The Humane Society of the United States

 

Rick Henderson

Attn: CENAO-TS-G

Norfolk District

Corps of Engineers

803 Front Street

Norfolk, Va. 23510-1096

 

5 September 2003

 

Dear Mr. Henderson,

 

On behalf of the more than 7 million members and constituents of The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) I am submitting the following comment relative to the scoping process for the permit application from Winergy LLC for the proposed development of a wind farm offshore of Smith Island in Virginia. The HSUS believes that an environmental impact statement should be required of this project as a result of the controversial nature of the project and its potential for causing adverse impacts to species listed under the Endangered Species Act (ESA).

 

An Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) Is Required

 

Cape Wind, Inc. has proposed to develop a wind farm off the coast of Massachusetts in Nantucket Shoals.  The project in Nantucket Sound covers approximately 28 square miles and would contain 130 turbines. The US Army Corps of Engineers has already determined that this project requires an EIS.  The EIS scoping meetings have been on-going and evaluations of habitat use of this area by protected species are already being undertaken for use in formulating an EIS.  The proposal by Winergy LLC off the coast of Virginia covers approximately 25 square miles and would contain 150 turbines.  Because the Army Corps has already determined that a similar project of similar size requires an EIS, it is clear that the proposed Winergy project requires a similar or greater level of evaluation prior to the issuance of a permit.

 

Protected Species of Wildlife Are Likely to be Affected

 

The proposed location of this project is important for a number of key wildlife species. The Smith Island site is adjacent to the Nature Conservancy’s Virginia Coastal Reserve--an area valued by naturalists and well known by state and federal officials for its importance as a flyway for migratory birds and seasonal home to literally millions of wintering waterfowl.

 

The website for Nature  Conservancy’s Virginia Coastal Reserve states that “[t]he islands shelter more than 250 species of raptors, songbirds, and shorebirds, which find food in the adjacent bays and salt marshes. Starting in September, songbirds and raptors stop by on their way south.

 

The forested southern tip of the Shore serves as a funneling point for millions of migrating songbirds. Winter brings thousands of black ducks, brant and snow geese. Come May, a thick crowd of sandpipers covers the beaches and tidal flats, fattening themselves before flying to arctic nesting grounds. Recent spring surveys revealed nearly 3,000 red knots stopped on Metompkin and Parramore islands alone just after the full moon in May. In winter, some 2,000 American oystercatchers, nearly a quarter of the North American population of these remarkable birds, take refuge on the Eastern Shore.  Also seeking sanctuary here is the piping plover, a small, thick-necked bird whose nesting habitat has been overwhelmed by coastal development elsewhere.” 

 

The proposed site is in the migratory path of monarch butterflies migrating south in the fall. It is also heavily used by marine mammals and is potentially important for endangered turtles and key fish species.

 

Birds 

Wind turbines have had a history of fatal interactions with migratory song birds, raptors, and resident birds using the area around the towers for feeding and foraging. The Virginia Coast Reserve, which includes Smith Island and the surrounding area, has been declared a Globally Important Bird Area by the American Bird Conservancy.  This designation made to alert managers to areas of special import either to one or more particularly vulnerable avian species or for international efforts in species conservation. As such, it is critical that there be a thorough review of potential impacts to avian species if a wind farm is permitted for this area.

 

As previously stated, this area is used for nesting by federally endangered piping plovers.  In addition, according to the Virginia Society of Ornithology (Va-Birds listserve),  this area is part of the corridor by which hundreds of thousands of seabirds transit and out of the Chesapeake Bay, especially during migration and during periods of changing weather. According to the Society, birds known to migrate through the area in significant numbers include peregrine falcons, for which satellite telemetry indicates the species migrates both offshore and along the coast in large numbers each fall. Merlins are also

known to migrate in pre dawn darkness along the coast and offshore. Tundra Swans migrate at night and in very large numbers in the proposed area. Surf and Black Scoters

migrate through the area in very large flocks from 0.5 to several miles offshore in the fall Northern Gannets, thousands of which hunt for fish in or near the proposed project area each winter, may also be at risk.  Red-breasted mergansers, cormorants and red-throated  oons, of which a very large portion of the Atlantic-wintering population passes through the area en route to the Carolinas in the fall, migrate northward and southward through  his area each year. Millions of neotropical and temperate passerine migrants pass through  the area in the fall. These birds generally migrate at night and, during frontal passages,  all out in very large numbers in Northampton County. Limited radar studies show many  of these birds are offshore (having "overmigrated," that is, overshot the coastline). These  birds may contact turbines in poor visibility as they make landfall in pre-dawn darkness,  often near the offshore corridor beingconsidered for the wind farm.  Each fall, largeat numbers of these migrants are seen resting on the Chesapeake Light Tower, fourteen miles east of Cape Henry.

 

The operation of turbines may place bird species at risk in a number of different ways, all of which need to be assessed.

 

Small passerines, flying with limited caloric budgets, may be blown offshore where they often attempt to rest on boats and structures.  If a wind farm forces alteration of a migratory pathway, it may be devastating to marginalized individuals. Furthermore, attempting to land on a turbine tower to rest may prove fatal.  Additionally, turbines may pose a risk to hundreds or thousands of seasonal resident or migrant water fowl which may rest on the water surface and need to take off near or under turbine blades. Fragmentation of resting or foraging areas by turbine fields, may force seasonal residents and migrants to utilize sub-optimal habitat, which may compromise members of sensitive species.

 

 It is critical that the applicant address concerns raised by lighting that will be required on turbines. Certain types of lighting used to warn aircraft of towers have been shown to be a hazard to night migrating birds, and adverse weather can lower the altitude of migrating songbirds, placing them at risk as they fly at the height of the turbines proposed for the Virginia site. Moreover, assessing the potential risk to birds resting on the water surface and forced to fly off the water and possibly up into turbine blades cannot be taken lightly. The survey efforts in terrestrial sites that have found bodies or birds and bats beneath turbines (indicating the level of mortality that may be occurring from an operational site) are not possible in a marine environment.  A thorough assessment is needed to determine the potential adverse impacts of the proposed turbines on birds protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. 

 

Additionally, no available research indicates what impact wind turbines may have on large groups of monarch butterflies which are known to migrate through this area.

 

Marine Mammals

This area is also used by marine mammals.  Harbor porpoise are found in large numbers off the mid-Atlantic coast in the winter season (NMFS 2001).  Additionally bottlenose dolphins use this area year round (NMFS 2001). Coastal bottlenose dolphins are listed as depleted under the Marine Mammal Protection Act.  Marine mammals depend on the area for foraging and, in the case of bottlenose dolphins, as a nursery area. Furthermore, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) conducts surveys for marine mammals along the US east coast, and aerial surveys in 1995, found more than 2300 bottlenose dolphins located within 12 km of shore. Annual surveys by the Virginia Marine Science Museum (Barco, pers com) have found large numbers of dolphins in coastal waters, including the waters off Virginia’s eastern shore. Installation of the miles of cable necessary to bring power to shore is generally done by jet blasting of the sand.  This sort of disruption of the sea bed may adversely affect this habitat if the fish on which these animals feed are displaced of suffer reduced reproductive viability due to disruption of the sandy bottom or suspension of sediment.  Degradation of their coastal habitat by sub-optimizing foraging habitat, disrupting animals with continual vessel traffic necessary to maintain turbines, and forcing animals to swim in artificial pathways to avoid a maze of structures may further harm this depleted species.

 

Critically endangered North Atlantic Right Whales migrate seasonally through coastal waters from New England to Florida (McClellan et al 2002).  Disruption of their migratory pathways by densely aggregated turbine towers may displace them into adjacent waters in which they may become more vulnerable to fishing gear or collisions with commercial shipsCthe two major causes of the current decline in the species. 

 

In recent years humpback whales, which are listed as endangered under the ESA, have been found in greater numbers in the shallow waters of the mid-Atlantic during the winter.  These animals are generally inexperienced one and two year olds who are using this as a winter feeding habitat, while adults in the population continue to the Caribbean mating grounds. (Wiley et al 1995)

 

It is important that potential affects on marine mammals be adequately addressed in the EIS.

 

Sea Turtles

The mid-Atlantic is also widely used by a variety of ESA listed sea turtles, including frequent use by federally threatened loggerhead sea turtles and federally endangered Kemp’s ridley sea turtles. Federally threatened green sea turtles and federally endangered leatherback sea turtles are also sighted in these waters during the spring and fall migration periods (McLellan 2002).  Furthermore, though monitoring in Virginia is scant, this area is within the range in which leatherback turtles have been known to nest. (Rabon, et al 2003). The effect of a maze of turbines, continual vessel traffic in an otherwise sheltered area, and potential changes in food availability resulting from the creation of artificial reefs, must be assessed. Additionally, there is literature that indicates that wind farm sites and their associated cables generate an electromagnetic field.  This field may interfere with the ability to turtles to navigate appropriately in this area.  Prior to considering construction of a wind farm in this area, all of these potential impacts must be thoroughly evaluated.

 

Fish and Marine Invertebrates

Turbines will be supported by rip rap which will create artificial reefs. If these “reefs” provide an environment that allows for increase in non-indigenous species, ecosystem effects may range from increasing forage base for some species to increasing competition for food resources and disadvantaging native fish. The potential effect of these new rocky reefs” in this otherwise sandy bottom  needs careful analysis. Furthermore, the need to install and maintain cables may disturb and/or alter the quality of the sandy bottom habitat for fish nurseries. Because this area contains Essential Fish Habitat for a number of species, some of which have experienced recent declines in abundance, we question the Corp’s conclusion that there is no need for additional consultation on effects of this project under the Sustainable Fisheries Act.

 

Conclusion

 

Offshore energy projects have a range of documented impacts on the shoreline, the sea and seabed, and on economically important biological resources.  Renewable energy projects must not -- and need not -- undermine protection of coastal habitats and living marine resources.  A thorough evaluation of the site must be conducted by way of the EIS process in order to fully evaluate the range and abundance of protected species utilizing this area and to identify any necessary mitigation measures in the project is finally permitted.  If the Corps wishes to seriously entertain this proposal, and others like it, it is critical that there be a rigorous evaluation of habitat use by protected species and there must be ample opportunities for public comment as well as review and evaluation by the affected state(s).

 

Thank you for the opportunity to comment on.  Please feel free to contact me if we can further elaborate on our environmental concerns with this project.

 

Sincerely,

 

Sharon B. Young

Marine Issues Field Director

 

References Cited:

 

McLellan, W.A., E. Meagher, L. Torres, G. Lovewell, D.A. Pabst 2002.  Winter Right Whale Surveys, Savannah,

Georgia to Chesapeake Bay, Va.  Contract Report #50WCNF206001,

NMFS. Miami Florida.

 

NMFS.2001.  U.S. Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico Marine Mammal Stock AssessmentsB2001.  NOAA/NMFS. Woods

Hole, Massachusetts.

 

Rabon, D., S. Johnson, R. Boettcher, M. Dodd, M.Lyons, S. Murphy, S. Ramsey, S. Roff, and K. Stewart. 2003.

Confirmed leatherback turtle (dermochelys coriacea) nests from North Carolina, with a summary of leatherback

turtle nesting activities north of Florida. Marine Turtle Newsletter #101. p.4-8.  available from http://cars.er.usgs.gov/DcNestingNCMTN_101_4-8.pdf

 

Wiley, D.N., R.A. Asmutis, T.D. Pitchford and D.P. Gannon.  1995.  Stranding and mortality of humpback whales Megaptera novaeangliae, in the mid-Atlantic and southeastern United States, 1985-1992.  Fisheries Bulletin, U.S. 93: 196-205.