"This story was published
in the Standard Times"
South Coast Wind developer cautiously optimistic after bird report
By BECKY W. EVANS
Standard-Times staff writer
July 11, 2007 6:00 AM
NEW BEDFORD — The Boston developer who wants to build a 300-megawatt
wind farm in Buzzards Bay called the results of preliminary bird
studies "encouraging" but said it is too early to determine
whether threats to endangered terns that nest and feed in the bay
could kill the $750 million project.
"
I am fifty-percent comfortable," said Jay Cashman of Patriot
Renewables, LLC., a renewable energy subsidiary of his construction
company, Jay Cashman Inc.
Nearly a year ago, Mr. Cashman told Fairhaven residents that birds
were the "one thing" he feared could jeopardize the South
Coast Wind project, which would plant three clusters of turbines
off the coasts of Fairhaven, Dartmouth and Naushon Island, one
of the Elizabeth Islands.
Patriot Renewables has since hired bird expert Richard H. Podolsky
to perform avian studies in the bay. The studies will help identify
bird-friendly locations for the proposed 60 to 130 turbines, which
could range in height from 365 to 505 feet depending on the chosen
model, according to company documents.
Since the fall of 2006, Dr. Podolsky and a team of researchers
have conducted boat-based surveys of bird nesting, flying, feeding
and other behaviors in five areas of the bay.
Preliminary data show there are "some very promising areas" to
build turbines that would "minimize the conflict between birds
and renewable energy," Dr. Podolsky said. He warned that those
areas could change depending on the results of fall waterfowl surveys
that will begin in October.
Based on the results of spring and early summer surveys, Dr. Podolsky
said developers should avoid placing turbines in areas that are "immediately
adjacent" to three bay islands that serve as nesting grounds
for endangered roseate terns and common terns, which the state
lists as a species of special concern. Those islands include Bird
Island, Ram Island and Penikese Island.
Dr. Podolsky presented 2007 survey data to about 40 members of
the public last night at the New Bedford Whaling Museum. He said
researchers are in the middle of the survey season.
"
The data is wonderful," he said. "We are learning some
great stuff. We have no real conclusions. We are just seeing patterns."
Terns have been most active between Penikese Island and Cuttyhunk
Island, while there have been few sightings of the fish-eating
birds in the waters off the Dartmouth coast, he said.
Most of the birds appear to be flying no more than 10 feet above
the water's surface — well below the range of the spinning
turbine blades, he said.
The 2006 fall migration survey showed that 3 percent of the 3,233
observed birds flew high enough (82-feet or greater) to be within
the so-called rotor height zone of the proposed turbines, according
to Patriot Renewables .
Following Dr. Podolsky's presentation, Dartmouth resident Blair
Walker said she remained opposed to the wind project because the
bay "is a bird sanctuary." A supporter of wind projects
in general, Ms. Walker said she would like to see this project
sited further offshore.
She also challenged the scope of Dr. Podolsky's surveys and questioned
his allegiance to Patriot Renewables.
"
They are paying for him, so it's not necessarily unbiased," she
said.
Becky Harris, director of Mass Audubon's coastal waterbird program,
said Dr. Podolsky was "vague on the years and seasons" of
future bird studies.
Long-term studies are necessary to catch year to year and day to
day variations in bird behavior, Dr. Harris said.
Mass Audubon, which conducted its own bird studies for the proposed
420-megawatt Cape Wind project in Nantucket Sound, said the conservation
group is waiting to see how South Coast Wind develops before making
a decision on whether it will proceed with bird surveys in the
bay.
Contact Becky W. Evans at revans@s-t.com
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