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The Green conflict / balancing act.
en espanol
On Saturday, April 24, 2010 I attended an Environmental Law presentation at the U.T. School of Law on Green Power and I would like to take this opportunity to provide a brief overview regarding the topic. The United States is encouraging the development of renewal energy sources to decrease our country’s dependency on oil and to decrease our environmental footprint. For example from 2007 to 2008 wind energy generated electricity saw a growth of 51% and during this same time solar energy generated electricity grew 38%. In fact globally the U.S. is number 1 in generating wind based energy and Texas is the leading wind power state. China ranks no. 1 and the U.S. ranks no. 2, in the world in total renewable energy production. These efforts to produce Green Energy or Green Power however are often in conflict or at odds with our environment and federal laws such as the Endangered Species Act and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act and thus further efforts will be needed to balance these various green interests. One leading example is how wind turbines impact bird flyways. In Altamont Pass, California the site of the largest wind farm, it is estimated that the 4000 turbines have caused the death of federally protected golden eagles and hawks due in part to blade mortality, habitat fragmentation and disturbance of nesting / roosting area. (Note that while wind turbines also cause death to bats, bats are not a protected species). Some argue that while an estimated 2 million birds have died as a result of blade mortality from wind turbines, that such cause of death is low compared for example to 60 or 100 million birds which reportedly die from striking vehicles. While I don’t doubt that one can accurately count dead carrion around turbines, I do question for example the accuracy of alleged bird deaths from striking vehicles, etc. Nonetheless our governmental efforts and environmental laws will need continued attention in an effort to balance the various objectives and environmental needs. If you would like to read a bit more on this subject you might wish to click on: http://science.howstuffworks.com/wind-turbine-kill-birds.htm/printable