Originally published October 16 2005
Oversight committee finds wind turbines don't kill many bats or birds
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
According to Renewable Energy Access, a study by the Federal Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that wind turbines do not kill a "significant" number of bats and birds as opponents of the technology surmised, but the committee also found that state and local officials need more federal intervention to accurately determine the effect of wind turbines on wildlife.
A recent report from the Federal Government Accountability Office (GAO) looked at bird and bat deaths caused by wind turbines and found both good and bad news for wind power.
Perhaps most important to the growing industry, the GAO did not find wind power responsible for a "significant" number of bird deaths as has often been perceived by the public and more often promulgated by opponents of wind power.
"In the context of other sources of avian [mortality], it does not appear that wind power is responsible for a significant number of bird deaths," the report states in its conclusion.
The report, however, found that some state and local officials don't necessarily always have the proper expertise to determine whether a proposed wind farm will harm wildlife, particularly birds or bats.
"Concerns are compounded by the fact that the regulation of wind power varies from location-to-location and some state and local regulatory agencies we reviewed generally had little experience or expertise in addressing the environmental and wildlife impacts from wind power," the report said.
Recently discovered bat deaths at the 66 MW Mountaineer wind farm in their state have raised new concerns over wind power's impact on the environment that it is ironically supposed to protect.
As soon as the wind power industry found out about high bat mortality rates at the Mountaineer wind project, they responded quickly with the establishment of a research program between American Wind Energy Association (AWEA), individual wind energy companies, Bat Conservation International, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and other stakeholder groups.
"The industry believes that bats and wind turbines can and must coexist, and is working with stakeholder groups and experts to understand the issue and try to find ways to avoid or at least reduce collisions," Swisher said.
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