Yellow light for a 'green' energy source

Wind generation has long been one of the great green hopes for pollution-free power. Current wind-generation capacity in the US is about 9,000 megawatts. The industry target is 100,000 megawatts by 2020, according to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colo.

Cheering wind power from the sidelines are a number of environmental groups, including the World Watch Institute and the Audubon Society. Audubon sees traditional power plants as a larger threat than wind turbines.

"We support renewable energy, including wind power," an Audubon spokesman wrote in an e-mail statement. "Renewable energy has a lower overall impact."

National Wind Watch (NWW), organized last year, is skeptical - and vocal. Though it represents only 1,000 activists, mostly in the Northeast, its ranks are growing.

"Unlike other forms of electricity generation, there's very little in the way of regulation to oversee and ensure that the environment is not being harmed," says Lisa Linowes, an NWW spokeswoman. "So little reporting is required, that we don't know the harm being done."

She points to Europe, where wind farms are far more common. Recent reports of eagle and other bird kills are big news in Germany and the United Kingdom, she says. Siting of facilities seems to have been a problem there, as in some US areas like Altamont, Calif., where wind turbines are notorious for killing large raptors.

Wind advocates say a lot has been learned since Altamont about density and siting of wind turbines. Siting remains critical, and Audubon tempers its support by saying reviewing agencies must "conduct a detailed assessment of potential impacts on wildlife."

New wind farms proposed for certain ridge lines in the Appalachian mountains in Virginia could, for instance, chop at already declining populations of migratory songbirds that tend to fly far lower - under 400 feet - than sea birds and raptors, scientists say.

"We could see tens of thousands of birds moving down this range that would be in the hitting range of these turbines," says Mitchell Byrd, professor emeritus of ornithology at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Va., commenting on a proposed development for Highland County, Va. "People say other things kill more birds than turbines. But if someone slaps you five times, it still hurts the sixth time."

The problem is even worse for bats, who seem attracted to turbines, says Arnett. In 2003, he studied bat mortality at a 44-turbine facility in West Virginia owned by FPL Energy of Juno Beach, Fla.

What he and his colleagues found was a shock. In a six-week period, the 44 turbines killed an estimated 1,364 to 1,980 bats - 38 per turbine, according to their study, released last spring. If West Virginia were to build the more than 400 wind turbines currently permitted, research suggests up to 14,500 bats could be killed in a six-week migratory period alone, Arnett says.

There are signs the wind-energy industry is responding. In January, FPL, the nation's largest wind-power utility, announced funding for several new bat conservation efforts. "We're not trying to say wind turbines don't have an impact [on wildlife]," says Steve Stengel, an FPL spokesman. "But if you look at all forms of power generation and compare them, wind stacks up very well."

Bat advocates, too, expect a solution can be found.

"I don't see wind energy and bat conservation as incompatible goals," says Arnett. "This is within our control to alleviate. We just haven't put enough money into solving it."

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