Do windmills harm birds?
Some wind projects, such as the wind turbines at Altamont Pass near San Francisco, have been the subject of controversy regarding wildlife issues, most notably bird deaths attributed to collisions with wind turbines. The wind projects supported by the Santa Cruz Organic® brand’s purchase use modern wind turbines, where bird deaths are infrequent because of three changes that have taken place: • Prospective sites for wind farms are carefully evaluated to ensure they do not fall in migration routes • Turbine blades are much larger and move more slowly • Modern turbines are built in such a way as to prevent nesting in the turbine equipment Most wind facilities do not have significant problems with bird collision. A recent large-scale study that is typical of modern wind farms found, on average, fewer than two birds were killed annually by each turbine at the Stateline facility. Stateline is a large wind facility in Oregon and one of the largest in the United States. None of these birds we
