Audubon Opposes Texas Wind Farm

Posted by Rosemary Drisdelle May 29, 2008

I’ve written about wind farms and birds in the past because of the potential that windmills have to kill birds. In general both environmentalists and people interested in bird conservation support wind energy because it doesn’t pollute and is renewable; however, when wind turbines are built in places where large numbers of birds fly through, they can be a problem.

The most famous example is Altamont Pass in California, an enormous wind farm that kills many raptors every year. Audubon Texas thinks that a wind development proposed for Kenedy County in coastal Texas has the potential to be as bad or worse, because it is directly in the path of literally millions of migratory birds as they travel north and return south each year. Audubon points out that there has been insufficient study of sites like this one to accurately judge whether it will be a significant threat to birds.

It’s discouraging that developers fail to take birds into account when choosing a location for windmills. While research and good environmental studies can help us avoid repeating Altamont Pass elsewhere, wind development that threatens bird species already in decline can ruin wind energy’s clean and green image. Lets’ hope it doesn’t happen.

Read the Audubon resolution and additional information about the proposed development in Kenedy County, Texas.