Migratory birds prefer to catch a tail-wind at a much higher altitude.
Fying Rats.
Posted on 05/11/2006 1:22:17 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
AUSTIN, Texas - The nation's largest offshore wind farm will be built off the Padre Island seashore, a critical migratory bird flyway, Texas officials announced Thursday.
Texas Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson lauded what he said would be an 40,000-acre span of turbines about 400 feet tall able to generate energy to power 125,000 homes.
"The wind rush is on," Patterson said. "We want to be number one. We want to attract the businesses that build the turbines, that build the blades. ... We want to be the leader in the United States, if not the world."
Superior Renewable Energy Inc., based in Houston, would build the farm and pay the estimated $1 billion to $2 billion construction costs.
But some environmentalists say the promise of clean energy may not be worth the deaths of countless birds that migrate through the area each year on their way to and from winter grounds in Mexico and Central America.
"You probably couldn't pick a worse location, unless you're trying to settle the issue as to how damaging they are to migratory birds," said Walter Kittelberger, chairman of the Lower Laguna Madre Foundation. Laguna Madre is the strip of water between the mainland and Padre Island.
The offshore wind farm is the second announced in less than a year for the Texas Coast, joining 50 wind turbines planned off Galveston.
It would have up to 500 turbines looming off Texas ranch land and spinning up to 500 megawatts of electricity.
The nation's largest currently operating wind farm is on the Stateline Wind Energy Center on the Oregon-Washington border, which produces about 300 megawatts of electricity. According to the American Wind Energy Association, the U.S. produces 9,149 megawatts of wind power, enough to power 2.3 million homes annually. President Bush has said wind energy could produce 20 percent of the nation's electricity.
Wind farm plans have also sparked disputes, including a bitter fight over a proposed 130-turbine wind farm off Cape Cod, Mass., where the residents fear the turbines will be unsightly.
In Texas, the state controls waters up to 10.3 miles off the coast and can make quick deals with developers, Patterson said. He said this project would be located off a remote, unpopulated part of Padre Island National Seashore.
"Those who are concerned about view sheds shouldn't have a problem," he said. "There's nobody there to look at it."
Migratory birds prefer to catch a tail-wind at a much higher altitude.
Fying Rats.
flashy rainbow streamers on each blade.
That will attract Big Al's Big Gay Boatride.
Because, in this proposed windfarm scenario, they are dumber than dirt.
Highjacker. You're on my list.
You bet! Especially with all that chopped-bird "chum" in the water... '-)
How dare bird fly in windy areas! Who would have thought of such a thing like birds coasting in windstreams. Next, I bet we'll hear about fish swimming in currents.
Lets put wind farms in still air areas to protect the birds.
-PJ
Only a stupid liberal environmentalist would assume migrating birds would fly off shore, instead of inland, near food and water sources.
![](http://images.google.com/images?q=tbn:m2epxaq04sJ51M:www.scarymatt.com/jaws%2520pics/jaws05.jpg")
Maybe so, but... I had a friend who was night watchman in the museum building that surrounds the 500+ foot tall San Jacinto Monument. On foggy nights in the fall, he would hear a series of loud "THUMP!s" on the roof. The next day he would be passing out loads of ducks and geese (with shattered bills and skulls) to anyone who wanted them...
I doubt that Darwin has decreased that phenomenon...
That has been happening for years. The spotlights used to illuminate the monument at night disorient the ducks and geese and they fly into the monument.
Dirty rice for everyone!
"I wonder what the output will be when a hurricane blows through."
Unless the technology has changed they would shut down when the winds reach 35 to 40 mph.
In the right location, wind power is hardly "marginally effective". It compares very favorably to gas/oil in terms of ROI.
P.S. Welcome back to Texas!
"Putting a wind farm in a migratory bird flyway is asinine."
There is no such thing as a "migratory bird flyway."
They'll just go around. They're not salmon or lemmings, for pete's sake.
Heard this same garbage about he Alaska Oil Pipeline.
Never mind that those migratory birds ie ducks and dove are being shot at by hunters all the way down the Yucatan penninsula. I am sure that these wind mills will be their biggest challenge on the way South each year.
O watts.
My Company, "ScareCrows LLC", is in the process of making large curtain like Scare Crows to drape around the large wind mills to shooo the birds away. I'll make $$$$ billions! I love America! /humor
Thank'ee kindly! Now that I'm back in God's Country, I've already announced that the next time I move -- it will be to the cemetery! ;-)
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