbine wind farms means fragmenting ridgetop forests, a vital consideration for forest-interior songbirds (vs. edge species, like white-tailed deer). So, wind equals clean energy,
but the infrastructure (roads and so forth) harms wildlife habitat. It’s one of the real conundrums, especially in Pa. where veteran hikers know too well that one can’t trek anywhere without being within a mile of a road.
Here’s the link to a nice article fom the Rutland, Vt., newsspaper about the debate swirling around a proposed wind farm there.
http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20090723/OPINION01/907230301
Sage Grouse, migratory birds and bats are all affected by these things. All the biologist I know dealing with bats are looking at how to limit their construction. Not much we can do about private but there is plenty the public can do about it on public land. Send in your comments and do a little research on how they effect bats and you will have a great court case if they go ahead and authorize construction. They are also ugly eye sores. Every day I come out of the mountains and as I hit the valley 20 of these giants stand out against the sage brush hills. The only good I have seen is the pronghorn like to lay in the shade they create.