The Observation Deck

• 1) wind on the Lake; and
  2) manufacturing and engineering expertise to become a leader in producing windmills for export to other states (potentially 10,000 jobs over the long term).

Jeff Endress wrote:Given Cleveland's past history of actually bringing innovations to fruition (with the exception of the Euclid Corridor, of course ) I'd say that the chances of this actually happening are somewhere between slim and nil.....

But, then again, we may someday, be able to take the people mover to the trans-erie canadian bridge, and as we traverse the Lake, see a veritable forest of windmills out there....

dl meckes wrote:How many birds have died as a result of the GLSC installation?

Nothing will happen too quickly.
I certainly want to respect the bird population of our area. There has been a concern mentioned about the Wind Mills possibly harming birds. That would be one location and design issue that would need to be addressed. My initial thoughts were the Wind Farm would be 2.5 to 3 miles offshore as wind studies conducted be Cleveland show the wind is higher there. I have read some research done by NASA on this very subject and would hope we could get their support in making the wind mills as safe as possible.

I would have to think that the current production of electricity by burning coal has to add a great deal of pollutants including mercury, that would harm all of us, birds, fish and people. At http://www.capewind.whgrp.com it is reported that 200 MW hours of electricity produce the following estimated emissions by burning coal: 2,212 Lbs/Hour(2) of SO2 - 710 Lbs/hr(2) of NOx and 393,820 Lbs/hr(2) of CO2. That's per hour!

Sulfur dioxide contributes to respiratory illness and aggravates existing heart and lung disease; damages trees, crops, stone and other materials; increases acidity in soils, lakes and other bodies of water; and increases visibility impairment. Sulfur dioxides form particulates that can be transported over long distances and deposited far from the point of origin. Nitrogen oxides contribute to the formation of smog, acid rain and toxic chemicals by reacting with other compounds in the air. NOx emissions also contribute to the deterioration of water quality by increasing nitrogen loading. Carbon dioxide is the primary gas involved in global warming. Rising global temperatures are expected to raise the sea level, change precipitation and alter other climate conditions.

I did see
http://www.acsu.buffalo.edu/~insrisg/na ... dmills.htm
an article in the Buffalo Sunday News by Gerry Rising. The article concludes with, "There is clearly a trade-off here but I believe that a cost-benefit analysis comes down on the side of the wind turbines. I join my birding colleagues in their concern for the death or injury of any bird, but I suggest that wind turbines represent the least of their worries. For example, a single feral cat kills more birds in a week than the average wind turbine kills in over three years."
Please also look at:
http://www.awea.org/faq/sagrillo/swbirds.html
Which says: " By far, the largest causes of mortality among birds include loss of habitat due to human infringement, environmental despoliation, and collisions with man-made objects. Since wind turbines fall into the last category, it is worthwhile to examine other human causes of avian deaths and compare these to mortality from wind turbines.

Death by..

Utility transmission and distribution lines, the backbone of our electrical power system, are responsible for 130 to 174 million bird deaths a year in the U.S.1 Many of the affected birds are those with large wingspans, including raptors and waterfowl. While attempting to land on power lines and poles, birds are sometimes electrocuted when their wings span between two hot wires. Many other birds are killed as their flight paths intersect the power lines strung between poles and towers. One report states that: "for some types of birds, power line collisions appear to be a significant source of mortality."2

Collisions with automobiles and trucks result in the deaths of between 60 and 80 million birds annually in the U.S.3 As more vehicles share the roadway, and our automotive society becomes more pervasive, these numbers will only increase. Our dependence on oil has taken its toll on birds too. Even the relatively high incidence of bird kills at Altamont Pass (about 92 per year) pales in comparison to the number of birds killed from the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska. In fact, according to author Paul Gipe, the Altamont Pass wind farm would have to operate for 500 to 1000 years to "achieve" the same mortality level as the Exxon Valdez event in 1989.

Tall building and residential house windows also claim their share of birds. Some of the five million tall buildings in U.S. cities have been
documented as being a chronic mortality problem for migrating birds. There are more than 100 million houses in the U.S. House
windows are more of a problem for birds in rural areas than in cities or towns. While there are no required ongoing studies of bird mortality due to buildings or house windows, the best estimates put the toll due
collisions with these structures at between 100 million and a staggering 1 billion deaths annually.4

Lighted communication towers turn out to be one of the more serious
problems for birds, especially for migratory species that fly at night. One study began its conclusion with, "It is apparent
from the analysis of the data that significant numbers of birds are dying in collisions with communications towers, their guy wires, and related structures."5 Another report states, "The main environmental problem we are watching out for with telecommunication towers are the deaths of birds and bats."6

This is not news, as bird collisions with lighted television and radio towers have been documented for over 50 years. Some towers are responsible for very high episodic fatalities. One television transmitter tower in Eau Claire, WI, was responsible for the deaths of over 1,000 birds on each of 24 consecutive nights. A "record 30,000 birds were estimated killed on one night" at this same tower.7 In Kansas, 10,000 birds were killed in one night by a telecommunications tower.8 Numerous large bird kills, while not as dramatic as the examples cited above, continue to occur across the country at telecommunication tower sites.

The number of telecommunication towers in the U.S. currently exceeds 77,000, and this number could easily double by 2010. The rush to construction is being driven mainly by our use of cell phones, and to a lesser extent by the impending switch to digital television and radio.
Current mortality estimates due to telecommunication
towers are 40 to 50 million birds per year.9 The proliferation of these
towers in the near future will only exacerbate this situation.

Agricultural pesticides are "conservatively estimated" to directly kill 67 million birds per year.10 Agricultural pesticides are "conservatively estimated" to directly kill 67 million birds per year.10 These numbers do not account for avianmortality associated with other pesticide applications, such as on golf courses. Nor do they take into consideration secondary losses due to pesticide use as these toxic chemicals travel up the food chain. This includes poisoning due to birds ingesting sprayed insects, the intended target of the pesticides.

Cats, both feral and housecats, also take their toll on birds. A
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) report states that, "recent research suggests that rural free-ranging domestic cats in Wisconsin may be killing between 8 and 217 million birds each year. The most reasonable estimates indicate that 39 million birds are killed in the state each year."11

There are other studies on the impacts of jet engines, smoke stacks,
bridges, and any number of other human structures and activities that
threaten birds on a daily basis. Together, human infrastructure and
industrial activities are responsible for one to four million bird deaths
per day!

But what about wind turbines?

Commercial wind turbines

Since the mid-1980's, a number of research organizations, universities, and consultants have conducted studies on avian mortality due to wind turbines.

In the U.S., these studies were prompted because of the relatively high
number of raptors that were found dead at the Altamont Pass Wind Farms near San Francisco.

After dozens of studies spanning nearly two decades, we now know that the Altamont Pass situation is unusual in the U.S. The high raptor mortality
there was the result of a convergence of factors, some of which were due to the bad siting in the local ecosystem while others were due to the wind
turbine and tower technology used at the time. In fact, a very different
situation exists not far away at the San Gorgonio Pass Wind Farms near Palm Springs. A 1986 study found that 69 million birds flew though the San
Gorgonio Pass during the Spring and Fall migrations. During both migrating seasons, only 38 dead birds were found during that typical year,
representing only 0.00006% of the migrating population.

A report recently prepared for the Bonneville Power Administration in the
Northwest U.S. states that "raptor mortality has been absent to very low at
all newer generation wind plants studied in the U.S. This and other
information regarding wind turbine design and wind plant/wind turbine siting strongly suggests that the level of raptor mortality observed at Altamont Pass is quite unique."12

The National Wind Coordinating Committee (NWCC) completed a comparison of wind farm avian mortality with bird mortality caused by other man-made structures in the U.S.

The NWCC did not conduct its own study, but analyzed all of the research
done to date on various causes of avian mortality, including commercial wind farm turbines. They report that "data collected outside California indicate an average of 1.83 avian fatalities per turbine (for all species combined), and 0.006 raptor fatalities per turbine per year. Based on current projections of 3,500 operational wind turbines in the US by the end of 2001, excluding California, the total annual mortality was estimated at approximately 6,400 bird fatalities per year for all species combined."13

This report states that its intent is to "put avian mortality associated
with windpower development into perspective with other significant sources of avian collision mortality across the United States."14 The NWCC reports that: "Based on current estimates, windplant related avian collision fatalities probably represent from 0.01% to 0.02% (i.e., 1 out of every 5,000 to 10,000) of the annual avian collision fatalities in the United
States."15 That is, commercial wind turbines cause the direct deaths of
only 0.01% to 0.02% of all of the birds killed by collisions with man-made
structures and activities in the U.S.

Back in Wisconsin

My home state of Wisconsin is a good example of current research. In
December of 2002, the report "Effects of Wind Turbines on Birds and Bats in Northeast Wisconsin" was released. The study was completed by Robert Howe and Amy Wolf of the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, and William Evan. Their study covered a two-year period between 1999 and 2001, in the area surrounding the 31 turbines operating in Kewaunee County by Madison Gas & Electric (MG&E) and Wisconsin Public Service (WPS) Corporation. The report found that over the study period, 25 bird carcasses were found at the sites. The report states that "the resulting mortality rate of 1.29 birds/tower/year is close to the nationwide estimate of 2.19 birds/tower.16- The report further states, "While bird collisions do occur (with commercial wind turbines) the impacts on global populations appear to be relatively minor, especially in comparison with other human-related causes of mortality such as communications towers, collisions with buildings, and vehicles collisions. This is especially true for small scale facilities like the MG&E and WPS wind farms in Kewaunee County."

There seems to be an aspect of this issue being raised by the coal and oil
industry as a defensive tactic to protect their interest.

There seems to be an aspect of this issue being raised by the coal and oil industry as a defensive tactic to protect their interest.