Turbine Group's Work Nears End
After more than two years of work and with only a few minor edits to go, the long-anticipated wind turbines and wildlife guidelines from the federal government are nearing completion.
Late last week Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar said the 22-member Wind Turbine Guidelines Federal Advisory Committee had reached consensus on a set of draft recommendations aimed at minimizing the impacts of land-based wind farms on wildlife and its habitat. Salazar will take the recommendations under advisement when they are completed.
"Wind power is one of the keys to America's clean energy future, but its development must be balanced with the long-term protection of the natural resources under our management," Salazar said.
Some highlights include:
- A decision-making framework that guides all stages of wind energy development;
- Reliance on the best available science when assessing renewable energy projects and their potential environmental impact; and
- Use of landscape-scaled planning that recognizes the need to think long-term about protecting the nation's economic and natural resources.
This may seem like an obscure set of rules, but there's the potential for influence on projects in very different places. The bat controversies in the mid-Atlantic are one and the sage grouse habitat in the Great Plains is yet another.
Proponents say the committee's recommendations will help Interior reach science-based decisions for future wind energy projects, and minimize local and regional impacts to wildlife.
The group was created under the terms of the Federal Advisory Committee Act, representing interests in wind energy development as well as wildlife conservation organizations.
The draft report contains both policy recommendations and recommended voluntary guidelines for siting and operating wind energy projects in order to avoid or minimize potential impacts to wildlife and habitat.
It will be interesting to see how the recommendations play out. Their first test is probably only a few weeks away.
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