BIrd-Smart Wind Petition

Dramatic Video Shows Bird Strike at Wind Turbine: One Bird Currently Killed Every Minute by Wind Power in the US American Bird Conservancy (ABC), the nation’s leading bird conservation organization, today distributed dramatic footage showing a wind turbine striking a bird—a poignant illustration of the dangers posed to birds by the burgeoning wind industry. The footage will also appear as part of a wind TV commercial to be run on major networks later this week. The commercial encourages viewers to send a letter to the US Fish and Wildlife Service asking that wind power be made bird-smart. See www.abcbirds.org for more details. American Bird Conservancy has launched a bird-smart wind campaign to address the impact of wind farms on bird populations. By 2030, there will be more than 100000 wind turbines in the US, and these are expected to kill at least one million birds each year—probably significantly more. Wind farms are also expected to impact almost 20000 square miles of terrestrial bird habitat, and another 4000 square miles of marine habitat, some of it critical to threatened species. Bird-smart wind power employs careful siting, operational and construction mitigation, and monitoring, as well as compensation to reduce and redress any unavoidable bird mortality and habitat loss from wind energy development. These are issues that should be included in mandatory federal wind standards. Go to www.abcbirds.org to sign the bird-smart wind petition.