Speaking on behalf of birds at Roundhouse windfarm industrial siting hearing was intense experience

The wind farm includes the Belvoir Ranch owned by the City of Cheyenne (yellow), Wyoming State Land (dark blue–each square is 1 square mile) and private land (light blue). The Big Hole, located on the Belvoir south of the railroad tracks, is under The Nature Conservancy conservation easement and will have no turbines.
Published July 5, 2019 in the Wyoming Tribune Eagle as a guest editorial, “Participating at the Roundhouse hearing was an intense adventure”
By Barb Gorges
The Cheyenne – High Plains Audubon Society agrees clean energy is needed. However, wind energy is deadly for birds when they are struck by turbine blades.
Beginning last December, CHPAS discussed its concerns about the Roundhouse Wind Energy development with company, city and county officials. The 120-turbine wind farm will extend from Interstate 80 south to the Colorado state line and from I-25 west to Harriman Road.
The Wyoming Industrial Siting Council hearing for the
approval of the Roundhouse Wind Energy application was held June 13 in a
quasi-legal format.
Cheyenne-High Plains Audubon Society filed
as a party, preparing a pre-hearing statement. The other parties were the
Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality’s Industrial Siting Division,
Roundhouse, and Laramie County, also acting on behalf of the city of Cheyenne.
We all
presented our opening statements. Then the Roundhouse lawyer presented her
expert witnesses, asking them leading questions. Then I, acting in the same
capacity for CHPAS as the lawyer for Roundhouse, cross-examined her witnesses.
One was a viewshed analysis expert from Los Angeles, the other a biologist from
Western EcoSystems Technology, the Cheyenne consulting firm that does
contract biological studies for wind energy companies across the country.
Then CHPAS
presented our expert witness, Daly Edmunds, Audubon Rockies’ policy and
outreach director. Wind farm issues are a big part of her work. She is also a
wildlife biologist with a master’s degree from the University of Wyoming.
We were
rushed getting our testimony in before the 5 p.m. cutoff for the first day
because I was not available the next day. I asked permission to allow Mark
Gorges to read our closing statement the next day, after the applicant had a
chance to rebut all the conditions we asked for.
The seven
council members chose not to debate our conditions. Some conditions were echoed
by DEQ. But it was a hard sell since Wyoming Game and Fish Department had
already signed off on the application.
Here are the
conditions we asked for:
1) Some of the recommended wildlife studies will be one and a half years away
from completion when turbine-building starts in September. Complete the studies
first to make better turbine placement decisions.
2) Do viewshed analysis from the south and share it with adjacent Colorado open
space and natural area agencies.
3) Get a “take permit” to avoid expensive trouble with the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service if dead eagles are found.
4) Use the Aircraft Detection Lighting System so tower lights, which can confuse
night-migrating birds, will be turned on as little as possible. This was on
DEQ’s list as well.
5) Use weather radar to predict the best times to shut down turbines during
bird migration.
6) Be transparent about the plans for and results of avian monitoring after the
turbines start.
7) Relocate six of the southernmost turbine locations because of their impact
on wildlife and the integrity of adjacent areas set aside for their
conservation value.
The second
half of the hearing dealt with county/city requests for economic impact funds
from the state. The expected costs are from a couple hundred workers temporarily
descending on Cheyenne requiring health and emergency services.
At the June CHPAS
board meeting, members approved staying involved in the Roundhouse issue. The
Roundhouse folks have a little mitigation money we could direct toward a study to
benefit birds at this and other wind farms. There is a Technical Advisory
Committee we need to keep track of. And we need to lobby to give Game and
Fish’s recommendations more legal standing so they can’t be ignored.
It’s too bad
I don’t watch courtroom dramas. The hearing would have been easier to navigate.
But everyone—DEQ employees, the Roundhouse team, council members, hearing
examiner, court reporter—was very supportive of CHPAS’s participation. They
rarely see the public as a party at these hearings. I just wish we could have
had one or more conditions accepted on behalf of the birds.
Barb Gorges is the most recent past president of the Cheyenne – High Plains Audubon Society which represents Audubon members in Laramie, Goshen and Platte counties.

