Environmental researcher John Kearney says the whirring blades of a proposed 13-turbine wind farm in Nova Scotia may cut greenhouse gases, but the risks they pose to migrating birds are too high.
He says this is nearly equal to the intensity of Brier Island, N.S., located further west, which was recently cited in the Proceedings of the Nova Scotian Institute of Science as “one of the migration hot spots of northeastern North America.” Eaton said that in 2025, the first year of potential operation, the project is anticipated to offset 112,750 tonnes of carbon emissions – which is roughly equivalent to the yearly output of 25,000 gasoline-powered cars.
It notes their own field survey identified 100 bird species within and outside the project area, and about 16,000 individual birds. The proponents predict the project will cause about 36 bird deaths a year, citing a model developed in 2016 from Scottish Natural Heritage, an environmental advisory body.
The Nova Scotia Bird Society has also objected to the wind farm, saying its members have observed the concentrations of birds passing overhead, “feeding on berries in the barrens and capturing insects in the trees.”
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