Comments by Joe Renfro

Commission District: 3

I have been listening to all the comments regarding the devastation of wildlife, especially birds, due to solar panels and wind turbines. I was curious as to what was kinds of numbers we were looking at. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife service has looked into this as well. They state the obvious, "Both natural and human-caused sources of bird mortality contribute cumulative or combined effects to declining bird populations. Millions of acres of bird habitat are lost or degraded every year due to development, agriculture, and forestry practices. These rapidly accelerating impacts can be mitigated only through habitat restoration and protection. In addition, millions of birds are directly killed by human-caused sources such as collisions with man-made structures. Death from natural causes is also common sources of mortality." And here are a few of those estimated mortality rates...and these are median numbers. Collision with glass buildings, 599,000,000 Collisions with communication towers, 6,600,000 Collisions with electrical lines, 25,500,000 Collisions with vehicles, 214,500,000 Collisions with land-based wind turbines, 234,012 Death due to cats, 2,400,000,000. So, we should rid the world or cats, toss our cell phones in the garbage, tear down the unsightly downtown skylines and stop driving vehicles. Audubon has looked into solar power and believes solar is more beneficial, versus other forms of energy production. 2/3 of electricity produced comes from the burning of coal, oil and natural gas. This burns and does form an invisible layer floating in our atmosphere, which in turn traps heat like a blanket. And not theory, but scientific studies show that over the past century the greenhouse-gas blanket has grown so thick that here on the ground we can feel and see its effects through rising temperatures, which in turn affect long-term trends in rainfall, polar ice, and sea levels. Solar panels and their energy production due not release any of the carbon gases and thus benefit wildlife. Birds can feel this change as well, they can quickly react to subtle changes in their environments—temperature, food, water, habitat—and shift their ranges. But, many are still gravely impacted as the changing climate threatens more than 300 species of North American birds. Large solar farms can have some adverse effects as birds, however. Birds sometimes mistake the glossy blue expanse of solar panels for bodies of water and try to land on them. This is called a “lake effect.” Birds have been found dead, wounded, or stranded at several solar projects in the desert. The “lake effect” puts water birds in particular at risk because some species can’t take off from the ground; they require a running start on the water’s surface. Some developers are adding special patterns to their panels or using other strategies to reduce the risk of crash landings. The pros of clean energy still seem to greatly out way the cons.