Action close on reducing bird kills at Altamont Pass

On July 7 the Alameda County Board of Supervisors voted 4 - 0 (Supervisor Steele abstaining) for a plan to reduce bird kills by Altamont Pass wind turbines. The motion by Supervisor Haggerty instructs staff to add nine specific mitigation measures to the turbines' operating permits. Final permit approval is scheduled for Sep. 22.

Highlights of the plan include:

• immediate shut-down of the most dangerous 2% of the turbines, approximately 100 turbines, and shut-down of 160 more within five years;
• shut-down of all turbines in the winter, when light winds limit power output, but bird use is high; initially the shut-down will be for two months, increasing each year to reach 3-1/2 months in five years;
• replacement of old turbines ("repowering"): 10% by year 4, 35% by year 8, 85% by year 10, and 100% by the 13th and final year; older, smaller, faster turbines will be replaced with a smaller number of larger, slower, hopefully less lethal turbines;
• preparation of an Environmental Impact Report.

Some mitigation measures begin immediately, but most are to be phased in over five years or to begin after the EIR is completed in 3 - 5 years.

Of particular importance is the simple statement that the turbine operators "have no opt-out for financial hardship". Turbine operators have consistently argued that saving even half of the raptors would put them out of business, but they have refused to provide supporting financial data. In the long term, repowering to more efficient turbines should generate greater profits, as should new contracts with PG&E once Renewable Portfolio Standards force PG&E to buy more wind power.

This compromise plan should reduce bird kill and advance wind power, but it does not satisfy the wildlife advocates who initiated the appeal against the original permits. "With increasing numbers of raptor experts calling for the shutdown of Altamont Pass wind turbines, the County needs to ensure that their permit conditions will result in dramatic and rapid reductions in bird kills at turbines," said Jeff Miller, Bay Area Wildlands Coordinator for the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD). "The proposed permit conditions for avian mortality may not go far enough fast enough, and [they] propose to defer offsite mitigation, even though upwards of 500 birds of prey will continue to be killed annually for the next 5 years." CBD and Golden Gate Audubon are requesting that enough turbines shut down immediately to cut bird mortality by 50% (permanent shutdown of a little under 300 turbines, plus a full 3-1/2-month winter shutdown of all turbines). They also request immediate off-site mitigation to compensate for the 500 birds of prey that would still be killed even with a 50% reduction in mortality, and that the turbine operators be required to open their books to show the county how badly these mitigation measures will affect their financial viability.

The county's proposed plan assumes that replacement of turbines will provide the long-term solution to bird kills, which in turn could allow increased power generation. If so, the Altamont could finally achieve its potential to be one of the country's largest environmentally responsible energy plants. The promise of repowering for reducing avian mortality must be proven through unbiased monitoring and data analysis.

Executive director Elizabeth Murdock of Golden Gate Audubon declares, "The bottom line is that Altamont is the wrong place for a wind farm. But if the county is willing to require truly significant bird-kill reductions, there might be a win-win for birds and wind energy."

The county's plan begins to address this need, but is not detailed enough to show how it will be achieved. Solid data must be available in time for the EIR process - to prevent excessive bird deaths from new turbines and to advance the future of truly green wind power.

WhatYouCanDo

Write your Alameda County supervisor at:
1221 Oak St., #536
Oakland, CA 94612.

Request that the final permit conditions for the Altamont Pass Wind Resource Area reflect CBD's concerns, and stress the importance of non-biased monitoring data.

For the full plan, as well as more details on the environmental concerns, see www.sfbayenergy.org and www.goldengateaudubon.org (click on " Alerts and Events").

The Bay Chapter Energy Committee promotes the use of safe and renewable energy sources with minimal impacts to the environment. For more information on the Chapter Energy Committee, please contact committee co-chair Tom Roberts at tc.roberts-at-mindspring.com

Tom Roberts, East Bay chair, Energy Committee