Study Shows Hundreds of Dead Birds, Bats at Wind Turbines

Windmills on the Tug Hill Plateau in northern New York are killing hundreds of bats and birds.

A consultants' report for PPM Energy and Horizon Energy identified 123 birds, mostly night migrants, and 326 bats found dead over the course of five months beneath 50 wind turbines on the plateau between Lake Ontario and the western Adirondacks.

The ongoing study at the largest wind farm in New York state is required to assess its environmental impact. The initial results were distributed to state and federal wildlife and energy officials.

The Adirondack Council repeated concerns that wind farms have been proposed in a virtual ring around the 6-million-acre Adirondack Park. The group says the threat to migratory birds needs to be better studied before towers are built.

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