Are Birds Interfering with Wind Energy?

Location: New York
Author: Bill Opalka
Date: Friday, November 4, 2011

Oil and gas operations in North Dakota have been charged with violations of federal law that protects birds. A conservancy group wants similar prosecution for wind operators but sees double standard. Why not prosecute wind?

The wind industry counters that its record of cooperation with federal authorities has shown that it is willing to change its practices without having prosecutors resort to criminal charges.

The United States Attorney in North Dakota has charged seven oil companies in seven separate cases with violation of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act for the illegal killing of 28 migratory birds. The American Bird Conservancy says that the wind industry, despite killing more than 400,000 birds annually, has yet to face a single charge.

The statutory maximum sentence for violation of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act is six months in federal prison and a $15,000 fine. Court records in North Dakota show that all seven oil and gas companies have previously been charged with similar violations.

“I commend the Fish and Wildlife Service and the Justice Department for enforcing the law in these cases. Oil pits are a known hazard to birds and the solutions to prevent these bird deaths are straightforward to implement,” said American Bird Conservancy President George Fenwick. “It is perplexing that similar prosecutions have yet to be brought against the operators of wind farms. Every year wind turbines kill hundreds of thousands of birds, including eagles, hawks, and songbirds, but the operators are being allowed to get away with it. It looks like a double standard.”

The Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) estimated in 2009 that about 440,000 birds were being killed by wind turbines. With an anticipated twelve-fold wind energy build-out by the year 2030, bird mortality is expected to dramatically increase in the coming years, absent significant changes in the way wind farms are sited and operated.

John Anderson, the American Wind Energy Association’s director of siting policy, defended the industry, adding that the Bird Act was passed long before skyscrapers, jet planes and wind turbines were contemplated.

“In the case of the wind industry we do kill birds. It’s an indisputable fact. The fact is, though, that we have very low mortality reports,” he said. “The Fish and Wildlife Service is left with a difficult task using enforcement discretion. They go after the people who have demonstrated there is a problem and are unwilling to do anything about it.”

In the case of Altamont Pass in California, where bird mortality caused by wind turbines was at its worst, negotiated settlements have included repowering of facilities and curtailment of operations.

“If it’s not a case like Altamont, then there’s no reason for law enforcement to go after a facility that’s killing three birds per megawatt per year. If that is going to be the case, that opens up the airline industry, skyscrapers, everybody to enforcement,” he said. “With low levels of mortality, that’s why you’ve never seen an enforcement action against a wind facility.”

It’s a string the wind industry would like to see continued.

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