USA, California - Altamont wind farm will shut down half of its turbines

Though the Altamont Pass is known for its strong winds, it also lies on an important bird-migration route, and its grass-covered hills provide food for several types of raptors. The dispute at Altamont Pass marks the highest-profile confrontation yet in an unlikely clash between wind-power proponents and environmental activists opposed to non-critical wind-farm development. A 2004 report by the California Energy Commission found that 880 to 1,300 raptors are killed at Altamont every year, such as red-tailed hawks and the federally protected golden eagle.

Environmental groups have already blocked a proposed wind-power facility in the Mojave Desert, and opponents of another project, in Nantucket Sound, have cited wildlife concerns in their lobbying efforts. According to the American Wind Energy Association, wind farms in 34 states were generating 6,740 megawatts as of January, enough juice to power 1.6 million homes. Another 2,500 megawatts of wind power is expected to come on line this year. Though nobody is saying that wildlife issues will curtail wind development, some environmentalists say that much more care should go into picking locations for wind farms.

Miller stressed that the Center for Biological Diversity is not opposed to wind farms, but said they must be built in areas where they will have minimal impact on wildlife. Steve Stengel, a spokesman for FPL Energy, one of several power companies that collectively operate the Altamont windmills, said the goal is to reduce avian collisions by 35 percent in three years, and to determine which turbines are the most dangerous. Besides its poor location, he said many of the turbines there, some decades old, use older designs, with faster-spinning blades that reach closer to the ground than recent models -- where birds are more likely to be flying as they hunt for prey.