WEST VIRGINIA Legislators urge wind power study

Wind turbine projects are being pursued in a number of Appalachian states.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) -- Two West Virginia congressmen who think wind turbines are an eyesore and a threat to migratory birds want congressional auditors to study such energy projects along the Appalachian Mountains.
Reps. Alan Mollohan and Nick Rahall, both D-W.Va., asked the General Accounting Office last week to examine how wind turbines are regulated and what effects the projects have on birds in several Mid-Atlantic states, including West Virginia.
"There is nothing more beautiful than my West Virginia hills," Mollohan said. "And I don't need windmills to re-landscape God's glory and my West Virginia hills."
The Mountaineer Wind Energy Center near Thomas, Tucker County, has 44 turbines atop 200-feet-tall towers that generate enough energy to power 22,000 homes. Mollohan said the facility is "the proverbial nose under the tent."
"The issue is not a few windmills," Mollohan said. "It is thousands of windmills on every ridge."
Further projects
Projects are being pursued aggressively along ridgetops in West Virginia, Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania, the congressmen's letter said.
West Virginia regulators have approved two other larger wind farms that would increase to more than 400 the number of turbines in the Potomac Highlands. Smaller windmill farms are running near Somerset and Meyersdale, Pa., while other projects in West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Maryland are in the planning stages.
Judy Rodd, director of the environmental group Friends of Blackwater, said her group hopes a GAO study leads to a consistent regulatory policy on wind-turbine site decisions.
"This form of energy sort of falls in a gray area and isn't really regulated," Rodd said. "It would help the wind power industry, too, because they would know what the rules are."
In May 2003, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service issued "interim guidance" for avoiding and minimizing wind power's impacts on birds. Among other things, the agency called for site evaluations and proper design and location of windmills.
"It is extremely doubtful that these voluntary measures comply with the strict liability provisions found under both the Migratory Bird Treaty Act or the Bald Eagle Protection Act," the congressmen's letter said.
Bird deaths
A six-month study by Florida-based FPL Energy, which owns Mountaineer Wind Energy Center, estimated 200 birds and more than 2,000 bats may have been killed by the 44 whirling blades last year.
Most of the birds killed were small common migrant songbirds, including 21 red-eyed vireos. A number of other species killed included robins, indigo buntings, one red-tailed hawk and two turkey vultures. Seven species of bats were identified, none of them endangered.
Christine Real de Azua, spokeswoman for the American Wind Energy Association, said her group "welcomes scrutiny of the impacts of wind energy and all energy sources on birds and wildlife."