Re: “,” Nov. 22 Perspective commentary.
This article grossly misinforms readers about wind energy’s impact and ignores its many environmental benefits.
Contrary to the impression left by the piece, wind farms are not a major source of bird mortality. Wind turbine sites represent only a tiny fraction of bird deaths caused by human activities — an estimated 214,000 to 368,000 annually, according to a 2014 study from the American Wind Wildlife Institute. This compares to other human causes such as buildings (550 million), power lines (130 million), cars (80 million), and pesticide poisoning (67 million), according to a 2002 study published in a 2005 U.S. Forest Service General Technical Report.
The same holds true for eagle mortality. While eagles do occasionally collide with turbines at some wind farms, this is not a common occurrence. Modern wind facilities represent only 2 percent of all documented sources of human-caused golden eagle fatalities.
Bird mortality has been studied many times by many different researchers, and wind’s impacts are much less than other sources of power generation. Indeed, many other human-made sources have a significantly larger effect. Judith Lewis Mernit informs her article largely on the basis of one discredited report, which a proper peer-review later found was flawed with a wide variety of serious mistakes.
Can more be done? Yes, and it should, but there is no doubt that the U.S. wind industry has been proactive and diligent in studying, monitoring, and mitigating the impacts of wind projects on birds and bats.
There is another important consideration. Wind energy is one of the key solutions for mitigating climate change, which is the biggest threat to birds and wildlife generally. Wind energy is not only free of emissions harming our air quality, but it also doesn’t require mining, drilling, or transporting. No mountain tops are blown off, no rivers are buried under mine waste, no train cars will blow up.
The undeniable truth is that wind is one of our most ecologically sound energy options for powering our society and safeguarding our wildlife.
David Jenkins is president of Conservatives for Responsible Stewardship. Nancy Rader is executive director of the California Wind Energy Association.
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