Proposed N.S. wind farm could have deadly toll on migrating birds, expert says

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.

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.

The 74-year-old former consultant to the wind industry has in recent years set up acoustic monitoring in southwestern Nova Scotia, documenting species ranging from black-capped chickadees to spotted sandpipers as they call out during autumn flights.

“I’m speaking from the perspective of a person who supports both the objectives of wind power and preserving biodiversity, and here they come in conflict,” he said in a recent interview, shortly after submitting written submissions to the province objecting to the proposed project on a peninsula west of Yarmouth.

“To me, it’s quite clear this wind farm should never happen.”

Kearney has a PhD in environmental anthropology — which involves relationships between humans and nature. He came to his conclusion after finding that bird calls just south of the proposed Wedgeport Wind Farm averaged 538 per hour after sunrise.

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.”

To Kearney, rejecting the project would help preserve the avian songs, but industry proponents counter that there’s limited evidence to show the proposed coastal location threatens bird populations.

In an email, Daniel Eaton, the project director at Vancouver-based Elementary Energy, noted the firm and its partners, Stevens Wind and Sipekne’katik First Nation, are responding to the Nova Scotia government’s goal of a 53 per cent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2023.