On September 20 and 21, 2011, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will meet with the Wind Turbine Guidelines Federal Advisory Committee to continue to receive Committee members' advice and recommendations about the responsible development of renewable wind energy and effective measures to avoid and minimize impacts to wildlife and their habitats. In preparation for this meeting, the Service is releasing a revised draft of its Land-based Wind Energy Guidelines dated September 13, 2011. The revisions incorporate recommendations made by the Committee and public comment. The Service will accept public comments on this revised draft until September 23, 2011. Please send comments to: windenergy@fws.gov.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Releases Revised, Draft Guidelines for Land- Based Wind Energy Projects On July 20 and 21, 2011, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will meet with the Wind Turbine Guidelines Federal Advisory Committee to continue to receive Committee members' advice and recommendations about the responsible development of renewable wind energy and effective measures to avoid and minimize impacts to wildlife and their habitats. In preparation for this meeting, the Service is releasing a revised draft of its Land-based Wind Energy Guidelines. In developing this revised draft, the Service used the draft Land-based Wind Energy Guidelines it released on February 8, 2011, public comments received on the draft Guidelines, the recommendations of the Wind Turbine Guidelines Federal Advisory Committee, and a peer review.
On February 8, 2011, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service released two draft documents containing guidelines designed to provide agency employees, developers, other federal agencies and state organizations information needed to make the best possible decisions in the review and selection of sites for wind energy facilities to avoid and minimize negative impacts to fish, wildlife, plants and their habitats. The guidelines have now been published in the Federal Register (February 18, 2011) and are now open for public comment for 90 days until May 19, 2011. The documents are part of the Department of the Interior's ongoing efforts to improve siting and permitting of renewable energy projects.
The Draft Voluntary, Land-Based Wind Energy Guidelines have been developed for industry to avoid and minimize impacts to federally protected migratory birds and bats and other impacted wildlife resulting from site selection, construction, operation and maintenance of land-based, wind energy facilities.
The Draft Eagle Conservation Plan Guidance was developed to provide interpretive guidance to wind developers, Service biologists who evaluate potential impacts on eagles from proposed wind energy projects, and others in applying the regulatory permit standards as specified by the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act and other federal laws.
Email comments can be submitted to windenergy@fws.gov. Please include "Wind Energy Guidelines Comments" or "Eagle Conservation Plan Guidance Comments" in the subject line, and your full name and return address in the body of the message. Please note that the email address will be closed when the public comment period closes.
Alternatively, you may submit comments or recommendations by mail to: Attention: Wind Energy Guidelines; Division of Fisheries and Habitat Conservation; U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; 4401 North Fairfax Drive, Mail Stop 4107; Arlington, VA 22203-1610 or Attention: Eagle Conservation Plan Guidance; Division of Migratory Bird Management; U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; 4401 North Fairfax Drive, Mail Stop 4107; Arlington, VA 22203-1610.
Land-Based Wind Energy Guidelines
The Service is announcing the availability of draft, voluntary guidelines for wind turbine projects. These draft Guidelines are designed to provide developers and agency staff with a process to make the best possible decisions in selecting sites for wind energy facilities to avoid and minimize the negative effects to fish, wildlife and their habitats resulting from construction, operation and maintenance of land-based, wind energy facilities.
In July 2003, the Service released for a set of voluntary, interim guidelines for land-based, wind energy projects to assist developers in avoiding, minimizing and/or compensating for effects to fish, wildlife, and their habitats. Following an extended two-year public comment period, the Secretary of the Interior established the Wind Turbine Guidelines Advisory Committee under the auspices of the Federal Advisory Committee Act in March 2007 to provide the recommendations for the final guidelines. The Committee was comprised of a diversity of stakeholders, including federal, tribal, state, private industries and conservation organizations. After two years of deliberations, the Committee submitted their final recommendations to the Secretary on March 4, 2010. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service then convened an internal working group representing several Service programs to review the Committee recommendations. The working group used the recommendations as a basis to develop the Service’s proposed wind energy guidelines.
The Guidelines are designed to be used for all utility-scale and community-scale land-based, wind energy projects regardless of whether they are proposed for private or public lands. The guidelines will be used by developers, federal agencies, and state organizations for selecting sites for wind energy projects. They are intended to address the potential negative effects of wind energy development on fish, wildlife, and their habitats. These guidelines are not designed for off-shore wind energy projects as those projects entail another suite of effects and analyses.
Eagle Conservation Plan Guidance
As a result of possible eagle collisions and effects from disturbance from wind turbines, many of the current and planned wind facilities will require permits under the newly available permits in order to be in compliance with BGEPA. In addition to being legally necessary, the conservation practices and adaptive management necessary to meet standards required for issuance of these permits can offset the short- and long-term impacts of wind facilities on eagle populations. It is in the best interest of wind-facility operators and eagles for such facilities to meet the requirements for and to obtain a programmatic eagle take permit. The draft Eagle Conservation Plan Guidance provides the background information necessary for wind energy project proponents to prepare an Eagle Conservation Plan (ECP) that assesses the risk of their project(s) to eagles and how siting, design, and operational modifications can mitigate that risk.
The Eagle Conservation Plan Guidance provides interpretive guidance to Service biologists and others in applying the regulatory permit standards as specified in the 2009 Final Eagle Permit Rule. This guidance does not impose additional regulatory requirements. The Eagle Conservation Plan Guidance also explains the Service’s approach to issuing programmatic eagle take permits under 50 CFR 22.26, and provides guidance to applicants and biologists on the development of ECPs to support permit issuance.
How the Documents Work Together
The Eagle Conservation Plan Guidance was created to be compatible with the general guidelines provided in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Wind Energy Guidelines. Both documents provide iterative processes for making the best possible decisions to reduce the overall negative effects to wildlife resources resulting from siting, construction, and operations of wind energy facilities. Both documents describe the information needed to identify, assess, mitigate, and monitor the potential adverse effects of wind-energy projects.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Wind Energy Guidelines address effects to fish and wildlife trust resources and their habitats relatively generally, whereas the Eagle Conservation Plan Guidance provides recommendations based specifically on the biology of and legal protections for Bald and Golden eagles.
