By now, you should know that we make a concerted effort to follow-up on all leads. Details are important and knowing everything about the High Prairie project, or any wind project, is the only way to mount any type of defense against these derelict projects.
With that, we bring you news from the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS).
Now, as you read further, keep asking yourself, "How does it make any sense that destroying the environment is going to save it?"
First of all, the Bats.
The permit application, draft Habitat Conservation Plan, and the Environmental Assessment will be available for public comment beginning December 1, 2020, for 30 days. You can see the notice available for public inspection here: https://www.federalregister.gov/d/2020-26520.
It is very important that people comment with questions, concerns, suggestions, etc. This is the only way, at this point, to offer any sort of protect to the endangered bats in Northeast Missouri.
Per the USFWS:
Regarding permits for building, operating, and accountability:
"In Missouri, there are not regulating/permitting processes specific to industrial wind facilities. However, there are a number of laws and regulations that this project must comply with. Federal laws such as the Clean Water Act and the Endangered Species Act are relevant to this project. In addition, because Ameren is a public utility, they also obtained a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity from the Missouri Public Services Commission.
Before constructing the facility, TG High Prairie worked with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to obtain a permit for portions of the project where there could be impacts to Waters of the US. The permit from ACE only involves impacts caused by the construction of the facility. As part of that process, the ACE consulted with our office and we recommended measures for construction that would avoid impacts to Federally listed species (within the entire project footprint). For the facility to be built in compliance with the ACE permit, and the Endangered Species Act, the facility would need to comply with measures related to tree clearing and these measures are explained in HCP section 7.2.1.3, starting on page 75.
You also asked about nesting sites- The facility has applied for an eagle take permit, and has completed a number of bird and nest surveys as part of this process. In addition, they implemented a number of conservation measures to avoid and minimize impacts to birds. During construction, the facility committed to conservation measures including avoiding buffers around raptor nests, not clearing any known eagle nest trees, flagging bird nests on the site. These measures are summarized in Appendix A of the Environmental Assessment- the Bird and Bat Conservation Strategy, Chapter 4, starting on page 27.
While the facility worked directly with ACE for the necessary permits for construction and siting, they worked with our office to apply for a permit (Incidental Take Permit, ITP) specifically for the impacts of their operations on Federally listed species. As part of this process, they worked to develop a Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP), which is a requirement to obtain an ITP to authorize take of listed bat species (this plan explains how they will minimize and mitigate the full impact of the take to listed bat species).
The facility also tested and commissioned turbines while actively working with us on their application for the ITP. They tested and commissioned turbines while following operating parameters we recommended, and those are explained in the Environmental Assessment, and Appendix E of the assessment "High Prairie TAL"
We are currently requesting feedback on the permit application and associated documents. If the facility were to receive a permit, they would be contractually obligated to operate in compliance with the HCP. The HCP details how operations must take place to minimize impacts to listed bats, and the required mitigation, monitoring, and reporting measures."
It was also asked what happens if a permit application is denied:
"We haven't made a permit decision yet, and the public review and comment process is an important part of that decision making. After we receive public comments we review each one and decide whether 1) to issue the permit with changes to the HCP (for example, if a commenter provided new information that hadn't been considered), 2) to issue the permit with no changes to the HCP, or 3) to deny the permit request. We can only issue a permit if it meets the associated "Issuance Criteria" in the Code of Federal Regulations, for this type of permit, the issuance criteria are found here: 50 CFR 17.22 (b)
If we were to deny the permit request, the project would operate in a manner that avoids take of listed bats. We would recommend operational parameters to the Facility, where take to listed species would be unlikely. This would include programming turbines to cease operating at lower wind speeds at night, during the bat active season. More details on this scenario are explained in the Environmental Assessment Section 2.2.1, on page 7."
Now, the Bald Eagles. This one just baffles us.
The Eagle Take Permit for the High Prairie project was applied for on August 10, 2020.
"We have a pretty big backlog of eagle take permits that we are working on - currently they are #17 on the list of projects (we process them in the order we receive them) - so the public comment period is likely not going to happen until later next year."
This is the part that really gets us:
First, how can a project be built and the turbines operating before a permit is even applied for?
"The eagle take permits are voluntary - as long as a project hasn't killed or injured an eagle - the project owner hasn't broken any laws and isn't required to apply for a federal wildlife permit. There are lots of wind facilities all over Missouri (and the Midwest) that don't have any kind of federal wildlife permits - but as long as they haven't killed eagles or endangered species, those permits remain voluntary and the wind facilities haven't broken any federal wildlife laws. We do recommend that wind facilities follow avoidance and minimization measures that are outlined in both the Wind Energy Guidance and the Eagle Conservation Plan Guidance. In the Eagle Conservation Plan Guidance, p. 78 lists some of the major minimization measures we recommend. High Prairie has developed an Eagle Conservation Plan, and I believe they have also developed a Bird and Bat Conservation Strategy (as recommended in the Wind Energy Guidance). As we work through the permit process, we'll make sure they are incorporating measures to lessen their impacts on eagles, and they will have to monitor for the life of the project. If the numbers of eagles they kill or injure is higher than we projected, they'll have to implement more measures to try to keep their take number down. This may include more monitoring, curtailing turbines, etc. If they are covering golden eagles, they will have to mitigate for this take (usually powerpole retrofits to prevent raptor electrocution)."
Though the project is not yet officially online, they have been testing the turbines since before August. Secondly, how can the turbines operate with no mitigation strategies in place?
"This is pretty much the same answer as above - High Prairie isn't required (by the FWS) to put any measures in place before they get a permit, as long as they have been operating in a legal manner. We recommend they do, however, so they don't kill an eagle or a bat (which is not legal if they don't have a permit) I believe they are getting a Habitat Conservation Plan (for bats) - once that HCP is in place, they'll have to follow the measures outlined in that plan. The same is true to an eagle take permit - they aren't required to implement any measures prior to them getting an eagle take permit (but again, we encourage them to minimize their impact right from the start)
Bottom line is that as long as High Prairie is operating within the law (ie: not killing bats or eagles), they aren't required to get a federal permit for eagles or bats.
The good news is that High Prairie has coordinated with the Fish and Wildlife to get legal coverage for both eagles and bats should they kill any, and that coverage comes with monitoring, minimizing their impact, and in some cases, mitigation. So, we will be able to work with them to monitor and decrease their impact to wildlife, which is more than we would get if they never contacted the FWS in the first place."
Bottom line, if you really care about the environment. If you really want to be involved with saving the bats and Bald Eagles, go to the following link and voice concerns.
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