In a previous post I wrote about the Major "WIND TURBINES" they are planning to install along the edge of the city  where I live Corpus Christi Bay.The city has one side wrapped around  a  body of water,and is a 10-mile-by-25-mile natural bay that opens through a barrier island into the Gulf of Mexico. The water isn't Caribbean-clear, but it supports a multitude of sea life, including shrimp, trout, oysters, redfish and dolphins. The bird life is abundant and varied with pelicans, cormorants, ducks, terns and gulls of many types, as well as numerous song birds. So I am very happy to find out ,there Must be at least four years of research and studies on the effects of the huge "Wind Fans" they plan to build here off our Bay, before they are allowed to even begin the contruction of them... I think it is good because they can learn alot in four years of observing,finding ways that could some how maybe prevent the bird kills, and adverse effects on marine life as well. We also recently  aquired a large Marine and Estuarine research facility right here off the main bay, Aransas Pass,  which is less than a mile away from Corpus Bay.I am very hopful since reading this article from our local newspaper --->

 Estuarine reserve a global attraction [Port Aransas] - About 150 people pressed into the auditorium at the University of Texas Marine Science Institute in Port Aransas for the dawn of the nation's 27th estuarine research reserve - the first in Texas. The newly designated reserve is a 185,708-acre swath of land that connects Copano and Aransas bays and Aransas and Mission rivers' watersheds to the Aransas Wildlife Refuge. It's expected to entice U.S. environmentalists, scientists, students and tourists from around the world. Many supporters say that 3,250 acres of a conservation easement known as Fennessey Ranch cinched the designation against more than 60,000 environmental entities that vied for the project. This ranch, owned for five generations by the family of Brien O'Connor Dunn, gives scientists access to study nine miles of the Mission River, the most free-flowing river in Texas that nourishes bay wetland habitats and estuaries with freshwater inflow. Dunn's property is valued at about $1.6 million, according to Paul Montagna, professor and manager of the Mission-Aransas National Estuarine Research Reserve. "We will start building monitoring stations this summer with Texas A&M-Corpus Christi," Montagna said.  Article courtesy :Corpus Christi Caller- Times   Wind Turbines do provide clean, re-usable, energies that could prevent much of the Global destructions we are already facing... and we can't continue the current energy production techniques we have now, without continuing to cause a very heavy impact on the environment... So I happy that there is  more research being done ,specifically for wildlife, that is  lessening the heavy impact on them and helping to maintain our great wonders of nature , hopefully for generations to come.

Re: Wind Farms

Wind Energy Regulations still Needed to Protect Birds .. ABC -AMERICAN BIRD CONSERVATION

Bird protection measures should become mandatory for wind energy projects because voluntary steps are being ignored by the wind energy industry. This was the message delivered by ABC's Dr. Michael Fry at a hearing before the House Subcommittee on Fisheries, Wildlife, and Oceans. Dr. Fry testified that, “Voluntary efforts to address the impacts of wind projects on birds and wildlife have been a failure. There has been much discussion and almost no real action on the part of the wind industry to resolve bird collision issues.”
According to the National Wind Coordinating Committee, wind energy projects are already killing between 30,000 and 60,000 birds per year, including Golden Eagles, Red-tailed Hawks, Burrowing Owls, Mourning Doves, and over 50 species of migratory songbirds. Given the projected growth rate of the wind industry, between 900,000 and 1.8 million birds could be killed each year by wind turbines by 2030 unless protective measures are implemented. With proper siting, operation, and monitoring, wind energy can provide clean, renewable energy for America 's future with minimal impacts to birds and bats. ABC emphasizes that before approval is given for the construction of new wind energy projects, potential risks to birds and bats should be evaluated through site analyses, including assessments of bird and bat abundance, timing and magnitude of migration, and habitat use patterns.

Wind energy project location, design, operation, and lighting should be carefully evaluated to prevent, or at least minimize, bird and bat mortality and adverse impacts through habitat fragmentation, disturbance, and site avoidance. Sites requiring special scrutiny include areas that are frequented by federally-listed endangered species, known bird migration pathways, places where birds are highly concentrated, and locations that have landscape features known t