| lkgeo1 2006-12-18, 9:25 am |
| For the Birds: Audubon Society Stands Up in Support of Wind Energy
by Carl Levesque, American Wind Energy Association
In mere fact only, it was just another day at the American Wind Energy
Association (AWEA): the president of a national nonprofit organization
was paying a visit to the wind power association's Washington, D.C.
offices. But on this particular overcast morning in November, the visit
-- or the visitor -- was a bit more special than usual. The man
chatting it up with AWEA staff was John Flicker, the president of the
National Audubon Society.
"When you look at a wind turbine, you can find the bird carcasses and
count them. With a coal-fired power plant, you can't count the
carcasses, but it's going to kill a lot more birds."
-- John Flicker, National Audubon Society, president
The organization had recently been giving wind power some attention,
running a thorough and in-depth feature article on the subject in the
September-October issue of its national membership magazine. It would
be the content in the next issue, though, that would actually make news
as opposed to merely report it.
In the November-December installment of the magazine, Flicker wrote a
column stating that Audubon "strongly supports wind power as a clean
alternative energy source," pointing to the link between global warming
and the birds and other wildlife that scientist say it will kill. The
venerable environmental organization and avian champion was now on
record as embracing wind power.
Invisible carcasses
The endorsement makes a lot of sense, once the facts surrounding the
issue are put in proper perspective. Birds are over 10,000 times more
likely -- at least -- to be killed by other human-related causes (e.g.,
by buildings, vehicles, pet cats, pesticides, etc.) than by a wind
turbine; put another way, for every 10,000 birds killed by such human
activities, less than one death is caused by a wind turbine.
Granted, no one -- the Audubon Society, AWEA, or any other
environmentally conscious organization -- wants to see any birds killed
at all. But when you talk about bird mortality today, one of the areas
of gravest concern is global warming and the massive, wholesale
destruction of wildlife habitat it is already beginning to create. "As
the threats of global warming loom ever larger, alternative energy
sources like wind power are essential," Flicker wrote in his magazine
column.
In an interview with AWEA's Wind Energy Weekly industry newsletter,
Flicker said that the organization's decision to speak out about wind
came as a result of the recent increased urgency on the part of the
scientific community with respect to global warming. Specifically, he
cited a recent study by John Hansen for the National Academy of
Sciences suggesting that if greenhouse gases are not reduced in the
next decade, a significant number of plants and animals could face
extinction by the middle of the century.
"It creates a sense of urgency beyond anything we have seen before,"
said Flicker, adding that he wants to ensure his organization is not an
obstacle for wind power but a help. "I want to make sure Audubon is
doing everything we can to promote both conservation and wind energy."
Flicker summed up the Audubon perspective with stark directness. "When
you look at a wind turbine, you can find the bird carcasses and count
them," he said. "With a coal-fired power plant, you can't count the
carcasses, but it's going to kill a lot more birds."
Openness and collaboration
It was not the first time that an Audubon organization had shown
support for wind. Earlier this year, for example, the New York chapter
of the society announced that it was purchasing wind power to offset
100% of the electricity consumption at its offices. But the most recent
installment of Flicker's column -- which, significantly, bears the name
Audubon View -- was a categorical endorsement of wind from Audubon's
national office.
While Audubon chapters operate somewhat independently, Flicker said the
decision to support wind came from input back and forth between the
national society and the state organizations. (Individuals are members
of both the national society and state affiliates.)
"What we want to do is educate our members and give them guidance," he
said, explaining that "we give each other guidance."
In his column, Flicker emphasized the importance of prudent siting and
the need for his organization and its chapters to work with the wind
energy industry.
"Modern wind turbines are much safer for birds than their predecessors,
but if they are located in the wrong places, they can still be
hazardous and can fragment critical habitat," said Flicker.
Working with avian and other environmental groups is something that
AWEA and the wind industry have been doing for some time, having
entered into partnerships of various forms with private entities,
non-governmental organizations, and government agencies to address
avian concerns: AWEA and Audubon were early members of the National
Wind Coordinating Committee (NWCC) -- a multi-stakeholder collaborative
that was formed in 1994, in part to address the issue of avian
mortality.
The NWCC has played a leading role in disseminating wind-avian research
results and in establishing basic methods for monitoring and reporting
on avian mortality at wind power plants.
The Bats and Wind Energy Cooperative -- an initiative of AWEA, Bat
Conservation International, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service --
is performing research toward avoiding or minimizing bat fatalities
caused by wind turbines. Meanwhile, Kansas State university is the lead
research entity for the Grassland Shrub-Steppe Species Collaborative,
of which AWEA is also a member. The four-year collaborative project,
announced in May, involves extensive research on the impact in Kansas
of wind power on grassland species such as the prairie chicken.
Cultivating such a culture of fact-based openness and cooperation, wind
energy and bird interests continue to move forward at the wind power
project level as well. Flicker noted in his column how Mass Audubon, an
independent state Audubon organization in Massachusetts, recently
completed an extensive review of the Cape Wind project, a study that
"set a new standard for analyzing the potential effects of wind
turbines on birds."
Flicker told Wind Energy Weekly that he would do everything he could to
help advance wind power. "We want to figure out ways to cooperate as
much as we can to make the wind industry grow while making wind power
safer for birds," he said.
One concrete example of Flicker and Audubon advocating for wind power:
in his column, he urged readers to contact Members of Congress and ask
them to make the federal Production Tax Credit for wind power
permanent.
"We very much appreciate Audubon's leadership on this issue, and we
look forward to working with the Society-as well as with other
environmental organizations -- to ensure that the large-scale benefits
of wind power are considered in the continuing debate over America's
energy and climate policies," said AWEA Executive Director Randy
Swisher.
Carl Levesque is the Communications Editor at AWEA. This article was
reprinted with permission from AWEA.
For further Information
=BB American Wind Energy Association (AWEA)
=BB Bats and Wind Energy Cooperative
=BB Grassland Shrub-Steppe Species Collaborative
=BB National Audubon Society
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