Cape Kaliakra Windfarm begins - mig. species using the Via Pontica under threat (1 Viewer)

http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=54872

Please see above thread. If anyone's got any ideas .... this could spell large scale slaughter for migrating species using the via pontica and for protected species locally. Windfarm construction has just started (quietly!) :C

Birdlife/BSPB Appeals to European Commission

Apologies for pushing this but this is a very serious situation, not just affecting birds in Bulgaria but summer populations of birds in the following areas (I may even have missed some!)

BALTIC STATES
ROMANIA
GERMAN SLOVAKIA
HUNGARY
RUSSIA
CZECH REPUBLIC

Heads up to all birders, not just from the above locations ..... Wind Farm applications (already granted licences!) along the Black Coast .... especially at bottleneck mig. areas such as the Cape of Kaliakra where wind conditions push migrating birds towards the coast .... could result in mass slaughter (see study links on other thread) of soaring raptors eg. Lesser Spotted Eagle and also Cranes, W.Pelican, White Storks (about 70-80% of Europe's pop. of White Stork use the Via Pontica fly way)

Nocturnal migration: Birds are likely to be attracted to lights on installations as they seek coastal markers and low level flying to avoid strong winds. Soaring raptors particularly at risk, being reliant on right wind conditions and making land stops at the Cape before continuing their journey (thus low level flying very likely in this area). Important stopover roosting area. Impacts on ground: Breeding Corncrake also at risk, along with many other rare species in the area. Not to mention risk from Pylons, construction .... The list of potential damage is horrendous.

Cf. Panama, Gibralter and the Bosphorus, for comparable significance of bottleneck migration areas.

NGO Appeal to EU Commission to halt building, re-locate inland, further EIA's, are in hand.

A letter, email to your Euro MPs/Commissioner to put pressure on the Bulgarian Gvt to revoke planning permission will help support the NGO's appeal (well at least you'll feel you're doing something )

I shall begin with Caroline Lucas (Hove actually!)

http://www.carolinelucasmep.org.uk/

deborah4 said:

A letter, email to your Euro MPs/Commissioner to put pressure on the Bulgarian Gvt to revoke planning permission will help support the NGO's appeal (well at least you'll feel you're doing something )

I shall begin with Caroline Lucas (Hove actually!)

http://www.carolinelucasmep.org.uk/

Click to expand...

A very good idea, I think. Have you already received any answer?

Pirol said:

A very good idea, I think. Have you already received any answer?

Click to expand...

Finally!

This evening from Caroline Lucas's (MEP) secretary:

From: Caroline Lucas
Sent: Friday, April 04, 2008 6:26 PM
Subject: Bulgarian wind farm


Dear Deborah,



Thank you for your recent email about the proposed wind farm development at Kaliakra in Bulgaria,
which Caroline has asked me to respond to on her behalf. Please excuse the delay in doing so.

She knows very little about this development or the area affected and tries to judge these matters
on a case by case basis. Generally she is minded to support wind farm applications unless there are
strong grounds not to, because of the urgent need to promote renewable energy in the face of
escalating greenhouse gas emissions. However, the EU protection offered to this site leads her to believe
that a wind farm development would not be appropriate. Furthermore, Bulgaria would certainly seem to be acting
illegally if it has not at the very least applied for derogation from the EU Habitats and Birds Directives.

Caroline will take this up with the Environment Commissioner and I will let you know as soon as we have a response.

In the meantime, please do not hesitate to get back in touch if you require anything further.



Kind regards,

Cath.



Cath Miller
Constituency Coordinator and Researcher
Office of Dr Caroline Lucas
Green Party MEP for SE England
Suite 58, The Hop Exchange
24 Southwark Street
London SE1 1TY

Tel: 020 7407 6281

Email: carolinelucas 'at' greenmeps.org.uk
www.carolinelucasmep.org.uk




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At the risk of saying something unpopular, the affects of climate change will have far greater impacts on wildlife than any single wind farm development.

The only way to protest against projects like this are to come up with viable alternatives. We, in Western Europe have no moral right to tell developing countries in Eastern Europe not to raise their economic standards to the same level as ours. Unless we can lead the way in carbon reduction, we can not expect the rest of the world to follow.

This is the harsh reality, no amount of winging about carrier bags is going to prevent ever increasing climate change, a dramatic reduction in the carbon (and other greenhouse gas) emmissions is the only answer. Unfortunately, sustianable, low carbon electricity generation is one way of cutting carbon emmissions. Wind farms are far from perfect, but perhaps they are a least worst solution to power generation, when seen as part of the greater picture.

I think the lack of constructive responses to this particular issue in Kaliakra is an indication of just how important it is to keep this thread free for clear updates on the facts involved and for it not to slip into general discussions and heated debates about the merits/issues surrounding renewable energy - the facts then won't be obscured amongst the melee and usual internet waffle, despite some of it being well intentioned!

'Scuse me for having an opinion!

Quercus said:

We, in Western Europe have no moral right to tell developing countries in Eastern Europe not to raise their economic standards to the same level as ours.

Click to expand...

Yes you do, first we East European countries are the fastest growing economies in Europe now anyhow, so the days of poor East Europe are fading fast. This growth is coming primariy through a combination of internal stimuli and a massive injection of E.U. cash. That E.U. cash is basically your money, from your pocket. You have every right to dictate a few conditions on the countries in which it is to be spent, and to question other practices that occur.

Secondly, the E.U. happily funds massive road projects, infrastructure improvements and virtually everything else, so it is it is already heavily involved in the countries. All of that is okay, because we are a united European Union now, yes? So, if we are a United European Union, you also have every right to protest when you see an individual member state (regardless whether in the east or west) acting irresponsibly ...and placing a wingfarm smack bang on top of one of Europe's most important migration points is irresponsible. Not only is it a migration point, it is a migration point for large raptors, storks and pelicans, the very species most vulnerable to windfarms.

And whose storks and raptors are they anyhow? They could be the White Storks that nest on my house, the Lesser Spotted Eagles that nest in my forest, does that give me the right to protest (as in one 'developing' Eastern Europe country to another)?


As for the point on climate change, you don't save a person from drowning by shooting him in the head.

Thanks Deborah for updating us on the reply you received from Caroline Lucas....I await with interest any response she obtains from the Environment commissioner.

As you point out, this thread is not about the rights or wrongs of windfarms in general, it is about the specific case of Kaliakra in Bulgaria where the construction of a giant windfarm has begun ILLEGALY within the heart of an Important Bird Area and NATURA 2000 site.

As Jos points out, this is not a local or national issue. It is of international importance because the location of this illegal development directly endagers migratory birds, many of them Species of European Conservation Concern.

Further, to argue that:

Quercus said:

We, in Western Europe have no moral right to tell developing countries in Eastern Europe not to raise their economic standards to the same level as ours.

Click to expand...

is absurd when the actions are not only illegal but a direct threat to habitats and species which are of international concern and part of the world's heritage.

If you use this argument then obviously we have no moral right to tell any of the coutries cutting down their rain forests to stop either, they are only trying to raise their economic standards and its none of our business. In fact shouldn't we in Western Europe feel obliged to support them and supply them with the ways and means they need to cut the rain forests even quicker and so speed their immediate economic development?

Of course not. The whole point is, the world is at last waking up to the fact that the impact of so many environmental issues is not local but global, and we not only have the right to involve ourselves in these issues, we have an obligation to do so.

"Environment and Water Affairs Minister Djevdet Chakurov rejected two projects for wind farms at Kaliakra cape because of violations to environment regulations, Dnevnik said." (Sofiaecho)

Have no idea though which of the many "projects" have been rejected...

Hi all

Have received a reply from Caroline Lucas MEP who has raised the issue of Kaliakra with the EU Comm.

Apologies it's in PDF ... have tried for ages to try and convert then post the text on here but haven't been able to!

The EU Commissions response is on the PDF (it's fairly short so will be a quick download to open)

Cheers for the support and interest.

Thanks for your effort and time Deborah!

All the best!

D

White Pelican killed by Kaliakra Windfarm

Sad to report that the Kaliakra windfarms have claimed their first victim...a young White Pelican. Details of the incident have been reported by the Bulgarian Society For the Protection of Birds:

First victim of the Kaliakra wind farms [ 2008-10-27 03:58:27 ]
On the 24th of October BSPB members Ianko Iankov and Kapka Mancheva found the first bird killed by the newly constructed wind turbines in Kaliakra – a young white pelican. The species has the status of a rare bird in Bulgaria and is included in Supplements 2 and 3 of the national law for the protection of biodiversity. The young pelicans were spotted in the area two weeks earlier – they were doing frequent fly-bys of the area in a dangerous proximity to the working wind turbines.

Mihail Iliev – a BSPB expert- was also present at the scene and reported that the bird had numerous fractures of its left wing and was found lying on the ground just 50 meters away from one of the turbines. The local environmental agency in Varna was notified and the case was documented ( see attached protocols). The corpse of the dead bird was taken to the Varna veterinary service for further investigation
On the 27th of October the veterinary experts confirmed that the dead pelican has numerous fractures on its left wing. This, added to the close proximity with the wind turbines, unequivocally confirms that the cause of death of the white pelican was a collision with the wings of the turbine.

The wind farm ‘Kaliakra’ owned by INOS 1 is one of the most controversial windfarms in Bulgaria. The facility lies on the path of one of the two big bird migratory routes in Europe – Via Pontica. It was constructed within a Natura 2000 zone without any preliminary ornithological studies and ignored the negative ornithofauna impact assessments by BSPB and Bulgarian scientific organizations.

There is no regular monitoring program around the windfarms at Kaliakra and the current observation was an accidental finding, which suggests that there could be many other undocumented deaths of birds flying over the wind turbines in the area. Keeping in mind the numerous reports of such accidents in Greece and Spain, it is only question of time before more rare and threatened migratory birds fall victims to the wind turbines at Kaliakra.

Source: http://bspb.org/show/1003-33

I have a house 'on' the Via Pontica - Izvorishte. It's clear that in the meantime, several windmills were built in the mountains (my house : http://www.historvista.com/historvista/tl3/view0007690.php4 ). I am of course scared of the impact.... but I'm not often there. What would be the ideal moment to be there - watch the birds pass - and then look under the windmills to actually 'measure' the damage. Or... some candidate to do this?

The windmills are there now... see http://www.historvista.com/historvista/tl3/view0010817.php4. I am wonderingthough whether this indeed leads to many dead birds..