Wind projects get wildlife advisory

As several wind power projects finish their supplemental environmental impact statements, the state Department of Environmental Conservation has sent out reminders that projects may need state permits for accidental deaths of threatened or endangered species.

Region 6 Wildlife Manager William H. Gordon sent letters, dated Jan. 27, to the towns of Cape Vincent and Clayton addressing BP Alternative Energy's Cape Vincent Wind Farm, Acciona's St. Lawrence Wind Farm and Iberdrola's Horse Creek Wind Farm.

In the letters, he reminded the towns, which are acting as lead agencies in the state environmental quality review process, that those projects may need the state permits.

"Further review of the proposed project with regard to wildlife impacts has led the DEC to conclude that the operation of this wind power project, as proposed, may result in a 'take' of one or more endangered or threatened wildlife species, or their habitat as defined by the Environmental Conservation Law," Mr. Gordon wrote.

"Take" includes killing, capturing, maiming and disturbing state-listed endangered or threatened species.

The letters then encouraged the towns and developers "to include the potential requirement for an Endangered and Threatened Species Incidental Take Permit in future planning, review and permitting efforts."

Mr. Gordon said Monday the regional DEC office is working through the list of all local developments, not just wind projects. But the wind projects would use a significant amount of space in those towns.

"The letter is to say, 'Just in case they haven't been aware, you may need a permit,'" Mr. Gordon said. "'May' is the key word."

The letters mentions threatened species including the short-eared owls, northern harrier, Henslow's sparrow, sedge wren, upland sandpiper and Blandings turtle. The letter also refers to the Indiana bat, which is on the federal endangered species list.

Once developers submit their supplemental environmental impact statements, DEC will evaluate them based on the department's guidelines for conducting bird and bat studies at commercial wind energy projects. The guidelines, released in February, were designed to produce data that could be compared with data from other states.

According to those guidelines, all of the developers are near enough to the St. Lawrence River and a known hibernation route for Indiana bats to call for expanded studies before and after construction. In addition to expanded studies for Indiana bats and other migratory bats, pre-construction studies could include weather conditions and habitat, as well as surveys of raptor migration, waterfowl, breeding birds and wintering birds.

After construction, work could include ground searches, bird nesting studies, bat acoustic sampling and radar and migration surveys. Any bats found dead must have samples submitted for testing for white-nose syndrome, the fungal disease that has decimated bat populations.

"The post-construction studies are critical," Mr. Gordon said. "We don't have any good data on what's going to happen after these turn on."

In the supplemental statements, the developers will say whether endangered species or their habitats will be harmed by the wind projects. If so, their statement will include how the developer tried to avoid the harm and any methods of minimizing and mitigating the harm, such as creating new habitat.

"It looks for a 'net conservation benefit,'" Mr. Gordon said.

James H. Madden, project manager for Cape Vincent Wind Farm, said BP has had discussions with DEC and has followed the drafts of the bird and bat study guidelines.

"We've gone beyond previous requirements," he said. "I can't speak directly to where the requirements are right now and where our studies will compare with them."

Representatives of Acciona and Iberdrola did not return calls for comment.

Clayton Supervisor Justin A. Taylor and Cape Vincent Supervisor Thomas K. Rienbeck said they had not had discussions with the developers on the potential need for an incidental take permit. Mr. Taylor noted the Horse Creek application has been suspended since June.

If the projects would harm endangered or threatened species, Mr. Gordon said, there are reasonable ways to mitigate the problem.

The DEC is the lead agency for the Galloo Island Wind Farm in the town of Hounsfield. Developer Babcock & Brown Ltd. recently submitted the draft environmental impact statement for that project.