Debate on Calif. windmills turns toward bird safety

ALTAMONT PASS, Calif. -- The first of thousands of giant windmills began sprouting atop this landscape two decades ago. The rolling hills and canyons seemed the ideal place for harnessing the breezes that sweep inland from San Francisco Bay.

But mounting evidence shows otherwise, according to wildlife activists who say scores of golden eagles and hundreds of other raptors -- lured to the area by a bounty of prey -- are falling victim each year to the whirring blades of so-called killer turbines.

"The magnitude of this problem has been known for at least 15 years," said Jeff Miller, a spokesman for the Center for Biological Diversity. "This problem has been studied to death, and there has not been a concerted effort, in our view, to reduce bird kills."

Last month, Miller's group sued two companies that operate the bulk of the 6,200 wind turbines that comprise the Altamont Pass Wind Resource Area, which spreads over nearly 80 square miles on the eastern edge of the San Francisco Bay area.

The lawsuit has been filed in federal district court in San Francisco as 20-year permits for the windmills are expiring and are up for renewal, providing an opportunity for wildlife advocates to influence discussion on whether Alameda County, which issues the permits, should continue to allow the wind farms to operate. The group has been pushing for new environmental studies, which could result in stricter restrictions on wind farm operations.

The lawsuit was brought under California's Unfair Competition Law, which prohibits businesses from breaking laws in the course of business. The lawsuit says the windmill operators broke state and federal wildlife protection laws.

A week after the legal action, a three-member zoning panel approved 15 such permits, covering at least 1,200 wind turbines. That adds to the 14 permits the panel granted in November, a decision which was appealed promptly by the biological diversity center. The group also is expected to appeal the more recent decision, and the county Board of Supervisors is scheduled to take up the debate next month.

No one, not even those who filed the recent lawsuit, expects the wind farms to be shut down. But the jolt from the lawsuit and the ensuing media attention has intensified discussions over the harm that windmills pose to bird populations. The county is demanding greater authority over which measures windmill operators will put in place to minimize bird mortality.

"We are very much in favor of wind power," said Andrew Young, a planner with the county, located across the bay from San Francisco. Regardless of what steps are taken, there will always be birds that collide with spinning blades, he said, noting that finding the right environmental and ecological balance is not so easy. "We really don't want to reduce the productive capability of the wind farms and drive the wind farm operators out of the area."

The controversy stems not from the general location of the Altamont windmills, most agree, but from the placement of specific turbines. Another wind farm, 50 miles north in the Sacramento River delta, has generated few protests.

"We think wind power is clean energy, but we think this particular wind farm has some problems," Miller said. "This is not a case about wind power vs. birds. But nothing they've done has been effective."

Some of the windmills are in flyways popular with birds, such as near canyons and ravines, according to the critics, who want older machines replaced with turbines that have slower-spinning blades so that birds have more time to react and avoid the whirring blades.

Windmill operators have tried painting blades a darker color to make them more visible, but some birds still fly into them. Screens meant to prevent birds from perching have not always worked. Efforts to control rodents, popular prey for raptors, have not worked either.

The controversy whirling around the Altamont wind farms is not exactly new. Concerns about potential bird kills arose long ago, but not until recent years has the extent of casualties been thoroughly documented. The data underscore the need for more-aggressive action, Miller said.

Each year, at least 60 golden eagles die in collisions with windmills, as well as 300 red-tailed hawks and 270 western burrowing owls, according to statistics the biological diversity center compiled from studies conducted by the state Energy Commission.

Later this year, the commission is expected to publish a report detailing the scope of the problem at the Altamont wind farms and possible remedies, including removal of specific wind turbines that do most of the harm.

"Our hope is we can come up with additional steps we can all agree on to reduce collisions," said Steve Stengel, a spokesman for FPL Group of Juno Beach, Fla., which was named in the recent lawsuit. "I think it is unfair to say we haven't been doing anything to reduce collisions. I think we have.

"As a company, we are very much concerned. We do take our commitment to the environment very seriously."

But the industry has opposed launching new environmental impact studies proposed by wildlife activists and the US Fish and Wildlife Service.

The impact of wind farms on raptors and migratory birds "has become more apparent over time, and it is something to be concerned about," said Jim Nickels, a Sacramento spokesman for the US Fish and Wildlife Service. Despite plentiful evidence of bird kills, the agency has not levied major penalties against any windmill companies.

The controversy over bird kills at Altamont Pass notwithstanding, the debate over wind farms in California has quieted considerably over the years. Embraced by environmentalists as a way to reduce dependence on air-fouling fossil fuels, wind power is enjoying resurgence in the Golden State, partly because of government incentives as well as advances in design and technology that allow operators to produce energy more cheaply.

In addition, California is banking on wind farms to help the state meet its goal of deriving at least a third of the power it consumes from clean, renewable energy sources, such as solar and wind power, by 2020.

"There is continuing pressure to diversify energy sources, the least costly of which is wind power," said Ralph Cavanaugh, energy program director for the Natural Resources Defense Council. "No source of energy is perfect, but this one is qualitatively better than the competition."