FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE -- NOVEMBER 16, 2011
CONTACT – Shawn Cantrell, 206-523-8243 ext. 15
(Seattle, WA) – Seattle Audubon applauds the recent decision by four local Public Utility Districts to immediately terminate the ill-conceived Radar Ridge Wind Project proposed for development on state forest lands in Southwest Washington. The project site is located in the center of an area identified as the best place for providing much-needed high-quality nesting habitat for Marbled Murrelets, a seabird listed in 1992 as threatened under the federal Endangered Species Act (ESA).
“This decision is a major victory in the ongoing work to restore critical habitat for Murrelets,” said Shawn Cantrell, Executive Director of Seattle Audubon. “The key for any wind power project is appropriate siting, and the Radar Ridge project was proposed in absolutely the wrong location.”
Seattle Audubon is the leading conservation organization opposing the Radar Ridge project, pressing federal and state agencies to deny approval for this project. Numerous other groups have also worked to stop development of wind turbines on Radar Ridge, including Columbia River Alliance for Nurturing the Environment (CRANE) and the Willapa Hills and Grays Harbor Chapters of the Audubon Society.
In 2007 Energy Northwest proposed developing a wind energy facility on state trust land at Radar Ridge. It would have included up to 45 wind turbines over 3,000 acres of forest lands. Four participating utilities from Grays Harbor, Pacific, Mason and Clallam counties provided most of the original financial investment for the 80 megawatt project. In 2010, Grays Harbor Public Utility District voted to not invest any additional funds into Radar Ridge, citing opposition from environmental groups and the uncertainty of the project receiving the necessary permits.
The unanimous decision last week by the four participating utilities to immediately terminate the Radar Ridge Wind Project was announced in an update prepared for the Energy Northwest Executive Board and posted on the agency's website.
“Terminating the proposed Radar Ridge project is a recognition of the huge problems associated with trying to build a major energy facility in critical habitat for a threatened species,” said Cantrell. “The fundamental problem with this project was its location. While Energy Northwest tried to find ways to lessen the project’s impacts on Murrelets, in the end, none of the well-intentioned mitigation measures proposed could overcome the issues of siting the project in the wrong place.”
Radar Ridge is centrally located within an area known as the Nemah Block. A 2008 state-commissioned Science Report identified the Nemah Block as the single best place to restore Marbled Murrelet habitat on state managed lands.
As part of a 1997 Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP) that allows timber harvest on public lands in areas potentially impacting threatened wildlife species, the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) committed to “make a significant contribution to maintaining and protecting marbled murrelet populations in western Washington over the life of the HCP.” The Science Report highlighted the pressing need for substantial habitat restoration across much of the DNR-managed land base in order to achieve the HCP’s conservation objectives.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service noted in its June 2009 Marbled Murrelet 5-Year Review that “murrelets may be highly vulnerable in localized areas from energy development and production … include[ing] direct mortality from strikes, as well as loss of habitat and fragmentation and impacts to reproductive success through changes in prey base, marine habitat and disturbance.”
Seattle Audubon recognizes the significant threat to birds and bird habitat posed by climate change, including threatened species. The organization supports well-designed, appropriately-sited renewable energy projects as a critical step in reducing carbon emissions. Seattle Audubon was an active participant in the development of the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife’s 2009 Windpower Guidelines and is directly engaged in the permitting processes for numerous proposed wind power projects in the state.
“The direct environmental harm caused by this proposed project, including impacts to Marbled Murrelets, far outweigh the benefits that it would provide in other areas such as reduced carbon output,” Cantrell noted. “There are significantly better locations to site renewable energy projects than Radar Ridge.”