Number: 2004-12
WHEREAS, wind generation is a renewable source of energy; and
WHEREAS, it is in the public interest that the nation’s energy sources transition away from nonrenewable fossil fuel resources in order to provide for cleaner air, cleaner water, energy independence, and improved public health, and to reduce the damage of global warming and associated climate changes; and
WHEREAS, wind generators and their associated support and access infrastructure are being promoted and developed on public as well as private land; and
WHEREAS, most wind generator developments are not adequately regulated for their impacts to wildlife and the environment; and
WHEREAS, there are appropriate areas to develop commercial wind generator facilities (such as cropped fields and highly developed industrial type landscapes) and there are areas that are inappropriate for development due to potential negative impacts to wildlife (native grasslands, sage steppes); and
WHEREAS, wind generation facilities can negatively impact wildlife and wildlife habitat including: migration corridors, staging/concentration areas, and breeding and brood-rearing areas, especially when constructed in native grasslands; and
WHEREAS, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) adopted Interim Guidance on Avoiding and Minimizing Wildlife Impacts from Wind Turbines that includes the following criteria:
- Avoid placing turbines in documented locations of any species of wildlife, fish or plant protected under the Federal Endangered Species Act.
- Avoid locating turbines in known local bird migration pathways or in areas where birds are highly concentrated unless mortality risk is low (e.g. birds present rarely enter the rotor-swept area).
- Configure turbine locations to avoid areas or features of the landscape known to attract raptors.
- Avoid fragmenting large, contiguous tracts of wildlife habitat. Wherever possible place turbines on lands already altered or cultivated, and away from areas of intact and healthy native habitats.
- Avoid placing turbines in habitat known to be occupied by prairie grouse or other species that exhibit extreme avoidance of vertical features or structural habitat fragmentation.
Minimize roads, fences and other infrastructure.
WHEREAS, property tax exemption and production tax credit for wind generation facilities granted by federal and state legislation often promote facility construction on private lands regardless of the impacts on wildlife,
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the National Wildlife Federation, at its annual meeting assembled March 11-13, 2004, in St. Louis, Missouri, urges that all commercial wind generator development proposals be evaluated in a public process to determine whether they meet the USFWS criteria above; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that NWF encourages state and local governments, federal agencies, and other appropriate agencies to not issue permits for wind generator development proposals that do not meet the USFWS criteria above.