Rick Webb sent me more thoughts on this topic, and suggested I share his
message on the listserve (see below). I see his point, and still think that it
is significant that it wasn't the wind turbines per se that were at fault. It
means that other aspects of wind farms also need to be considered as we try to
minimize the impact on birds.
From Rick :
"The birds reportedly died at the mountain-top substation that was built for
and is integral to the wind project.
I don't think it is of key importance whether or not the birds actually were
killed by the turbines. The real issue is the ecological impact of
mountain-top development, and wind energy projects on ridgelines just happen
to be a an especially extreme example -with a regional-scale footprint
involving extensive disturbance, turbines, roads, powerlines, and
substations.
Low-cloud cover, which is common enough on mountaintops, becomes a problem
when we put our infrastructure on mountaintops.
More information on the Laurel Mountain incident should be available this
week when official reports are released.
The American Bird Conservancy media release, which describes 3 similar
events at WV wind projects, plus photos of the Laurel Mountain wind project
and substation involved, are posted on www.VaWind.org.
Rick Webb
Monterey, VA
rwebb@xxxxxxxxxxxx
