More than 30 state lawmakers on Wednesday urged the Ohio Power Siting Board to reconsider its approval of the Icebreaker wind-farm project 8 to 10 miles northwest of downtown Cleveland only on the condition that it not operate at night for 8 months of the year. 

Impact on Birds Ohio

Over 800 birds were killed after colliding with turbines at 20 wind energy facilities (WEFs) in South Africa between 2014 and 2018, a new study has revealed. The toll includes species of conservation concern such as endangered Cape Vultures and Black Harriers, both endemic to southern Africa.

Impact on Birds Africa

In a joint letter to the Prime Minister of Greece and the Ministry of Environment and Energy, 12 environmental NGOs and Scientific Societies call for the cancellation of wind farm development plans on 14 protected islets in the South Aegean.

Impact on Wildlife Impact on Birds Impact on Landscape Europe

Nine out of 10 migratory birds are inadequately protected during at least one leg of their annual migrations, according to a 2015 study published in Science. Before 2017, a person could be prosecuted for accidentally killing a bird, but an opinion submitted by the Department of the Interior effectively changed that interpretation so that only intentional harm – mainly illegal hunting – is legally punishable.

Impact on Birds USA

A bid to build a huge offshore wind farm has been held up because of the impact it would have on an endangered bird and a mid-Norfolk village. Alok Sharma, secretary of state for business, energy and industrial strategy, announced on Wednesday that he was “minded to approve” Hornsea Three wind farm, but the energy company behind it needed to give him more information before the end of September.

Impact on Birds UK

It is notable that many of the conservationists defending wildlife from industrial wind turbines and transmission lines view the Democrats’ refurbished Green New Deal and its call for the “rapid deployment” of wind and transmission lines not as a climate dream but rather as an ecological nightmare. This isn’t the first time Democrats have shown a willingness to sacrifice wildlife for the wind industry.

Impact on Wildlife Impact on Birds Energy Policy USA

[The Ohio Power Siting] board unexpectedly imposed restrictions. It said Icebreaker must conduct radar studies of bird and bat traffic over the proposed site before and after construction. And nighttime operation of the turbines must be suspended during the months-long migration periods, unless and until studies conclude that is unnecessary. Opponents, some of whom have filed lawsuits to halt Icebreaker, consider the restrictions a victory. 

Impact on Birds Ohio

A right to information report, recently released by the Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment, shows 59 eagles were estimated to die at the Cattle Hill Wind Farm in the state’s Central Highlands over the development’s first 25 years, based on the original proposal for a 100-turbine wind farm. Wind farm operator Goldwind Australia has since revised plans for a 48-turbine wind farm — 33 of which were completed last year.

Impact on Birds Australia

Hamish Cumming will continue his fight in the Victorian Court of Appeal on June 15 as he seeks to have the $1.5 billion Golden Plains wind farm, planned for Rokewood northwest of Geelong, revised to about 130 turbines. Mr Cumming said buffer zones around brolga breeding and flocking areas near the Golden Plains wind farm had been applied incorrectly by developer Westwind.

Impact on Birds Legal Australia

However, the developers of the project were less than satisfied with one of the conditions of the approval by the OPSB. According to the order, Icebreaker Wind must completely feather its turbines (stopping them from rotating) during nighttime hours from March 1 through November 1 as an initial bird and bat risk mitigation measure.

Impact on Birds Impact on Bats Offshore Wind Ohio

The extension of the PTC provides a stark reminder of how an influential industry can manipulate the Washington favor factory and in doing so, turn what were supposed to be temporary subsidies into permanent ones worth billions of dollars per year – and even more remarkably, get those subsidies extended without ever getting the money appropriated by Congress. 

Impact on Birds Impact on Bats USA Ohio

The Act creates a new Office of Renewable Energy Siting, which will work with other agencies to review and set conditions for proposed renewable energy projects. The input of wildlife management agencies will be crucial to ensure that birds receive adequate protection, but under the new law, these agencies are given short time windows to participate. Insufficient staffing, busy seasons, and many other factors could prevent meaningful review and input, potentially leaving birds largely out of the discussion.

Impact on Birds New York

Bird migration is underway on the southern shore of Lake Erie. At the Black Swamp Bird Observatory (BSBO), a road through a remnant of the once-vast Great Lakes coastal marsh is filling up with cars driven by birders, clutching binoculars and eager for an early glimpse of migratory birds. Robert Sink comes a few times a week from Findlay, Ohio, about an hour away, with his tripod and telephoto camera lens. He posts daily on a Facebook group for Ohio bird photographers. “When the season becomes warmer, I’ll be up here every other day or so,” he tells me.

Impact on Birds Impact on People Ohio

“What happened with the turbine blade killing that bald eagle over in Wood County — that just confirmed our worst fears,” he said. “That dead eagle is the reality of this issue, and it shows that this can happen right here in our backyard. It is awful, and you just hope you can find someone who is interested on the federal level and get them to take some kind of action.” Mark Shieldcastle, a retired avian biologist from the ODNR who is widely recognized as the region’s preeminent expert on birds and bald eagles, said the flying and hunting patterns of bald eagles put them in a very precarious position when wind turbines sprout in their habitat.

Impact on Birds Ohio

But as the grassroots groups battling the Northwest Ohio wind farm projects continue to wade through a swamp of uncertainty as they deal with attorneys, politicians, lobbyists and the Ohio Power Siting Board, which regulates the siting of wind farms, their strongest ally might turn out to be a scavenger whose persona affords it an almost saintly aura — the bald eagle.

Impact on Birds Ohio

Bedford and his wife, Cheryl, purchased more than 400 acres of land on top of one of the hills surrounding San Miguelito Canyon in the early 1990s. With the land previously untouched, they had to build a private road leading up to their home, which sits at roughly 1,700 feet in elevation, before beginning construction.

Impact on Wildlife Impact on Birds California

DES MOINES — The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today announced a habitat conservation plan proposed by MidAmerican Energy as the best solution to help preserve certain bat and eagle species at company wind farms.

Impact on Birds Impact on Bats USA Iowa

Losses of regional birds hit us hardest. Few people may have noticed that we have been seeing fewer indigo bunting, scarlet tanager, ovenbird or rufus-sided towhee. They live in heavy cover and never have been very numerous. But when we look at typical backyard birds like dark-eyed junco, whose population slipped back 175 million individuals, or the white-throated sparrow, which declined by 93 million individual birds, this hits home.

Impact on Birds USA Pennsylvania

A decision on whether the world's largest offshore wind farm will be built has been delayed amid fears it will harm endangered birds. The Government was meant to rule on October 2 whether or not the Hornsea Three wind farm - 120 kilometres off the north Norfolk coast - would get the go-ahead.

Impact on Birds Offshore Wind UK

“People need to pay attention to the birds around them because they are slowly disappearing,” said study lead author Kenneth Rosenberg, a Cornell University conservation scientist. “One of the scary things about the results is that it is happening right under our eyes. We might not even notice it until it’s too late.”

Impact on Birds USA