industrial wind farms and monarch migration

[Monica]

It seems that large areas of the north shore of Lake Erie (in Ontario Canada) are being developed for industrial wind power plants. Picture hundreds of 400 ft tall turbines, with each rotor sweeping more than an acre and a half of air space, and the blades moving at up to 200 mph directly in the path of migrating monarchs (not to mention the other migrating wildlife). I am looking for information that might tell me what kind of effect these developments might have on the migrating monarchs that I see in large numbers every year in these areas. I think that it could have quite a detrimental impact. Any information, or support to help stop these industrial developments would be more than greatly appreciated.

[John Beaulieu]

I am always surprised when plans for 'green' energy such as windfarms finally get going, and there are alway those that want to stop them. This is so much better than polluting coal plants or dangerous nuclear. I bet cars kill more butterflies than any amount of windmills could, but there is no movement to stop highways and cars (unless the highway is in your backyard)! There are a lot of people opposed to windfarms in Ontario, but never a peep when unsightly cell-phone towers spring up like weeds.

John

[Monica]

I'm glad you put "green" in quotes. Wind turbines aren't very, if you would care to look into the matter. They are inefficient (all the wind farms in Ont produced only 21.5% of their rated capacity last year) and they will never take the place of coal (by the way, the technology is available to make coal clean, but the energy minister says no to it) because the wind doesn't always blow when we need it. Hooking wind turbines into the system makes the coal plants worst polluters, since they have to ramp up and down to compensate (image your car mileage in stop and go versus highway driving). But enough of that, I dare you to look into it yourself...
Meanwhile, is there anyone else who would like to ensure that there are monarchs migrating for our grandkids to see... I would still like some information or support.

[Mona Miller]

I'm glad you put "green" in quotes. Wind turbines aren't very, if you would care to look into the matter. They are inefficient (all the wind farms in Ont produced only 21.5% of their rated capacity last year) and they will never take the place of coal (by the way, the technology is available to make coal clean, but the energy minister says no to it) because the wind doesn't always blow when we need it. Hooking wind turbines into the system makes the coal plants worst polluters, since they have to ramp up and down to compensate (image your car mileage in stop and go versus highway driving). But enough of that, I dare you to look into it yourself...
Meanwhile, is there anyone else who would like to ensure that there are monarchs migrating for our grandkids to see... I would still like some information or support.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/200 ... usat_x.htm
Wind turbines taking toll on birds of prey
Monarchs follow the same routes that Birds of Prey do when they are migrating so I would imagine that the Monarchs are being torn to shreds, too. Matter-of-fact, the birds use them as snacks to make the long journey. Imagine, your snack flying along with you.