[BCNnet] BCNnet: Lucidity on birds and wind turbines

[Birdchris at aol.com]

Wind power is something we all are going to have to come to grips with.  
Here's a start.
 
Christine Williamson
Chicago/Cook
_birdchris at aol.com_ (mailto:birdchris at aol.com) 
 
Flicker summed up the Audubon  perspective with stark directness. “When you 
look at a wind turbine, you can  find the bird carcasses and count them,” he 
said. “With a coal-fired power  plant, you can’t count the carcasses, but it’s 
going to kill a lot more  birds.”      
National Audubon Society Shows  Support for Wind Power   
Pointing to the link between global warming and the  birds and other wildlife 
that scientists assert it will kill, the National  Audubon Society said that 
it “strongly supports wind power as a clean  alternative energy source.” 
The show of support came via a column called  Audubon  View published in the 
organization’s  November-December issue of its membership magazine and written 
by Audubon  President John Flicker. “As the threats of global warming loom 
ever  larger, alternative energy sources like wind power are essential,” wrote  
Flicker, who visited the AWEA offices this  week. 
Flicker emphasized the importance of prudent siting  and the need for his 
organization and its chapters to work with the wind  energy industry. “Modern 
wind turbines are much safer for birds than their  predecessors, but if they are 
located in the wrong places, they can still  be hazardous and can fragment 
critical habitat,” said  Flicker. 
In an interview with Wind Energy Weekly,  Flicker said that the organization’
s decision to speak out about wind came  as a result of the recent increased 
urgency on the part of the scientific  community with respect to global 
warming. Specifically, he cited a recent  study by John Hansen for the National 
Academy of Sciences suggesting that  if greenhouse gases are not reduced in the 
next decade, a significant  amount of plants and animals could face extinction by 
the middle of the  century. “It creates a sense of urgency beyond anything we 
have seen  before,” said Flicker, adding that he wanted to ensure his 
organization is  not an obstacle for wind power but a help. “I want to make sure 
Audubon is  doing everything we can to promote both conservation and wind  energy.”
 
Flicker summed up the Audubon perspective with  stark directness. “When you 
look at a wind turbine, you can find the bird  carcasses and count them,” he 
said. “With a coal-fired power plant, you  can’t count the carcasses, but it’s 
going to kill a lot more  birds.” 
In his column, Flicker noted how Mass Audubon, an  independent state Audubon 
organization in Massachusetts, recently completed an extensive  review of the 
Cape Wind project, a study that “set a  new standard for analyzing the 
potential effects of wind turbines on  birds.” Flicker told Wind Energy Weekly that  
he would do everything he could to help advance wind energy. “We want to  
figure out ways to cooperate as much as we can to make the wind industry  grow 
while making wind power safer for birds,” he  said. 
One concrete example of Flicker and Audubon  advocating for wind power: in 
his column, he urged readers to contact  Members of Congress and ask them to 
make the Production Tax Credit for  wind power permanent. 
While Audubon chapters operate somewhat  independently, Flicker said the 
decision to support wind came from  feedback back and forth between the national 
society and the state  organizations. (Individuals are members of both the 
national society and  state affiliates.) “What we want to do is educate our 
members and give  them guidance,” he said, explaining that ‘we give each other 
guidance.”   
 

 


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