The Fish and Wildlife Service is proposing voluntary guidelines for onshore wind energy developers to avoid bird deaths and other harm to wildlife as part of the Obama administration’s big push for renewable and clean energy.
Bird advocates who had lobbied for mandatory standards warned that the new guidelines would do nothing to stem bird deaths as wind power builds up across the country.
President Barack Obama has called for the nation to get 80 percent of its electricity from clean energy sources by 2035, and renewable sources are expected to play a key role in that effort.
The department is seeking public comment for its proposed guidelines ahead of a two-day renewable energy conference in Washington. The agency also is proposing new voluntary guidance aimed at preventing deaths of bald and golden eagles.
The American Bird Conservancy said the wind industry's goal of providing 20 percent of the nation's electricity by 2030 would lead to a million bird deaths a year or more. The group took out print and online advertisements in political publications this week featuring a cartoon bird saying, "Help me get home alive" and asking people to sign a petition calling for mandatory standards.
John Anderson, director of siting policy at the American Wind Energy Association, said every form of energy, communication and transportation has an affect on wildlife.
Anderson said the wind industry has a long history of collaborating with conservation groups to find ways to reduce bird deaths and noted that wind energy displaces emissions of carbon dioxide blamed for global warming, which has been identified as a big threat to wildlife, including birds.
A 2005 USDA Forest Service report estimated that 500 million to possibly more than 1 billion birds are killed in the United States every year in collisions with manmade structures such as vehicles, buildings, power lines, telecommunication towers and wind turbines.
The report estimated that 550 million are killed by buildings and 130 million by power lines, while only 28,000 are killed by wind turbines. A 2009 report by Fish and Wildlife scientist put the figure at 440,000 annual bird deaths by wind turbines.
Despite those lower numbers, the bird group argues that the wind industry is in a unique position because it's at the beginning of a nationwide build-out and can still take steps to minimize bird impacts before that occurs.
In 2010, a second "State of the Birds" report from the Department of the Interior found that global climate change poses a significant threat to migratory bird populations.
The previous year, the first such report, also released by the Interior Department secretary, found that energy production of all types — such as wind, ethanol and mountaintop coal mining — was contributing to steep drops in bird populations.
