Wind turbines generating power and problems for northern new york

A hot topic today is reducing our depedency on fossil fuels through expansion of renewable energy resources like wind, water, solar, and geothermal heat.  This is both a possible and a necessary action that is important for national security and the environment. So what's the hold-up?

Here along the upper St. Lawrence River we currently have one wind power generation station installed on Wolf Island - at the outflow of Lake Ontario and the mouth of the St. Lawrence. There are a few inland in the region as well, but none close to shore on the U.S. side.  From what I can tell, Americans support wind energy until its in their own backyard. Sometimes this is a valid argument, but less for the common selfish reasons that we see more often.

Wind power station on Wolf Island

The Wolf Island wind power station has been met with some success: it is generating power, but it's also potentially disrupting bats and bird movement. The ultra sonic noise disrupts bat behavior by causing a malfunction in their ecolocation abilities. As a result, they will fly right into the turbines. Other birds - notably the colonial waterbirds on the St. Lawrence and Lake Ontario, often end up dying via head-on collisions because the wind turbines are right in their flight paths between roosting and feeding areas.  But we still don't quite have exact figures on bat and bird mortality. Once this information is compiled, we can have a better understanding of how these turbines impact regional wildlife.



So if this isn't conclusive evidence against turbines, what are the Americans crying about? Well, quite a few things. For one, the red lights on the tops of towers severly disrupt marine navigation along the St. Lawrence Seaway. It turns out that every wind tower is required to have a blinking red light - almost identical to the blinking red navigation lights lining the channel. This is a major problem at night because it confuses boaters as to where the channel actually is. One solution would be to either change the color,  or maybe put up on for every 20 towers or some other arbitrary number.

The other complaint is that Northern New York already generates more then enough power for the region, so why should it be their responsibility to generate power for others? They are already plagued with power infrastructure - there is a nuclear power plant along lake Ontario in Rochester, and an enormous power dam on the St. Lawrence River at Massena and Cornwall.  Well I suppose one could respond that it's not always about yourself, but our southern neighbors sometimes don't understand that bit of social reality.

Lastly,  it's just a scar on the landscape.  Or is it? Talk to most anybody in Northern New York and they will likely echo that sentiment. However, I suspect that if you asked them the same question ten years ago before wind energy was on the table for the region, most would have expressed support for it. What a strange world.

In any event, I myself am still on the fence. As a biologist, I am interested in knowing the impacts on wildlife more then anything. And most biologists will cite a number of facts claiming that it makes little economic sense either. But I'm not sure that its fair to take a biologists opinion on economics, and and wind developers opinion on wildlife impacts.

Gulls approaching wind turbine blades

Why doesn't Northern New York establish a committee of economists, scientists, citizens and other stakeholders to establish once and for all if wind power in Northern New York is a good idea. And in the meantime stop pointing fingers.