The following email was sent to the US Fish and Wildlife Service for consideration at the Wind Turbine Guidelines Advisory Committee Meeting to be held March 2 – 4, 2010.  The purpose was to express concern for the cumulative impact the uncontrolled expansion of industrial wind in the United States.  The meeting details are provided at the embedded link above for your convenience.  The meeting is open to the public and we at Allegheny Treasures urge you to attend, or send your thoughts and recommendations to the attention of:

Rachel London
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Division of Habitat and Resource Conservation
4401 N. Fairfax Dr., Room 840
Arlington, VA  22203

Phone:  703-358-2161
rachel_london@fws.gov

Email follows:

As we began this post, we received an article courtesy of National Wind Watch titled Wind energy a threat to birds.  The article serves as a harsh reminder that the vast consumption of land and air by these ill conceived monstrosities is impacting bird populations all over the world.  The article, discussing industrial wind in South Africa is published again here for your convenience:

Credit: Times Live, www.timeslive.co.za 10 February 2010

The expansion of wind energy in South Africa could have a “cumulative impact” on the country’s birds, an environmental group says
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“Cumulative impacts may be the greatest threat posed by wind energy developments to avifauna [birds],” said Endangered Wildlife Trust manager Jon Smallie in a statement.

The cumulative impact referred to the effect that multiple wind farms in the same area would have on birds.

“While a particular site may be acceptable for development from an avifaunal point of view if viewed in isolation, when neighbouring areas are also subsequently developed, the combined impact of these multiple developments on certain bird species could be significant,” said Birdlife SA executive director Mark Anderson.

Smallie said that while environmental impact assessments were done for individual wind farms, they did not measure the cumulative impact of multiple farms in an area.

“The environmental impact assessment process does not take these cumulative impacts into account adequately.

“We are concerned that more and more wind farms are under application, often in close proximity to one another, particularly in the Eastern and Western Cape,” said Smallie.

According to the organisation, only seven commercial wind farms were in operation, making knowledge of their impact difficult to come by.

ARTICLE ENDS!

We’ll take advantage of this opportunity to repost this important commentary from Mr. Wayne Wegner, linked here – Industrial wind calls it NIMBY. Perhaps! But “this problem runs from the arctic to the tip of South America — and that is one helluva big backyard!”

Mr. Wegner’s excellent work is presented here, for your convenience:

This attack on wildlife for the sake of an unreliable and costly energy source is unacceptable.  Your help is needed to raise awareness to your elected officials and state and federal agencies to your concerns for the ills of industrial wind.