Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
supra
note 3 at 522-26 (noting that some might characterize utilitarian
analyses of conflicts between wildlife and renewable energy development like
those above as “anthropocentric” or excessively focused on human interests
above those of animals and arguing that such approaches have “undergone
steady attack for upwards of twenty-five years”).
14
See, e.g
., E&P Forum/UNEP,
Environmental Management in Oil & Gas
Exploration & Production
at 17-20 (1997), available at
www.ogp.org.uk/
pubs/254.pdf
(last visited June 12, 2013) (showing a table of potential adverse
environmental impacts of oil and gas exploration and production). For similar
information about the impacts of coal exploration and production, visit the
United States Environmental Protection Agency's webpage on the subject at
www.epa.gov/cleanenergy/energy-and-you/afect/coal.html
(last visited June
13, 2013).
15
See
Alexa Burt Engelman,
Against the Wind: Conflict over Wind Energy
, 41
Envtl. L. Rep. News & Analysis 10549, 10551 (2011).
16
See
id. at 10533 (noting that “over a 30-year period, a surface coal mine will
use 21, 844 acres of land, while an average wind array will use 4,720 acres to
produce the same amount of power”).
17
See
Avi Brisman,
The Aesthetics of Wind Energy Systems
, 13 N.Y.U. Envtl.
L.J. 1, 72 (2005) (citing research by the American Wind Energy Association).
18
Although this chapter focuses primarily on wild animal life, plant species
certainly can suffer harms near renewable energy projects as well.
See, e.g
.,
Jeffrey E. Lovich & Joshua R. Ennen,
Wildlife Conservation and Solar
Energy Development in the Desert Southwest United States
, 61 BioScience
985 (2011) (noting that dust emissions from the installation of solar energy
facilities in desert climates can “adversely influence the gas exchange, photo-
synthesis, and water usage of Mojave Desert shrubs” and “can physically
damage plant species through root exposure, burial, and abrasions to their
leaves and stems”) (citation omitted).
19
In the context of wind energy development, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
has more specifically delineated a list of potential wildlife risks.
See
U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service,
Land-Based Wind Energy Guidelines
, at vi (2012), available at
www.fws.gov/windenergy/docs/weg_inal.pdf
(last visited June 12, 2013).
20
For a more detailed analysis of these issues,
see generally
Derek Bertsch,
When
Good Intentions Collide: Seeking a Solution to Disputes between Alternative
Energy Development and the Endangered Species Act
, 14 Sustainable Dev.
L.J. 74, 92-94 (2011).
21
At least one scholar has made mention of this fact.
See
Alexandra B. Klass,
Energy and Animals: A History of Conflict,
, San Diego J. Climate & Energy
L. 159, 190 (2011-12) (noting that “courts are very aware of the tensions that
exist between the [U.S.] Endangered Species Act … on the one hand [...] and
federal and state policies promoting renewable energy … on the other”).
22
See
id. at 204 (arguing that, “[w]hile environmental groups have in the past
been fairly uniform in their skepticism or outright opposition to many aspects
of traditional energy development …, renewable energy elicits a much more
mixed response”).
23
See
Engelman,
supra
note 15 at 10553 (noting support from the Audubon
Society and American Bird Consevancy). To review the RSPB's official policy
on wind energy development, visit the group's website at
www.rspb.org.uk/
ourwork/policy/windfarms/
(last visited June 12, 2013).
24
To search for endangered species by state within the United States, visit the
Endangered Species webpage of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service website at
www.fws.gov/endangered/
(last visited June 12, 2013).
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