[BCNnet] 2 wind turbines in environmentally sensitive areas

[Carolyn A. Marsh]

November 19, 2008

 

Dear Friend:

 

Without any state policy on wind turbines, the Indiana Office of Energy &
Defense Development awarded $24,250 to the Hammond Port Authority as part of
an $110,000 project to install two 115-foot wind turbines at Wolf Lake in
Hammond. 

 

No public input, nothing. All the Hammond Port Authority did was apply for
the grant on September 19, 2008 and it was awarded on October 9, 2008! If
the state gets away with this, then no other wildlife area is sacred.

 

While wind turbines are an excellent source of alternative energy, other
states are first developing criteria for wind turbines that include the best
placement for them. Wisconsin, a Great Lakes state, with public involvement,
is drawing up guidelines for wind turbines that recognize and avoid
environmentally sensitive wildlife areas such as migratory bird flyways.

 

Wolf Lake is part of the tri-lake State Line/Calumet Region Important Bird
Area, a National Audubon Society program. The area was also the site of a
Field Museum BioBlitz in August 2002. The BioBlitz included Eggers Woods
Forest Preserve and Powderhorn Lake Forest Preserve that neighbor Wolf Lake
on the west side in Illinois. It connects to the Lake Calumet Audubon
Important Bird Area. These green ways are listed in various bird guide
books.

 

This is the official description:

State Line/Calumet Region (Lake County, IN): Located in the far northwestern
corner of Indiana and bordered to the immediate north by Lake Michigan's
shoreline, the State Line/Calumet Region Important Bird Area represents one
of the most significant ornithological phenomena and bird conservation
issues in the state.  This region is regarded as one of the most important
flyways for migratory songbirds in the United States, with the shores and
deep waters of Lake Michigan acting as a funnel during spring and fall,
thereby generating intense concentrations of migrants within the small
woodlots and other greenspace remaining in the highly urbanized and
industrialized Calumet area.  Three sites are particularly noteworthy within
this IBA - the Hammond Lakefront Park and Bird Sanctuary, George Lake, and
Wolf Lake/Forsythe Park.

 

A wind turbine will be installed in two different areas of parkland next to
Wolf Lake in a working class urban area. Wolf Lake is bi-state with half of
the lake in Chicago, Illinois, the William W. Powers Fish & Wildlife Area.
The Hammond half of the lake is now managed by the Hammond Port Authority.
They took control of the Wolf Lake from the Hammond Parks Department without
any public meetings. The Chicago half is managed by the Illinois Department
of Natural Resources. 

 

The wind turbines will be built at Wolf Lake so they can be seen by
thousands of Indiana Toll Road riders, as the toll road bisects the lake.
More green washing since the turbines will supply only 10-kilowatts to power
a seldom-opened shelter at Forsythe Park and to light a sanitary district
pumping station, which drains runoff into Wolf Lake. 

 

Any surplus energy from the wind turbines will be sold to the NIPSCO grid.
NIPSCO's parent company is a corporate council member of Chicago Wilderness,
an organization that was established to protect biodiversity in the Great
Lakes region. NIPSCO should know better than to approve wind turbines at
Wolf Lake when there are many other places they could be installed without
causing confrontations with bird lovers. 

 

The Hammond Port Authority is notorious for its global-warming developments
such as the Las Vegas style casino. The casino was once a riverboat but now
is a multi-layered big box built on top of four barges inside the Hammond
Marina. Shoreline parking garages block the sky, huge windows reflect the
water and stadium lights pollute the night sky. 

 

At the south basin of George Lake, once a prime wildlife area, is a white
elephant golf course where a new massive environmentally unfriendly banquet
hall is being built despite the golf course operating in the red.

 

It's not clear if the wind turbines are in addition to the Statue of Liberty
the Port Authority is studying for Wolf Lake. It appears the Statue of
Liberty and the wind turbine will be in the same section of the park across
from the "environmental center" at the intersection of Sheffield and Calumet
Avenues.

 

Environmental organizations need to address this issue now before wind
turbines line up the lakefront. 

 

Carolyn Marsh

Bird conservationist and founder of the Hammond Bird Sanctuary

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