Wyo weighs in on wind power

By JEFF GEARINO
Star-Tribune staff writer Sunday, March 13, 2005

Wind turbines can be loud and need to be kept away from sage grouse areas when new projects are developed in Wyoming, state wildlife officials say.

Any new wind energy projects proposed for Wyoming should be designed by the Bureau of Land Management to keep noise impacts away from sage grouse leks, especially during breeding season, according to Game and Fish Department directors.

The department joined 13 other agencies and individuals who offered comments on the BLM's draft environmental document that will determine the best management approach to wind energy development in the West. The document was issued in September.

Game and Fish Deputy Director Bill Wichers told federal officials the agency concurred with the BLM's preferred alternative for wind energy development, but had some concerns about its impacts to sage grouse.
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Lesley Wischmann with the nonprofit Alliance for Historic Wyoming said it is essential that any new wind energy project avoid pristine historic emigrant trails in the state.

"While your document makes reference to protection of the National Historic Trails themselves, we fear that you have not paid enough attention to their unique setting," Wischmann wrote.

"Wind energy generators have high potential for negatively impacting the setting ... and we are especially concerned about the trails in Wyoming's Sweetwater Valley, which is shown as a high potential area (for wind energy development)," Wischmann wrote.

The federal government offers a 1.5-cents-per-kilowatt tax credit for wind energy production which is known as the production tax credit. The credit expired in 2003 but was reinstated by Congress last year as part of a major tax package.
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