In Today’s Journal, 1/29/11

Place Renewable Energy Projects in Appropriate Locations

By Randall Gray (Retired) National Wildlife Biologist, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service

America must move toward energy independence for national security. The sun and winds embracing our beautiful New Mexico can help achieve this goal by providing a renewable source of clean energy.

However, these solutions also bring conservation challenges we must not ignore.

Wind turbines are known to kill birds and bats through collisions with their rotating blades. Technology is advancing and techniques to minimize these adverse affects are being deployed, but it is not completely avoidable. In addition, the construction of roads and pads for both wind turbines and solar panels result in the loss of wildlife habitat.

No energy development is without environmental impacts. Yes, this is a price of keeping our homes and cities powered, but it can be done in ways to minimize impacts to wildlife. In addition to technological improvements, we must first make sure that alternative energy generators are sited in areas that are the least ecologically sensitive.

A case in point is the Nutt Grasslands about 20 miles northeast of Deming. This area is one of the larger intact Chihuahuan semi-desert grasslands in New Mexico, a key eco-region identified by the state Game and Fish Department’s Comprehensive Wildlife Conservation Strategy. It is home to many wildlife species, but of most concern are the impacts to bats and birds including golden eagles, rap tors and songbirds that nest, winter and migrate through the grasslands.

This area was the location of one of the last aplomodo falcons, an endangered species, collected in New Mexico over a half century ago. In recent years wild aplomado falcons have attempted to nest south of this area and recently the Peregrine Fund began to release captive bred aplomodo falcons back into the grasslands. However, this effort was abandoned this fall when wind turbines became the future for these grasslands.

It appears the Peregrine Fund and Element Power (the builder of the wind turbines) did not want to risk birds colliding with the turbines.

Similar concerns are being voiced regarding the impact of wind turbines on the lesser prairie chicken in eastern New Mexico, a species heading towards listing as endangered. We must not turn a blind eye on the impacts to our wildlife legacy thinking that if we challenge the siting of individual projects we are not good conservationists.

The last time we aggressively pursued alternative clean energy without thinking through the consequences was the dam building era of the last century. The environmental costs of that renewable energy was the degradation of many of our major river systems which resulted in the loss of great salmon migrations and some species being listed as endangered. The last few decades have seen hundreds of millions of tax dollars used to restore, so far with limited success, these degraded river systems. In some cases we are removing dams hoping to bring back a legacy we have lost.

We have spent portions of our careers dealing with these issues and do not want to see it repeated with other renewable energy sources. If we are careful in considering the impacts of new approaches to solving our energy problems, future generations will not have to address unintended consequences.

We must site our wind and solar energy projects in areas that do not lead to the decline of species. There are many places that are less ecologically sensitive or have already been sacrificed for other uses which can be used to generate power. And of course our cities and homes provide opportunities for energy generation, right where it will be used with the least environmental impact. Let’s not let the next generation ask, “What were they thinking?” by leaving a less biologically diverse landscape with more endangered species and significant tax dollars directed to fixing the problems we created.

Let’s identify those areas environmentally suitable for alternative energy development and help our nation gain energy independence while maintaining our biological legacy.

The following also contributed to the opinion: Robert Tafanelli, (retired) research specialist/asst. professor, Dept. of Fish, Wildlife and Conservation Ecology, New Mexico State University; Robin Tuttle, (retired) foreign affairs specialist, NOAA National Marine Fisheries Services; and Robert Barnes, (retired) manager, Bonneville Power Administration.