California Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr. announced an agreement to upgrade the quarter-century-old wind turbines in Altamont Pass to make them more efficient and less deadly to migratory birds.
The Altamont Pass Wind Resources Area in Alameda and Contra Costa counties is the site of the world’s first wind turbines. These units, constructed more than three decades ago, are now outdated, inefficient and deadly to thousands of birds each year, Brown said.
He helped negotiate a settlement between environmental groups, the state, and NextEra Energy Resources (NYSE: NEE) to upgrade all its older-model turbines. Scientific data shows that newer, larger turbines are more efficient and kill far fewer birds.
A 2004 study commissioned by the California Energy Commission found that the 5,400 older turbines operating at Altamont Pass killed an estimated 1,766 to 4,271 birds annually, including between 881 and 1330 raptors such as golden eagles–which are protected under federal law–hawks, falcons and owls. The bird fatalities at Altamont Pass–an important raptor breeding area that lies on a major migratory route–are greater than on any other wind farm in the country.
Under the agreement, NextEra will replace some 2,400 turbines over the next four years and will shut down all its existing turbines no later than 2015. The company also has agreed to erect the new turbines in environmentally friendly locations.
NextEra also agreed to pay $2.5 million in mitigation fees, half to the state Energy Commission’s Public Integrated Energy Research Program and half to East Bay Regional Park District and the Livermore Area Regional Park District for raptor habitat creation.
California High Speed Rail
The California High-Speed Rail Authority Board voted to begin construction of the system connecting Los Angeles to the Bay Area in the heart of the state’s Central Valley.
The decision followed a mandate from the Federal Railroad Administration in October that directed that all federal funding awarded to the project so far must be dedicated to a single portion of the project in the Central Valley.
Authority staff considered that direction, other requirements of state and federal law and how to create the core of a statewide system when they recommended beginning with a 65-mile stretch of track in the Central Valley. It would start north of Fresno near Madera, include the construction of two new stations–one in downtown Fresno and the other east of Hanford–and continue to Corcoran, north of Bakersfield.
“Other states are shrinking from the challenge of high-speed rail. In California, we’re rising to meet it,” Umberg said. “And we’re sending a clear signal to Washington–we’re ready to put those dollars to use–north toward Merced and the Bay Area and south toward Bakersfield and Los Angeles.”
This initial segment will use about $4.15 billion of the available $4.3 billion to build two new stations, acquire rights of way, construct viaducts, prepare the site, grade, restore vegetation, build rail bridges, realign roadways and relocate existing railways and utilities.
Florida Sues EPA Over Water Standard
Florida filed a lawsuit against the Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday to block new water pollution controls that were set in an effort to improve water quality in the state. Florida claims the new rules will cost taxpayers and local agricultural business too much.
Read Reuters coverage at the link below.
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