Comment

Comment by Penny Melko on February 9, 2013 at 9:41pm

1. YouTube video. Kern County Board of Supervisors Alta East hearing. Presentation by Planning Director. She speaks with a forked tongue. In the video she was so proud to announce that Terragen planned to get permits for TAKES of bald & golden eagles but very round-about. The telemetry she touts is useless because less then half of the California condors are fitted with GPS devices. This was withheld from the decision makers. Thus a lie by  omission.  http://youtu.be/9CCQ2AhoRiA

Comment by Penny Melko on February 4, 2013 at 12:02am

The same has begun to happen in Kern County. The Planning Director presented the Staff Report to Kern County (CA) Board and manipulated the words like "takes" of Bald and Golden eagles, that wind farms are using telemetry and human spotters to see when condors fly over and shut the turbines down. The problem is that less than half of the 225 California condors are fitted with GPS equipment. Just losing 1 condor/yr for 30 years as they drop down out of the skies for a carcass for each of the 10 or 12 huge wind farms will cause their extinction. None of the other raptors are fitted though. The report also documents that TerraGen, LLC (that claim at every hearing they are an American company) has a permit for incidental takes of the endangered Mojave Desert tortoise. They are federally protected but our federal government are violating their own law.  They have gone too far this time. 

If anyone is inclined to protect our environment by pushing back on 350.org please link to their site.  They're promoting wind turbines and support that they kill birds and bats. What they heck kind of environmental group takes in money but doesn't protect animals inhabiting the environment??? Notice that their site partners with the Sierra Club - got a call from them to support renewable energy PTC - told them know because they support bird deaths - person said that well, they need to be sacrificed to make this transition to wind and solar energy. What they deserve is to be "outed".

Main page: https://www.facebook.com/350.org

Wind Farm support site:  https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151382521917708&set=a...

Mojave Desert Local environmental story: http://www.canyoncountryzephyr.com/2013/02/01/take-it-or-leave-it-t...

Either the wind companies retrofit their wind turbines with protective covering to prevent birds, bats and bugs from colliding with the spinning propellers or shut them down until they are retrofitted. There is no compromise.

From Penny Melko, Tehachapi Pass - Silence is Consent

Comment by alice mckay barnett on February 3, 2013 at 9:09am

I sent a comment but wonder how many people knew it was up for comment.

Comment by Rick Conrad on February 3, 2013 at 8:35am

 

Interested go the Minnesota PUC e-dockets search page.

https://www.edockets.state.mn.us/EFiling/edockets/searchDocuments.d...

Search for 08 1233 on behalf of DOC or date 01'16/2013 to read USFWS eagle collision assessment for New Era wind project.

20131-82811-01 PUBLIC 08-1233 WS DOC EFP FOR USFWS COMMENTS 01/16/2013

Comment by Rick Conrad on February 3, 2013 at 7:27am

   I live in this footprint.  This is my recent comment to the official record on the APBB that is now under consideration .

 

 

STATE OF MINNESOTA

BEFORE THE

MINNESOTA PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION

Beverly Heydinger Chair

J. Dennis 0 Brien Commissioner

David C. Boyd Commissioner

Phyllis A. Reha Commissioner

Betsy Wergin Commissioner

In the Matter of the New Era Wind Farm, LLC formerly known as AWA Goodhue Wind, LLC Site Permit for a 78-Megawatt Large Wind Energy Conversion System Project in Goodhue County

ISSUE DATE: August 23, 2011

DOCKET NO. IP-6701/WS-08-1233

I am making the following comments on the revised ABPP for New Era Wind also known as Goodhue Wind LLC. Each comment is followed by a simple question that I hope the commission will be as interested in the answers to as I,as a footprint resident, am.

I would also like to respectfully request that, due the controversial nature of this ABPP and the huge environmental impacts this project could have, that the PUC allow citizens to comment in person before the Commission before deciding on this ABPP.

1. The most important consideration in weighing the value of this ABPP must be the presence of American Bald Eagles in the project footprint. No measure described in the ABPP will ensure that Bald Eagles will not fall victim to this project. It is absolutely necessary that New Era Wind accept responsibly for all adverse affects to Bald Eagles due to construction and operation of their project. An ITP, incidental take permit, issued by the USFWS will protect the applicant and all persons associated this project. An ITP can not be considered as a separate option or an additional measure. If the ITP can not be incorporated into this ABPP, then approval of this ABPP and project construction should be conditional on New Era obtaining an ITP sufficient to protect not only the applicant but all parties including local participating landowners, investors, and the MPUC personnel who permitted this project. When will the permitee obtain an ITP? And will the ITP be in effect before construction and/or operation begins?

2. Golden Eagles have been documented in the area by the applicant's own wildlife surveys. Though not nearly as common in the footprint as Bald Eagles, wind turbines pose the same danger of fatality to Golden Eagles. Curtailment of turbines when Golden Eagles are present is the only known measure to insure that Golden Eagles will not be struck by spinning turbine blades. Curtailment will only be effective if all Golden Eagles in surrounding areas are tagged and tracked. How is the permitee going to ensure that no Golden Eagles are taken?? There are no take permits for Golden Eagles.

2. Other raptors, Though the environmental studies list many other raptors including the most common one the redtail hawk, no mention is made in environmental surveys of the presence or numbers of common nocturnal birds of prey such as owls. Owls are just as important as hawks if not more so and will be placed at risk also. Why were no nighttime bird surveys done???

2. Wind leases and footprint control. This project with the additional two mile buffer for bald eagle protection now encompasses many times the 12,500 acres normally needed to site 78 megawatts of wind generation. Since the original ABPP was submitted in which Goodhue Wind LLC proposed to use the DNR and local law enforcement to enforce food based management measures on non-participants, additional questions have arisen. According to newspaper reports there has been trespassing by the permitee on private land and stories that some unnamed landowners have terminated their wind lease agreements. Also there continues to be animosity toward the project by a majority of the footprint residents. There will be very little voluntary cooperation from non-participants in any matter that might benefit this permitee. How does the permitee propose to force the cooperation of the numerous non-participants living in their footprint? And do they still have effective wind lease agreements to site this project as permitted????

Respectfully submitted,

January 7, 2012 Rick Conrad

14788 County 9 Blvd

Goodhue, MN 55027

Comment by Allen Barrette on February 2, 2013 at 10:57pm

These federal felons will not stop until there is a war against our corrupt Government. There is no consideration to what the publc wants. These actions are nothing more than a free for all from corrupt politicians to the sindicated Big wind. I can write the truth because I experienced first hand the tampering of due process. I'm sure The town of lincoln was not the only town that just didn't get around to mailing out those public hearing notices to seasonal residents which make up a good portion of legal voters 

Comment by Brad Blake on February 2, 2013 at 10:13pm

Since the online.wsj link above requires you to be a subscriber to view the whole story, I am posting it here for all to read:

 

The federal government plans to allow wind turbines to kill bald eagles for 30 years.

By ROBERT BRYCE

On June 20, 1782, the Continental Congress, after nearly six years of haggling and numerous design changes, finally approved the Great Seal of the United States. In doing so, it made the bald eagle our national symbol. This year, in the name of clean energy, the Fish and Wildlife Service is considering changing federal rules so that a wind-energy developer can be granted an "incidental-take" permit allowing wind projects to kill bald eagles and golden eagles for up to 30 years.

On Jan. 15, the Fish and Wildlife Service determined that the New Era Wind Farm—a proposed project near Red Wing, Minn.—might kill as many as 14 bald eagles per year. Despite that toll, the agency said the developer of the 48-turbine wind farm could go ahead and apply for an eagle-kill permit. If granted, it could be the first project to get one. At least one other wind-energy concern, Oregon's West Butte Wind Project, also has applied for an incidental-take permit, and others are sure to follow.

The Fish and Wildlife Service said that its estimate for bald eagle kills at the New Era facility was a "worst-case scenario" that "would not damage" the local population of bald eagles. That might be true. Nevertheless, the possibility that federal authorities are willing to issue such a permit once again exposes the double standard at work when it comes to renewable energy.

For years, the wind industry has had de facto permission to violate both the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (which protects 1,000 species) and the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act. Federal authorities have never brought a case under either law—despite the Fish and Wildlife Service's estimate that domestic turbines kill some 440,000 birds per year.

While the wind industry enjoys its exemption from prosecution under these federal wildlife laws, the Interior Department has aggressively brought cases against the oil-and-gas industry. In 2011, the Fish and Wildlife Service filed criminal indictments against three drillers who were operating in North Dakota's Bakken field. One of those companies, Continental Resources, was indicted for killing a single bird (a Say's Phoebe) that is protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. This law was adopted in 1918, at a time when several bird species were being decimated by hunters.

Compare the action taken against Continental Resources with the Pine Tree wind project, a three-year-old facility owned by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. Since 2009, nine golden eagle carcasses have been recovered at the project and reported to the Fish and Wildlife Service. Los Angeles Times reporter Louis Sahagun reported on Feb. 16, 2012, that at least six of the birds had been struck by turbine blades. Yet there have been no indictments. Jill Birchell, special agent in charge of law enforcement for the Fish and Wildlife Service in California and Nevada refused to comment on the Pine Tree case, other than to tell me that "it is an ongoing criminal investigation."

Federal law has protected the bald eagle since 1940, the golden eagle since 1962. Violating the Eagle Protection Act can result in a fine of $250,000 and imprisonment for two years. From 1976 to 2007, the bald eagle also was protected under the Endangered Species Act. It got off the federal endangered-species list—among only a handful of animals ever to do so—thanks to decades of conservation efforts, including captive-breeding projects, some of which were sponsored by the Fish and Wildlife Service. Today, there are about 10,000 breeding pairs of bald eagles in the lower 48 states. But they are still protected by both the Eagle and Migratory Bird acts.

Getting a permit to kill eagles has always been difficult. Indian tribes are allowed to obtain eagle feathers for religious purposes. In addition, some scientific and educational entities can be permitted to possess eagle parts.

The wind-energy lobby has sought such permission for years, insisting that eagle-kill permits ought to last longer than the current limit of five years. Last April the Fish and Wildlife Service agreed, and it published a Federal Register notice saying it planned to extend incidental-take permits to 30 years so as to "facilitate the responsible development of renewable energy." 

Although the agency hasn't made a final ruling on the 30-year permit, the proposal has riled environmental groups and several Native American tribes. The Natural Resources Defense Council, the Defenders of Wildlife, the National Audubon Society, the Sierra Club and the Wilderness Society submitted a joint statement to the Fish and Wildlife Service saying that the 30-year term was too long and that there was a "lack of sufficient baseline population data" on the two eagle species.

An eagle-kill permit "infuriates me," says Daniel Stussy, who owns a 20-acre farm on the border of the proposed New Era Wind Farm in Minnesota. "As a hunter, if I mistook the bald eagle for a Canada goose, a big fine would be the least of my worries. I couldn't even go to town for coffee because I'd be so ashamed."

Kelly Fuller of the American Bird Conservancy has a stronger warning: "If you want to turn the public against the wind industry, building a project that kills a lot of bald eagles will do it."

Mr. Bryce is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute and the author of "Power Hungry: The Myths of 'Green' Energy and the Real Fuels of the Future" (PublicAffairs, 2010).