Power lines to carry 'green' energy may threaten wildlife, posing environmental dilemma

With renewable energy a priority under the Obama administration, a new energy grid seems poised to become a reality. But with construction threatening wildlife refuges, environmentalists are finding themselves facing a dilemma: make green energy a key component of the nation's energy supply or protect wildlife?

In New Mexico, for instance, a power line which would provide wind and solar energy to Arizona cities "would cross grasslands, skirt two national wildlife refuges and traverse the Rio Grande, all habitat areas rich in wildlife," write Juliet Eilperin and Steven Mufson in The Washington Post. Among the wildlife threatened by the project are sandhill cranes, one of the species which live in that area. "Everybody in New Mexico loves the sandhill cranes," said Ned Farquhar one month ago, when he worked for the National Resources Defense Council. "We also love our renewable energy. So we have to figure this out." Since making that statement, Farquhar has been appointed head of the Interior Department's Bureau of Land Management, who control much of the land affected by the proposed line and are therefore charged with determining the fate of the power line.

Renewable energy projects often require more land than traditional energy projects. Eilperin and Mufson write, "As the push for renewable-energy development intensifies across the United States, scientists and activists have begun to voice concern that policymakers have underestimated the environmental impact of projects that are otherwise 'green.'" NRDC senior lawyer Johanna Wald told them, "There is no free lunch when it comes to meeting our energy needs."

But others say that cleaner energy sources should take priority, for the sake of all wildlife. "Do people think it's better all those birds are breathing CO2? I'm not a scientist, but I doubt it," said Ditlev Engel, president and chief executive of the Danish wind-energy company Vestas. "Let's get the facts on the table and not the feelings. The fact is, these are not issues." (Read more)