[Denveraudubon] Fw: ALERT: Pawnee NG - Potential threat to birds

[Pauline P Reetz]

More on the Weld Co. wind farm, with addresses!


--------- Forwarded message ----------
From: "STROM, Ken" <KSTROM at AUDUBON.ORG>
To: CO-GENERAL at LIST.AUDUBON.ORG
Date: Sat, 29 Jul 2006 10:37:09 -0400
Subject: ALERT: Pawnee NG - Potential threat to birds
Message-ID:
<CB4985851F313A47B583FFC7DE4F9FE10D631316 at cardinal.int.audubon.org>

BIRD CONSERVATION ALERT
New Windfarm to be Built on Pawnee Escarpment

I want to alert everyone to some possible damaging impacts on birds and
habitats from a new wind energy development that's about to be
constructed on the northern edge of the Pawnee National Grassland. 
Audubon is certainly not opposed to wind energy, and no one is proposing
to stop this development, but we and the widlife agencies are trying to
head off serious impacts from the placement of various turbines
(windmills) in the large array that's being designed.  If you share our
concerns, please consider submitting comments to the developer and/or
attending an important hearing in Greeley next Wednesday.

THE SITUATION
The proposed windfarm, known as Cedar Creek, will consist of up to 300
turbines that will be erected in the area north and west of the Pawnee
Buttes, extending over a large area, with the southernmost row of
turbines stretching along part of the rim of the escarpment that includes
the chalk bluffs and stretches from east of Grover to the area of the
Buttes.  Because it is being constructed on private land, there are few
regulations that can keep them from building the turbines wherever they
want.  However, the Colorado Division of Wildlife has been making
recommendations to the developer to place the turbines and conduct their
construction and operations in a way that will avoid serious disturbance
and damage to nesting birds, etc.  This week we've learned that the
developer (Greenlight Energy, of Virginia) has been unwilling to commit
to voluntarily following all of the DOW recommendations, which have
actually been negotiated down from some more stringent requests (which
Audubon and others believe were the more appropriate ones for protecting
the values of the habitats).  Although there's been some movement on
their part this week, we still have not heard a public commitment or seen
a commitment in writing from Greenlight Energy that they will voluntarily
follow the DOW recommendations to protect birds and wildlife habitats. 
The problem is that they are going before the Weld County Commissioners
next Wednesday, Aug. 2, to ask for their construction permit, which they
might very well receive that day without any commitment on their part to
protect birds and bird habitats.  They expect to have many of the
turbines erected by next summer.

We believe it would be very helpful for the developer and county
commissioners to hear from Colorado citizens that the escarpment and the
surrounding shortgrass prairie are important to birders, conservationists
and others, and that these are an important part of Colorado's heritage
that need to be protected.  If they realize that the public is watching
them, we hope that Greenlight Energy will do the right thing.  I can't
possibly cover all of the issues in this email, but some of the key
recommendations from DOW are that the turbines be kept out of a buffer of
1/2-mile from eagle and prairie falcon nests and 1/4-mile from other
raptor nests, while the siting of other turbines is being negotiated at
distances closer to the rim of the escarpment (100 to 200 meters in some
cases).  These buffers are to protect the nesting birds from human
disturbances associated with operating and maintaining the turbines. 
(FYI, some biologists believe that none of the turbines should be within
1/2-mile of the rim -- where roughly 75 active and inactive raptor nests
have been identified this year.)  Another recommendation calls for
avoiding ground-nesting birds during the construction of each of the
turbines.

PLEASE HELP WITH AN EMAIL
If you want to help put pressure on the developer to be a good corporate
citizen, please send an email to Greenlight Energy expressing your
concerns, along with anything you may want to say about the importance of
the prairie in and near the Pawnee NG and the escarpment itself.  Your
email can be very short.  If you want, you could request that they
voluntarily follow the DOW recommendations, at a minimum.  (Send to: Matt
Hantzmon, Managing Director, matt at glnrg.com ; and to Kevin Davis,
Director of Project Development, kevin at glnrg.com )  You can also copy
those comments to the Weld County Commissioners (e-address:
egesick at co.weld.co.us ) or send separate comments to them for their
consideration at Wednesday's hearing.  Please identify yourself as a Weld
Co. resident if you are, or as a birder who spends money in Weld Co.
while birding if you do.  (If possible, please blind copy me, as well,
kstrom at audubon.org, or at least let me know off-list that you've
commented.)  Some of you may also be concerned about the impact of the
turbines on the viewshed. They will stretch for miles along the top of
the escarpment, and they aren't small.  These turbines reach roughly 400
feet into the air and each turbine's blades sweep an area about the size
of a football field.  It's important to recognize that no matter what
happens, these turbines are going to become a permanent pa brt of the
landscape along the escarpment.  The only question is how far back they
will be set from the top rim.

PLEASE TRY TO ATTEND THE HEARING
It would be great to have a showing by both Weld County residents and
birders from other places who care about the Pawnee.  You don't have to
testify unless you want to.  Just being there will help a lot.  We're
working with one of the ranchers who will testify at the hearing and
would love to have birders in the room who support his position (in
support of the DOW recommendations) and will stand up if he asks for a
show of support.  He's asked me to tell you that if any birders show up
at the hearing, he'll be glad to treat them to a birding trip on his
property in the future, which is a beautiful ranch that includes a
portion of the escarpment and has nesting prairie falcons and other
raptors right now.  I'm especially hoping that folks from Weld County and
nearby Larimer County will try to attend.  The hearing will take place in
Greeley in the County Commissioners Chamber at 915 10th St., First Floor,
at 10 AM on Wednesday August 2, 2006.  (Here's a link to the on-line
notice:
http://www.co.weld.co.us/meetings-minutes/Notices2006/No06-46.html .)  
If you plan to attend, it would help me if you would let me know
off-list.  If you have questions or want more info, please contact me
off-list as well.

No matter what the outcome of the hearing is, we intend to keep pressure
on the developers to do any siting and construction properly.  You can
continue to help in the coming months with additional communications with
the developer to encourage them to minimize environmental damage, so you
could make more detailed comments in the future.  

PLEASE SHARE THIS WITH OTHERS who might comment, whether birders or not,
and especially with Weld/Larimer Co. residents who might be able to
attend the hearing.  Thanks a lot for helping in any way.

Ken   

Ken Strom
Director of Bird Conservation
Audubon Colorado
Boulder
303.415.0130
kstrom at audubon.org