David Cassuto

I’ve blogged before about the dangers to wildlife from wind turbines.   Well, this just in: yesterday, the Department of the Interior released draft guidelines to protect wildlife from wind turbines  while calling on all involved in the industry to rigorously monitor, assess, and incorporate best practices into their designs.

The guidelines look to promote compliance with the Endangered Species Act, Migratory Bird Treaty Act, Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act, as well as other relevant statutes.  They suggest a tiered approach, including preliminary evaluation or screening, site characterization, pre-construction monitoring and assessments, post construction monitoring and assessments, and research.
The guidelines will be available for public comment for 90 days following their publication in the Federal Register.  In addition, Fish & Wildlife released a Draft Eagle Conservation Plan Guidance requiring wind project developers to assess the impacts of proposed projects on eagles protected by the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act.
It would seem that even as Congress (particularly the House, but there are always others) does its level best to relegate environmental protection to the ash heap, some folks in government are still out there doing what they can.