In 2004 the Center for Biological Diversity filed suit against the wind producers operating in the Altamont Pass in California. During the ensuing time period, a study was completed showing that 45 of the 7,000 turbines were responsible for the vast majority of the deaths and a compromised was reached with the producers that during the migration time 50% of the turbines would sit inactive. Last October, a judge tossed the lawsuit saying the Center for Biological Diversity had no legal standing in the case.

This is a classic case of cross purposes. I don’t think anyone wants to see raptors (Golden Eagles, Hawks, etc.) killed unnecessarily, that’s just silly. The producers took many steps to study and attempt to remedy the problem. But the problem was also blown out of proportion as mobile phone towers and buildings kill more raptors each year by far than these turbines, yet we see no action against mobile phone providers. Regardless, the hypothesis is that the lattice towers were good perches for the birds and that’s what contributed to the higher mortality rate than experienced at other wind farms.

The solution seems pretty straight forward to me, shut down and demolish the 45 problematic turbines and allow the producers to “repower” using larger turbines with tubular towers which would serve to reduce the number of turbines, likely increase the output of the farm, and lower the avian mortality rate. What’s lost in a suit like this is that for each MWh of coal generation displaced by technologies like wind, around 1,000kg of carbon and around 13kg of NOX and SO2 is kept from entering the atmosphere. After all, climate change is likely to kill far more species than all the wind farms on the globe combined.

Given the outcome of the court case, I’d expect the producers to be back in business and hopefully taking steps to further reduce the avian mortality rate at the site.


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