Wind Farm Called Threat to Condors

WASHINGTON — The National Audubon Society took aim Monday at a wind energy project on the northern fringe of Los Angeles County within the historical habitat of the endangered California condor.

The proposed wind farm pits two of California’s high-priority environmental causes--promoting renewable energy and saving endangered species--against one other.

As part of an aggressive new effort to provide more renewable energy to Californians, the state government last year awarded $7 million to the Houston-based Enron Wind Corp. to construct the wind farm off Interstate 5 on a hill above Gorman, a few miles north of Pyramid Lake.

But the federal Fish and Wildlife Service expressed concerns that the massive wind turbines needed for the Gorman project could imperil the condors, which were reintroduced in the region at a huge cost to taxpayers after North America’s largest land bird nearly became extinct in the late 1980s.

And Monday, the Audubon Society launched a campaign to raise public awareness about the “lethal threat” posed by the wind farm project.

“It is hard to imagine a worse idea than putting a condor Cuisinart next door to critical condor habitat,” said Daniel P. Beard, the Audubon Society’s senior vice president.

The environmental group wants Congress to make wind farms within 10 miles of the habitat of endangered birds ineligible for a tax credit that companies receive for producing electricity through wind power.

“The government is encouraging through the tax code the construction of a project that is going to kill a species that another part of the government is spending millions to save,” Beard said.

That tax credit expired this year, but Congress expects to extend it before January. Congressional aides, however, were dubious that congressional leaders would approve of using the tax code to resolve the dilemma of condors versus renewable energy.

Ten years ago, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors rejected a proposal to build a wind farm on the same land, siding with a coalition opposing the project that included the Audubon Society, the Sierra Club and Tejon Ranch, the largest contiguous landowner in California with 270,000 acres along Interstate 5 in Los Angeles and Kern counties. The opponents argued that the wind farm would be a visual blight and have a broad impact on the environment, particularly on the condor after it was reintroduced.

Tejon Ranch is not taking its earlier success for granted. The diverse agribusiness company, which is developing part of its vast land for residences, is concerned about the potential eyesore and environmental impact. So it has paid for billboards in Los Angeles and Houston, brochures and ads in two congressional newspapers, Roll Call and The Hill, that are part of the Audubon Society’s campaign to kill the project. The billboards show a condor flying toward wind combines with the caption “Kill the Condors?”

The Gorman wind farm is one of five such projects that Enron Wind Corp., part of the mega-energy conglomerate Enron Corp., has undertaken with the incentive of promised subsidies from the California Energy Commission.

In a competitive energy market, the wind farm would not be cost effective without both the state subsidies and the federal tax break, Enron spokesman Gary Foster said.

As it awarded 55 renewable energy projects with generous pledges of state subsidies, the energy commission was well aware that it would ruffle some environmental feathers. Although renewable energy plants are generally considered more ecologically friendly than traditional forms of power production, most have some environmental costs.

Wind turbines kill birds, especially birds of prey, such as eagles. Hydropower plants kill fish and other marine life. Geothermal and biomass plants release emissions.

“There is no energy technology that is devoid of environmental impact. It’s a question of degree,” said Marwan Masri, manager of the renewable energy program of the California Energy Commission. “Trading off environmental impacts is very difficult to do. How do you trade off a dead eagle versus cleaning the air?”

Masri said Enron could lose the subsidy if an environmental controversy prompts a reevaluation by federal, state and local officials. A variety of government agencies will need to approve the project before it can be built.

Enron officials say they have yet to determine if they will go ahead with the Gorman project.

“Knowing the opposition and the difficulties, there is a chance we may not ever proceed,” Foster said. The company has seven wind farms operating in California already and two more projects that are ahead of Gorman in development.

Nonetheless, Enron officials are moving forward with the planning phase, including meetings with local representatives of the Fish and Wildlife Service, which has jurisdiction over endangered species.

Tejon Ranch and the Audubon Society said they would keep up their battle until Enron gives up the lease on the land and withdraws its application for state funding.

Robert Mesta, coordinator of the the Fish and Wildlife Service’s condor program in California, said the service has not taken a position on the Gorman project but has expressed concern about its placement in informal meetings with Enron representatives.

“It could pose a serious threat to free flying condors,” said Mesta. “Our highest source of mortality is condors colliding with man-made structures. When you build a structure like this with blades that are almost invisible and moving and when young condors are out there just learning how to fly, it’s a pretty scary proposition.”

No condors have been killed by wind turbines since the birds were reintroduced in the wild in 1992. However, other large birds, such as golden eagles, have been killed by the massive, windmill-like structures. The Tejon Ranch has a large, diverse population of raptors, including eagles.

All remaining California condors were brought into captivity in 1987, but there are currently 49 of the big vultures, which feed off the carcasses of animals, in the wild, including 20 in Southern California. None of the reintroduced birds have produced offspring in the wild.

More than $20 million has been spent on an elaborate effort to save the curved-beaked birds, which have bare heads and necks and black plumage. With wingspans of more than nine feet, condors tend to soar in just the kind of windy areas that are most attractive for wind farms.

Mesta said the reasons for rejecting the project are clearly much greater than they were in 1989 because now there are condors flying in the region.

“Nothing has changed except that we now actually have condors there, so there is really a threat of a death of a condor,” Mesta added.