Wednesday, April 29, 2015

Environmental groups spar over wind energy, prairie chicken protection

As dozens of birders from across the country attend an Oklahoma festival intended to bring attention to the plight of dwindling prairie grouse populations, a difference in views on wind energy between the local Audubon Society and the Sierra Club has come into focus. Via email to Oklahoma birders, John Kennington, longtime Tulsa Audubon Society Chapter president and an organizer of the Lesser Prairie Chicken Festival underway in Woodward and Pawhuska through Sunday, challenged the Sierra Club’s position presented recently in state electric utility upgrade hearings and on its Beyond Coal Campaign website. “If the proposal outlined (by the Sierra Club) is approved, we will see an exponential increase in the number of wind turbines across Oklahoma. The impact on lesser prairie chickens, eagles, other raptors, migratory birds and other wildlife, particularly bats, will be devastating,” Kennington wrote. “I really hate to see people who care about our environment disagree, but many of us feel this is a very misguided position.” While he said he appreciates concerns about pollution and climate change, he argued that grasping with both hands for wind or solar technologies without pushing for mitigation of the negative aspects of those developments is not the answer, either...more

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