Wind turbines pose threat to songbirds

In a looming enviro-catastrophe, Ohio's Oregon City Schools want to install wind turbines. As the Toledo Blade reports, environmentalists are horrified:

The Black Swamp Bird Observatory [BSBO] near Oak Harbor has voiced concerns about the district's proposed project and the lack of regulation on noncommercial midsize turbines.

Kim Kaufman, the observatory's executive director, said the Clay and Eisenhower turbines would be on the western flank of the Lake Erie marsh region and would pose risks for birds landing to rest before completing their annual flight north.

"We're talking about birds that are mostly migrating at night, and that includes songbirds," Ms. Kaufman said. [Emph. added]

The Obama administration, having no concern for songbirds, may subsidize this disaster with, as the Blade reports, "federal stimulus money, tax incentives, state grants, and other government programs." The BSBO has issued a press release calling for a moratorium:

With full support of the BSBO Board of Directors and the support of many other organizations, agencies, and private citizens, BSBO is seeking to introduce a three-year moratorium on any additional wind turbines along the Lake Erie Coast in Lucas, Ottawa, Sandusky, and Erie Counties until further research can be conducted on the potential impacts on birds and bats.

The BSBO is urging all good environmentalists to sign their petition.

Airports have long struggled with the problem of birds. As a consequence of the way their brains evolved, birds are not capable of reacting to an approaching object until the impact is less than 5 seconds away. That may work well if the approaching object is an average predator. If it is an airplane, it is too late.

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