Wind Turbine In Ohio Bird Zone Halted

Earth Techling ^ | 1/30/14 | Pete Danko

[Libloather]

A U.S. military project to erect a 131-foot-tall wind turbine with rotor blades 135 feet in diameter in what a conservation group calls “one of the greatest bird migration corridors in the Western Hemisphere” has been abruptly halted.

The decision to stop work on a 600-kilowatt turbine at Camp Perry along Lake Erie was revealed in a letter [PDF] from the National Guard Bureau (the entity that runs the National Guard) to the attorneys representing the American Bird Conservancy and Black Swamp Bird Observatory, who earlier this month had threatened a lawsuit if the project proceeded.

**SNIP**

“The victory sends a strong message to other wind energy developers in this ecologically sensitive region that conservationists will be closely watching their actions,” Michael Hutchins, national coordinator of American Bird Conversancy’s Bird Smart Wind Energy Campaign, said in a statement. “While we support wind energy as a sustainable energy source, we insist that turbines be sited where their impacts to birds and other wildlife can be minimized. This project was among the worst we have seen in that regard.”

[Libloather]

Left v. left.

[cripplecreek]

131-foot-tall wind turbine with rotor blades 135 feet in diameter

Um...

[Whenifhow]

Ohio Ping - Camp Perry

The decision to stop work on a 600-kilowatt turbine at Camp Perry along Lake Erie was revealed in a letter [PDF] from the National Guard Bureau (the entity that runs the National Guard) to the attorneys representing the American Bird Conservancy and Black Swamp Bird Observatory, who earlier this month had threatened a lawsuit if the project proceeded.

[Dr. Bogus Pachysandra]

“131-foot-tall wind turbine with rotor blades 135 feet in diameter”

Bwaaaa! “Um” is right! Not only will it take out birds, it’ll kill worms too!

[dirtboy]

You are thinking radius, not diameter.

[Orangedog]

If it kills some of the Canadian geese I’m okay with this wind turbine. Damned vile birds.

[Proud2BeRight]

I suspect the mast is considered the height and not the tip of the blade. 135’ diameter is a 67.5’ radius.

[TheOldLady]

131-foot-tall wind turbine with rotor blades 135 feet in diameter

Um...

No.

The rotors are 135' in diameter and rotate at the top of a 131' tower. The blades are 67.5' long, and there is no
way they will touch the ground until the windmill explodes and falls down, as they have been known to do.

I am having a lot of trouble accepting the fact that our fedgov allows wind turbine installers to kill as many
eagles as they want. Can there be any doubt that they wish our national symbol to go extinct?

Gettin' tired of all the attacks on everything and everyone American.

Very happy that this project has been stopped. Wind power is an expensive dead end, and the stupid turbines
kill more birds than eagles, the noise from them drives people crazy, and the shadow flicker from the blades
does the same.

The whole thing is just a really bad idea.

[cripplecreek]

there is no way they will touch the ground until the windmill explodes and falls down, as they have been known to do.

LOL

[TheOldLady]

;-)

[AZLiberty]

Does it blend?

Not anymore.

[KingLudd]

“Canadian geese” Snick!

[blueunicorn6]

Call it “The Bird Go Round” and say the birds can land on the blades and go around for entertainment.

“A happy bird is a healthy bird.”

[driftdiver]

I paused there too. But if you figure the middle of the 135 foot blade is attached to the top of the 131 foot tower there is still 60 feet of clearance.

[xzins]

Nope, if you have a tower 131 feet high and rotor blades 135 feet in diameter, then (unless you tilt them or put them on top of the tower like a pin-wheel hat) those blades will hit the ground. If it were radius, the circle of the rotor blades would be 270 feet.

[rottndog]

Radius is half of diameter.

D=135, R=67.5

a 131-foot-tall wind turbine with rotor blades 135 feet in diameter

The turbine is at 131 feet high. The turbine is the center of the 135 foot diameter formed by the blades. The blades only extend 67.5 feet from the turbine--each blade is only 67.5 feet long. Therefore the closest the tip of any of the blades will be to the ground is 63.5 feet.

Of course this is old math...

[xzins]

Nope. The poster said that for the rotors to be killing worms that he had to be thinking diameter. If the 135 were a radius, then the diameter would be 270.

[rottndog]

dirtboy was correct...the previous poster confused radius with diameter.

A 135 foot diameter blade will not contact the ground on a 131 foot tower...a 135 foot radius blade would.

[xzins]

Nope. You’re right. I’m wrong.

Don’t know what I was thinking.

Need more coffee! Synapses not properly charged!