Fighting like mad to stop the wind turbine project

Honourable Bruce Fitch Minister of Environment and Local Government Government of New Brunswick Marysville Place P.O. Box 6000 Fredericton, NB E3B 5H1 Dear Minister Fitch, The Eco Awareness Society joins the World Council for Nature and Nature Canada in opposing the selection of Campobello Island as a site for an industrial wind power project. Further, the Eco Awareness Society denounces the misleading information presented by spokesman Brian Kuhn of Associated Wind Developers regarding the impact of industrial wind turbines on birds and bats.

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The following excerpt is from the January 2009 issue of North American Windpower and illustrates that NO wind company can possibly say that they are unaware of bat kills by industrial wind turbines.

New research shows that the study of bat mortality at wind turbines should be the primary ecological concern for developers … Since 2004, when the 2,095 bat deaths reported at West Virginia’s Mountaineer Project sent alarms ringing, wind farm developers, scientists and conservationists have been working together to pinpoint and prevent fatalities. Robert Barclay, a biological sciences professor at the [University of Calgary], discovered that the vast majority of bats died not as a result of colliding into the turbines, but as a result of a sudden drop in air pressure in the airspace around the turbines – which destroys their lungs. The results were staggering. Ninety percent of the bats found around TransAlta’s Summerview wind farm near Pincher Creek, Alberta, died from internal injuries to their respiratory systems … Barclay points out that “what we’ve found doesn’t change the numbers that are killed – it just explains why they’re killed … “The ecological impact of bat deaths could be limited if the number of mortalities isn’t biologically significant, says Barclay. But these are insect-eating bats, and they play an important ecological role as consumers of night-flying insects that otherwise feed on our crops and forests. The only predators for these insects at night are bats, and they eat an awful lot. In fact, migratory bats gobble at least half of their entire body weight in insects each night.”

It should also be noted that in the Maritimes, bald eagles have been in recovery over the past decade and this recovery is due in large part to legislation “aimed at protecting the bald eagle’s habitat and banning certain pesticides.” Placing an industrial wind turbine on Campobello Island would violate one of the cornerstones of wildlife conservation – the precautionary principle. Furthermore, the loss of habitat for all birds from the installation of an industrial wind turbine would far exceed the life cycle of the wind turbine. In response to Mr. Kuhn’s comments regarding house cats or buildings killing birds, these statements must be looked at in the context of wind turbines. While house cats do kill birds, there has never been any reported incident of a house cat killing an eagle or any other raptor, the birds most likely to die from a wind turbine. Recently, Lands and Forests moved an eagle nest and found 21 cat collars in the nest. Even if Campobello Island had a massive feral and domestic cat population roaming the island, it would still not affect the large birds of prey which have long been recognized as the most vulnerable group of birds to suffer direct mortality from collisions with the blades of wind turbines. And, while some birds do strike tall buildings and die, this comment must again be looked at in the context of wind turbines and Campobello Island. There are no tall buildings on Campobello Island so this risk factor does not even exist. Secondly, as is the case with cats and birds, tall buildings are most destructive to smaller, song birds, not large birds of prey. Buildings do not kill birds of prey. Go to any city with tall buildings and you will not find the streets littered with dead hawks, eagles, falcons, etc. Mr. Kuhn’s arguments do not withstand even superficial scrutiny. The Department of Environment has a unique advocacy role; to protect and preserve the environment as far as is possible from industrialization, no matter what political party is in office, or what that political party’s agenda is. The Department of Environment must stand for the environment through scientific research and careful planning for environmental and ecological protections. A one-size-fits-all approach will not work. Campobello Island is too ecologically significant to allow for the irreversible actions of industrial wind turbine development and its resulting permanent ecological consequences. Respectfully, Susan Overmyer, President Eco Awareness Society cc: Honourable Trevor Holder, Minister of Culture, Tourism & Healthy Living, Province of New Brunswick Mr. Curtis Malloch, MLA, Charlotte Campobello, Province of New Brunswick Mr. John Williamson, MP, New Brunswick South West Mr. Stephen McAlinden, Rural Planning Board, Province of New Brunswick