Luke Winfield 10/6/11
The Altamont Wind Farm and its harm on birds
My purpose of this news report was to show how, although very beneficial for providing clean energy, the Altamont wind farm is in a terrible location because of predatory birds and migratory birds they kill.
Questions:
Is the clean energy provided by wind power worth the 4,700 bird fatalities each year at the Altamont wind farms?
440,000 birds per year across the country die from wind farms, but millions die per year by electrical wires and loss of habitat. What do you guys think of that?
Should we spend the money to make wind farms safer for birds? Is it worth the money?
Additional Information:
Altamont wind farms were built in 1980’s
1300 birds of prey die a year die from these wind farms
It is the most lethal wind project for birds in the world
Preferred route for migratory birds
The wind farms are built next to the world’s densest nesting area for Golden Eagles
70-80 golden eagles are killed a year from these wind farms
It was called for high-risk turbines to be completely dismantled. 131 turbines were scheduled to be dismantled by February 2007.
They are starting to replace old turbines with newer ones that produce more energy so fewer turbines will be in the way of birds. 70% reduction to bird mortality with new turbines, however with these new turbines red-tailed hawks have died three times more often around these new turbines than before.
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