GROUPS CALL FOR REVIEW OF WIND POWER WILDLIFE IMPACTS
Urge Wildlife Agencies to Minimize Dangers to Migratory Birds

June 24, 2003

WASHINGTON - More than 25 national and regional conservation groups, including Defenders of Wildlife, National Audubon Society, the Humane Society of the United States, and the Endangered Species Coalition, today called on Interior Secretary Gale Norton and other federal officials to assess the impacts of planned extensive wind power development on Appalachian mountain ridges on migratory birds, before these projects are constructed. In a letter to Secretary Norton and others, the groups cited documented bird kills by existing wind turbines in the region, and urged the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) to develop appropriate criteria for siting and construction of these facilities under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, which makes it illegal to kill migratory birds.

"Wind power should be a part of our energy future, but it won't live up to its environmentally friendly reputation if we're not careful about how and where we build it," said Mike Senatore, director of the legal department at Defenders of Wildlife. "If we do it right, we'll have another source of clean energy. If we do it wrong, we'll kill hundreds of thousands of migratory birds every year."

Current plans for the wind turbines, which can rise as much as 400 feet above the surrounding terrain, call for hundreds of the structures along ridges in the Appalachian range that are documented
migratory routes for songbirds, hawks, and many other migratory species. Existing turbines have been implicated in the deaths of warblers and other songbirds in West Virginia and elsewhere.

The letter notes, "Because most of the rapidly increasing number of 'windfarm' proposals in the Appalachians are still in the development and pre-construction stages, now is the time for the [U.S. Fish and Wildlife] Service to provide necessary federal oversight before extreme damage is done - as happened in the case of communication towers - and ensure that the Appalachian ridges do not become a gigantic deathtrap for migratory songbirds and raptors."

The groups warned that wind development must improve on the dismal record of communication tower construction, which occurred rapidly and with little thought for wildlife or environmental impact. The FWS conservatively estimates that communications towers kill approximately 4 to 5 million migratory birds every year.

Wind power projects are often highly concentrated; there are currently proposals for more than 500 wind turbines within an approximately 15 mile radius along ridgetops in Maryland and West Virginia alone. Environmental reviews on these and other projects are happening in a very cursory manner, as companies rush to complete construction by the end of 2003, when a federal tax credit for wind power is due to expire.

The letter was submitted to the Interior Department by Meyer & Glitzenstein, a public- interest law firm in Washington D.C. It was sent on behalf of Defenders of Wildlife, the National Audubon Society,
Endangered Species Coalition, The Humane Society of the United States, The Center for Biological Diversity, International Wildlife Coalition, Animal Protection Institute, Friends of Blackwater, Massachusetts Audubon Society, Audubon-Pennsylvania, Appalachian Voices, Friends of the Allegheny Front, Friends of Backbone Mountain, Stewards of the Potomac Highlands, Maryland Alliance for Greenway Improvement and Conservation, Conservation Science Institute, Center for Native Ecosystems, Southern Appalachian Biodiversity Project, Coalition to Save Perins Peak, Alliance for Chemicalfree Environment, Endangered Habitats League, Cumberland Countians for Peace & Justice, Obed Watershed Association, United Church of Christ, Network for Environmental & Economic Responsibility, Gifford Pinchot Task Force, Restore: The North Woods, Wildlands CPR, Seventh Generation Fund for Indian Development, Inc., and numerous individual scientists and environmental advocates. Copies of the letter are available here. (right click to save)