Wind turbines vs protection of bats, bald eagles and whales

Since the beginning of 2023, at least 10 whales  have been stranded off New York and New Jersey coasts, with some public opinion linking their deaths to offshore wind farms. Thousands of local activists and members of ocean conservation groups demonstrated in New Jersey to halt offshore wind projects that harm marine wildlife. According to scientists, however, current evidence does not support that the noise generated by wind turbines interferes with the navigation system used by whales.

Experts from the Missouri Department of Environmental Conservation begin a study on the impact of wind turbines on bald eagles. The experiment will involve four adult and four juvenile birds monitored with GPS transmitters. In 2022, ESI Energy Svc Inc admitted that at least 150 bald eagles and golden eagles were killed at its 40 wind turbines. In contrast, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, collisions with wind turbines cause the deaths of between 140,000 and 328,000 birds of all species yearly in the US.

According to researchers from the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research, wind turbines built in German forests adversely affect endangered bat species: e.g. noctule bat attracts forest wind turbines near its roosts. In contrast, bats living away from them avoid turbines, thus losing their feeding ground and, thus, their habitat. Therefore, turbines should be erected a minimum of 500 m from bat roosts.