Bird deaths continue at the Altamont Pass while Alameda County delays action

Bird kills by wind turbines at the Altamont Pass Wind Resource Area have stained an otherwise environmentally desirable industry for nearly two decades.

The Alameda Board of Supervisors has delayed a decision on mitigation measures until its June 2 meeting, hoping to gain insight on how many birds can be saved without bankrupting turbine operators. While most of us want to save turbines and birds, the issue will not be resolved until turbine operators stop discussing avian mortality in terms of what they can afford. Instead they need to consider what the global wind-power industry can not afford - loss of supportive environmental advocacy.

The generic benefits of wind power include reduced global warming, independence from foreign fuel sources, and preservation of open space. With a 550 megawatt farm (roughly equal to one half of San Francisco's peak demand) in our back yard, we have local benefits including reduced air pollution, local jobs, and reduced electrical transmission losses and grid congestion.

The cost, however, is an estimated 880 - 1,300 raptors killed each year at Altamont according to a report published last summer by the California Energy Commission (CEC). Each of these kills is a violation of both state and federal law, which the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and California Department of Fish and Game have failed to enforce. The CEC report recommends 11 ways to reduce the fatalities and suggests that the ultimate solution may be replacement of existing turbines with a smaller number of larger, taller, and slower ones. (Elsewhere large numbers of bats have been killed at new wind farms in West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, and most recently in Solano County.)

In December 2003 and January 2004, permits for most of the existing turbines at the Altamont were indefinitely extended. The conditions of approval did not include a single reference to avian mortality, let alone requirements to solve the problem. The Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) led an appeal of these permits, arguing that the following were required: an Environmental Impact Report (EIR), shorter permit terms, a significant reduction in bird kills at existing turbines, off-site mitigation for ongoing bird kills, shutdown of the most lethal turbines, re-powering with fewer but more efficient turbines in a manner that reduces bird risk, and upgrading the electrical system to prevent electrocutions. CBD also urged that results of the CEC report be incorporated into the permit conditions.

In response, Alameda County formed a Wind Power Working Group (WPWG) which includes turbine operators, the appellants, environmental groups, land owners, wildlife biologists, and relevant government agencies. Within the WPWG, turbine operators proposed an Adaptive Management Plan (AMP) in which they specified which of the CEC-recommended mitigation measures they were willing to implement. Through three iterations of the AMP, the operators maintained a short-sighted "this is what we can afford" approach to the problem, hoping to limit mitigation until they can re-power with newer, more efficient turbines. The industry, however, has provided no substantiation for its claims of financial hardship.

County planning staff has attempted to bridge the gulf among participants with a Wind Energy Program, which calls for a Specific Plan evaluating the future operation of the Altamont Wind Area along with an EIR, a shorter permit term, and both permanent and seasonal shutdown of specific turbines. The seasonal shutdown would be particularly important since winter is both the most lethal period for birds, and the least productive for energy production. The county's plan, however, does not include a commitment to specific reductions in bird mortality or to off-site mitigation. As currently proposed, the plan is peppered with loopholes and economic exemptions which could allow the turbine operators to operate indefinitely without significant reductions in bird kills. The appellants will likely mount a legal challenge to the county plan. CBD is also engaged in a civil lawsuit against all of the turbine operators for violations of state and federal law.

The recent bat fatalities at state-of-the-art wind farms across the nation indicates that wind power's wildlife impacts extend beyond the Altamont Pass. It's time for the industry to stop downplaying this issue, to stop challenging the research of impartial agencies like the CEC, and to start implementing meaningful mitigation measures. Numerous organizations, including the Sierra Club Bay Chapter, will be watching.

WhatYouCanDo

Contact the Alameda County Supervisors by May 20 at:
1221 Oak St., #536
Oakland, CA 94612
(510)272-6347.

Ask the county to strengthen the appealed permits to include:

• binding mitigation measures to reduce bird kills;
• off-site habitat preservation.

Information about the permit appeals and the CBD lawsuit can be found at www.biologicaldiversity.org/swcbd/programs/bdes/altamont/altamont.html.

You can also write the turbine operators and let them know that support for wind power will be jeopardized if they cannot significantly reduce avian and bat mortality. For a sample letter, contact information, writing points, and background material, see www.sfbayenergy.org

Letters from friends or family in the wind-rich Midwest will be particularly effective.

Tom Roberts, co-chair, Chapter Energy Committee