By David Wojick
A programmatic EIA is a comprehensive analysis of the cumulative impacts of the massive wind development underway in Wyoming. The growing adverse impact on golden eagles and other wildlife is especially disturbing. What can be done to limit the damage is a big part of the assessment.
There is NEPA language for this. It is called a “Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS)” looking at “cumulative effects”. The Feds completed two back in 2024. The first one was for multiple offshore wind projects in the New York Bight. They then completed one for the five proposed floating wind projects off California. These are a good precedent for Wyoming.
Of course, both these offshore wind studies were Biden era greenwash jobs that mostly ignored the obvious adverse impact on protected whales and other marine mammals. This does not mean that a good PEIS cannot be done for Wyoming.
A good start on the PEIS issues can be found in the numerous comments already filed in opposition to individual Wyoming wind projects. For example, the Two Rivers Project received over a hundred pages of detailed technical comments, many regarding the extreme threat to golden eagles. Two Rivers is part of what is called the growing “wall of wind” in southeastern Wyoming.
The Two Rivers comments are here.
One of the best is “Comments on Environmental Assessment of the Two Rivers Wind Energy Project on behalf of National Audubon Society and the Wyoming Outdoor Council.” It is really a 17-page research report including lots of data and maps. See letter #16 of 18.
Here are two quick quotes to give the flavor of Audubon’s objections to the project:
“Wyoming is home to the largest breeding population of Golden Eagles in the lower 48 states and provides critical habitat for wintering and migrating individuals; the state contains some of the most valuable areas for long-term conservation in the western United States”
This one specifically refers to cumulative effects:
“Inadequate protections in a Golden Eagle stronghold experiencing high growth in wind development risks the project area becoming a “population sink” (aka: ecological trap) – an area Golden Eagles are strongly attracted to where they experience high mortality, leading to continued population level declines. When year-round breeding eagles experience mortalities, “floater” eagles are likely to be the ones that fill territory vacancies, which themselves also face the same fate, a downward population spiral becomes possible. Several existing wind developments (Dunlap and Ekola Flats) are located adjacent to Phase I-III. The proposed Lucky Star Wind Project would be adjacent to Phase IV, among others.”
These telling technical comments, and myriad more filed on other projects, need to be incorporated and addressed in a proper PEIS.
A NEPA PEIS is a federal action, but the State of Wyoming could also conduct a thorough assessment of the cumulative adverse impact of runaway wind power. In some ways, it is better positioned to do so.
NEPA only applies to federal agency decisions, although it can include consideration of non-federal activities that those decisions facilitate, including wind facilities. Moreover, while there is federal protection for endangered species, as well as for golden eagles under the Eagle Protection Act, there is little protection for the many other species threatened by deadly wind turbines.
In contrast, the Wyoming Game and Fish Commission (and Department) operate under a statutory requirement to care for all Wyoming wildlife. Their website puts it this way:
“In 1937, the Wyoming Legislature granted the Commission authority over all wildlife matters and allowed financial independence. Since then, Wyoming Statute 23-1-103 has guided our work in stating, ‘It is the purpose of this act and policy of the state to provide an adequate and flexible system for control, propagation, management, protection and regulation of all Wyoming wildlife.’“
It would be best if the Feds and Wyoming teamed up on a comprehensive assessment of how to control the adverse impact of wind generation on wildlife, especially golden eagles. That this assessment needs done is now beyond question.
So we have the New York Bight
And if Two Rivers is approved
We’ll have the Wyoming Blight
A sight blight. That kills.
The reason I visit this site every day is its focus on fact” vs. “feeling”. What follows is “feeling”. Please forgive me for wasting space and, possibly, your time.
Goiing west from Cheyenne, the flat earth begins to swell in gentle folds as it rises toward more rugged horizons in the west.
As a kid, it mostly seemed like we were living in the middle of a LOT of empty space. Boring, really.
It kinda grows on you, though. By the time you’re ready to pack-up and find your way in the world, the subtle, endless surface of the earth is like the girl-next-door who magically became your first love. As life goes by, you don’t forget her but you don’t think much about her, either.
Imagine my surprise, when two-years-ago, I checked out of Cheyenne’s Little America Hotel and headed for my grandson’s wedding in Utah. For, maybe five minutes, my eyes were in awe of the long-ago beauty that stretched before me. A pure, “Forever Young” epiphany.
And then, without warning, I was driving through a grotesque forest of GIANT metal trees; all with three spinning limbs in which no birds would ever nest. It wasn’t just ugly; it was like watching the-girl-next-door getting raped.
In spite of my feelings, I strive to keep an open mind. I like to talk with local people when I travel so I stop a lot. To get gas; to eat; to get off the four-lane and drive down Main Street. I think there’s a script of “talking points” locals use during one-minute encounters with “just-driving-through-people”. When they realize you’re “one-of-them”, be prepared to find out what they really think.
Driving all-the-way across Wyoming, east-to west and back with a detour to visit an old friend in Jackson, I did not encounter a single Wyoming native who had a single good thing to say about “windmills”. If I’d said I had a car full of C4″, I think most would have been willing to help me blow a few of them up. I exaggerate, of course. I think.
Wyoming has an enormous “back yard”. But, it is NOT an empty or a lifeless back yard and it is “my” backyard. Climatistas can go find their own.
Very well said. We are trying to gear up a protest in Wyoming. Imagine towers running for 200 miles. That is the wall of wind we are fighting.
Don’t know if I could help but if you’ll let me know how to contact this effort…?
Surely the examples of the UK, Germany and Spain count for something?
We travel wyoming camping in the summer. Those wind turbines are a blight for sure. I understood a few months ago that one of those projects lost funding and received lots of citizens pushback. At Vedauwoo Natural area between Cheyenne and Laramie the state wanted to sell the main feature of this magical place for development—Turtle Rock—right smack dab in the middle of the area surrounded by wind and water formed rock features and hoodoos. This is one of my favorite places in the world. Citizens were able to push that back—for now.
Thanks for a great example! Wyoming Governor Gordon loves wind but his limited term is ending. The Feds are starting to resist wind but the State not. That may change with a new Governor. Wind blight might even be an election issue. Here’s hoping.
Colorado is bad too. Drive I-70 from Denver to the Kansas border at night and be treated to a sea of blinking red lights.
As a Wyomingite I see resistance growing. Two wind projects near Casper are in trouble with one being down-sized. There are lots of local people in opposition.