I've been involved challenging the wind energy build out in Ontario since
2007, and along the way I've grown very appreciative of the wind energy
siting process we have in NYS, as guided by the NYDEC USFWS. The science
has been much better in NY and the resulting wind build out in NY arguably
has a lower avian fatality rate per turbine than that in Ontario. But this
is I think partly due to geographic circumstances - New York has relatively
good wind resource areas in upland areas of western and northern NY (areas
of less potential bird impact) whereas Ontario's best wind resources for
serving its population are along the shores of the Great Lakes (areas with
more potential avian impact). These shorelines tend to concentrate diurnal
and nocturnal bird migration and there is accordingly more risk of wind
turbine collision impact. New York has only one wind project on the Great
Lakes shoreline (Steel Winds project near Buffalo) whereas Ontario now has
many. The whole northern lake shore of Lake Erie is essentially under wind
development and the north shore of Lake Ontario is not far behind (e.g., the
Amherst Is. wind project).
To give an egregious example of the lack of wind energy science in Ontario,
the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources (equivalent of our NYDEC) only
required the fatality study at Wolfe Island Wind Project (and other wind
projects in Ontario) to survey out 50 m from the base of wind turbines for
bird and bat carcasses. The resulting avian fatality rate figures were then
reported to the public as the actual fatality rate of the project(s). The
problem with this is that US fatality studies show that similarly high
turbines toss bird carcasses out to at least 100 m away from the wind
turbine support tower. This was demonstrated in fatality studies at NY's
Maple Ridge Wind Project, 70 km southeast of Wolfe Island, part of which
preceded and was in print prior to the Wolfe Island fatality study. This
latter study and other US studies are the basis for concluding that 50% of
the bird carcasses at modern wind turbines are lofted beyond 50 m. In order
to estimate avian fatality rates at wind projects, one must not only make a
statistical correction for carcasses lost to scavengers (raccoons, etc.) and
surveyor efficiency (measured skill of surveyors in finding carcasses), one
needs to correct for the full area where carcasses may fall that is not
surveyed. So, for most of the existing Ontario wind energy fatality data,
one needs to begin by multiplying by two to get closer to reality on the
number of birds killed.
This was recently noted by Environment Canada in the following paper
published last year:
Zimmerling, J. R., A. C. Pomeroy, M. V. d'Entremont, and C. M. Francis.
2013. Canadian estimate of bird mortality due to collisions and direct
habitat loss associated with wind turbine developments. Avian Conservation
and Ecology 8(2): 10. http://dx.doi.org/10.5751/ACE-00609-080210
This paper is one of the better overviews I've seen. Unfortunately the
authors conclusions regarding the impact of wind energy on Canadian bird
populations is tainted by the fact that they used antiquated Partners in
Flight (PIF) population estimates from the 1990s without informing the
reader. Updated PIF population estimates were released last year, apparently
after the paper went to press. So, for example they estimate, based on
Canadian fatality data, that 465 Purple Martins are currently killed by wind
turbines in Canada every year. They conclude that this is inconsequential
because they cite a population estimate (base in 1990 PIF data) of 523,000
martins. This translates to less that 0.1% of the population and doesn't
tend to raise any red flags. But the more recent PIF estimate for martins
(based on early 2000s data) is only 200,000. And what they don't tell you is
that based on the Ontario Breeding Bird Atlas, the martin population in
Ontario (where almost all of the martin-killing wind energy is located) is
only estimated to be 25,000. The martin population has been in a long-term
free-fall of 5-8% per year in Ontario for other reasons, but current wind
collision mortality to martins is estimated to be adding an additional 3% to
the annual decline -- and the wind energy build out in Ontario continues
unabated. The future of the Purple Martin in Ontario looked grim, but now
looks increasingly grim.
Three years of fatality data are publically available for the Wolfe Island
Wind Farm.* These studies indicate that only 8, 5, and 3 martin carcasses
respectively were found in each of the three years. What you won't find,
unless you look at the transcripts of my written testimonies for two wind
project appeal hearings in Canada, is that when you factor in the
statistical corrections, the martin fatality estimates at the Wolfe Island
Wind Project jump to 112, 126, and 36 for each of the first three years of
the study. The drop in the
