toledoblade.com --

A new Government Accountability Office report suggests wind power generally doesn't seem to harm wildlife as much as people might think.

While that may be good news for states such as Ohio that have shown an interest in alternative energy, the report fell short of being an endorsement for wind advocates.

It highlighted two notorious regions for bird and bat kills - northern California and the Appalachian mountains - and issued calls for more research.

Mark Shieldcastle of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources and Megan Seymour of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service office in Reynoldsburg, Ohio, said they hope it leads to better screening at future sites.

Mr. Shieldcastle is Ohio's lead eagle researcher and head of the state DNR's Crane Creek Wildlife Research Station in Ottawa County. Ms. Seymour, a Toledo native, is a biologist for the federal wildlife agency.

The Altamont Pass Wind Resource Area, east of San Francisco, has 5,000 turbines, and was built in the 1980s in a bird flyway. It's blamed for the deaths of thousands of hawks, golden eagles, and other raptors. A 2001 study estimated that northern California turbines are responsible for more than 90 percent of the nation's annual raptor kills attributable to wind power, the GAO said.

In contrast, however, the GAO report said millions of birds and bats are killed by crashing into building windows or communication towers, or poisoned by pesticides. Scientists "cannot draw definitive conclusions about the threat that wind power poses to wildlife in general," the report said.

The mortality at the Bowling Green's four-turbine wind farm appears to be limited to seven or eight common brown bats, although the project's brainchild, former Bowling Green utilities director Daryl Stockburger, has said it's possible other carcasses may have been hauled away or consumed by predators.

Wind is the fastest-growing energy source, but accounts for less than 1 percent of the U.S. energy generation. By 2020, its market share is expected to be 6 percent.

Studies have shown that wind turbines in West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and other parts of the Appalachian Mountains have been killing thousands of bats, drawing into question the wisdom of siting the devices along mountain ridges.

Although research is ongoing, there are not yet signs of large bird and bat mortality in other parts of the country so far, the GAO said.

The Ohio Department of Development is enamored with it, partly because a 2004 report commissioned by the U.S. Department of Energy showed Ohio second only to California in terms of new job potential in wind energy. Michigan also ranked high.

Ms. Seymour said the GAO report reaffirms her belief that officials "can't always assume there will be minimal impact."

Contact Tom Henry at: thenry@theblade.com or 419-724-6079.

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