Turbines put near Lake Erie energize conservation

Two factions with their foundations firmly anchored in conservation causes are engaged in a standoff along the Lake Erie shoreline.

Wind power advocates have defended the presence of several large turbines and are pressing for the installation of more units.

Those who have fought to preserve and enhance habitat in the marshes and woodlots near the lake for waterfowl, migratory birds, and bald eagles oppose the presence of wind turbines in the environmentally sensitive area and want a protected corridor established there.

The stretch of lakeshore from Sandusky to Toledo has more than a half dozen wildlife areas and refuges, is part of a major flyway for bird migrations, and is home to more than 50 active eagle nests. Three large commercial wind turbines are in place in the same region, and several more are proposed or are on site awaiting construction.

“This is not really about wind power — it’s about putting it in the right place,” said Mark Shieldcastle, who spent three decades with the Ohio Division of Wildlife as an avian biologist. “Putting turbines here is taking something that should be environmentally friendly and turning it into something harmful.”

Mr. Shieldcastle has serious concerns for the area’s bald eagles, which have rebounded from a low of just four nesting pairs along the lake in 1979. He said erecting any elevated structures in the eagles’ hunting range puts the large raptors in peril.

“We worked so hard to bring back the bald eagles, so it makes no sense to put dangerous obstacles in their path,” he said.

One of the proposed wind turbine sites is at Camp Perry, which also has an active eagle nest. An environmental analysis of the location is ongoing, according to Ohio National Guard spokesman James Sims II.

The Lake Erie Business Park, which sits near Camp Perry and in the same lakeshore strip that holds numerous eagle nests, has been considering wind power projects for several years and reportedly has an approximately 325-foot wind turbine on site and ready for construction. A map on the park’s Web site displaying proposed development at the facility shows six wind turbines.

Megan Seymour, a wildlife biologist with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service stationed in Ohio, said the agency continues to study ways to minimize the impact of wind power projects on birds and other wildlife.

“It could present a high risk to birds, if wind power projects are sited there,” she said, referring to the Ohio shoreline of Lake Erie.

Noel Cutright, founder of the Western Great Lakes Bird and Bat Observatory in Wisconsin and an expert in the wind power/bird issue, said he urges caution when proposals are put forth to place turbines in sensitive areas.

“We need to look at this on a case-by-case basis, but in general I don’t think it makes a whole lot of sense to place these along the Great Lakes shoreline,” he said.

Mr. Shieldcastle said he does not oppose wind energy, but thinks there are much better places to locate the projects than the western Lake Erie shoreline, which he said is a magnet for migratory birds, waterfowl, and bald eagles.

Darlington area wind farm decision deferred

A DECISION on whether to remove a planning condition on a windfarm development that could protect residents from unacceptable levels of noise has been deferred to look at alternative legal safeguards.

Banks Renewables applied to Darlington Borough Council to remove a condition about the prevention and monitoring of amplitude modulation (AM), a noise side effect of some windfarms, at its six-turbine development at Moor House, on the outskirts of Darlington.

The council's planning committee agreed to delay a decision to allow officers to work with the company to see if it is possible to agree an alternative legally-binding document that governs how potential AM complaints would be dealt with.

Residents from a number of villages in the area, which has not yet started construction, spoke against the bid to remove the condition, which they claim will leave them without legal protection should AM occur.

AM is a rare noise sound effect detected at some UK windfarms and can produce an intermittent, low-level thudding noise in certain conditions.

The company argued that the planning condition is redundant because there is no legal definition of AM and how to prevent it, and that its environmental management plan (EMP), which covers all aspects of how the windfarm will operate, offers the legal protection both residents and the council want.

Planning officer Roy Merritt said the council had received legal advice that the condition is not enforceable as it stands, but that as the EMP is currently written, it too would not be legally enforceable.

Mark Dowdal, a representative for Banks, said the company was willing to rewrite the EMP to satisfy concerns about AM. He said: "We will work with council officers to agree a plan that will be reviewed each year.

"It will provide an agreed method of investigating and dealing with any noise complaints."The council will have a legally binding agreement in place for dealing with any concerns raised by residents."

Peter Wood, who spoke on behalf of the Seven Parishes Action Group, called for the council to rewrite the AM condition to make it legally enforceable instead of removing it.

Committee chairman Paul Baldwin proposed that the condition be removed, subject to a revised EMP that must be agreed by the committee at a later date, and found to be legally binding.

"The reality is we do not have a real complex, Rube Goldberg type of technology here," he said. "When you tell people about this technology, it makes sense."

The company hopes to launch into the competitive wind market soon after the Guernsey project provides some results. Among the concepts the company could later bring to the market is transporting their compressed gas for miles via a pipeline, again capitalizing on oil and gas technology to strengthen wind.

In the meantime, Byrne said he and his company support every form of wind, hydraulic or electromechanical, transported via pipeline or high-voltage direct current lines.

"We're definitely not competition" to existing wind projects, he said. "Scrapping the current grid and using our technology — it's not an option. We're more complementary."

Winhyne has and continues to reach out to planned wind projects around the state. Although some of the company's first projects could certainly be outside Wyoming, Byrne — a Wyoming native — said he's loyal to his home state and hopes to help it as he can.