Does Controversial Decision Pit California Condors against Wind Turbines?

Talk about a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" situation. The U.S. needs to generate more renewable energy if we hope to stave off the effects of climate change. At the same time, critically endangered California condors ( Gymnogyps californianus )--which today number 417 birds after the last 22 members of their species were put in a captive breeding program in 1987--need more room to fly and breed as well as more chances to not die. Are these two goals at odds with each other? Many conservationists, who treasure the massive vultures with three-meter wingspans, say yes. The government last week said no.Here's the situation: The U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) last week approved a 153-megawatt wind farm, the Alta East Wind Project, in southern California relatively close to where the condors have regained some of their historic habitat. (The birds have also been released in parts of Utah and Arizona.) The project's parent company, Terra-Gen Power, worked with the BLM and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) to see how the 1,049-hectare wind farm--most of which will be built on federal land--would be compatible with the big birds. Terra-Gen halved the number of planned turbines and agreed to install what has been called a "comprehensive condor detection and avoidance" system that would slow down and then turn off the turbines if condors came too close. The company also agreed to contribute $100,000 a year to the Condor Recovery Program , and it will also fund a program to help abate lead in the area. (We'll get back to the lead issue in a bit.) [More]