THE BIRDS AND THE
BATS: USING ADAPTIVE
MANAGEMENT TO FIND
THE BALANCE OF
PUBLIC INTEREST IN
WIND FARM
DEVELOPMENT.
Joe Hockey (Federal Treasurer): wind turbines 'utterly
offensive', "I think they're just a blight on the
landscape.“
As reported by ABC News 2 May 2014
1. BIRDS, BATS AND
WINDFARMS: COMPATIBILITY
OR FRENEMIES ?
2. NSW WIND FARM REGIME
3. BALANCE OF PUBLIC
INTEREST
4. ADAPTIVE MANAGEMENT
5 PUBLIC INTEREST AND
ADAPTIVE MANAGEMENT
1. BIRDS, BATS AND WINDFARMS:
COMPATIBILIT Y OR FRENEMIES ?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NAAzBArYdw
Positives
 Wind turbines pose less
danger to species than
the extraction and use of
fossil fuels, and
increasing impacts of
climate change
 The number of bird and
bat strikes is small
compared to mortality
from other sources
Concerns
 Destroy and fragment
habitat, disrupt flight
patterns for migratory
species
 Birds and bat strike,
mortality.
 Long-term impacts on
populations
2. NSW WIND FARM REGIME
 A mix of legislation, policy instruments, and industry
guidelines.
 Administered in accordance with planning laws and
regulations enacted under the Environmental Planning and
Assessment Act 1979 (NSW) (EPAA).
 In 2013 ‘Gateway’ procedure introduced
 s79C of the EPAA - Decision maker must evaluate impacts
including: the likely impacts of the development on the
natural and built environment; and, the public interest.
 Approvals under EPAA override provisions in National Parks
and Wildlife Act 1974 that protect native species
 If wind farm is likely to impact on threatened species,
endangered populations or endangered ecological
communities, developer needs a licence under the Threatened
Species Conser vation Act 1995 (NSW)
Date Issued
Wind Farm
Director Generals Requirements Under Section 78A(8A) of the EPAA
31 January 2014
Jupiter
20 January 2014
Newtricity
12 August 2013
Biala
Date Issued
Wind Farm
Bodangora
Consider the effects, including multiple wind farms in the vicinity on bird/bat strike, movement
patterns and loss of habitat.
Consider the effects, including multiple wind farms in the vicinity on bird/bat strike, movement
patterns and loss of habitat.
Consider cumulative effects, including the effects of multiple wind farms in the vicinity on bird/bat
strike, movement patterns and loss of habitat.
Director Generals Requirements Under Section 75F of the EPAA
Provide details of how flora and fauna impacts would be managed. Provide details of adaptive
management protocols and monitoring.
Provide details of how flora and fauna impacts would be managed. Provide details of adaptive
management protocols and monitoring.
Provide details of how flora and fauna impacts would be managed. Provide details of adaptive
management protocols and monitoring; address impacts on birds and bats.
Asses impacts on flora and fauna. Provide details of adaptive management protocols and monitoring.
12 November
2010
15 October
2010
Collector
10 October
2010
White Rock
3 September
2010
1 June 2009
Capital II
29 May 2009
13 February
2008
21 September
2007
1 May 2007
4 May 2006
9 January 2006
Undated but
appears to be
2006
Boco
Provide details of how flora and fauna impacts would be managed. Provide details of adaptive
management protocols and monitoring.
Sapphire
Provide details of how flora and fauna impacts would be managed. Provide details of adaptive
management protocols and monitoring.
Silverton
Provide details of the impact of the proposal on critical habitats, threatened species, the impact on
birds and bats from. An adaptive management plan must be outlined.
Gullen
Provide details of how flora and fauna impacts would be managed. Provide details of adaptive
Range
management protocols and monitoring.
Glen Innes
Provide details of how the impact of the proposal on birds and bats from strikes and alteration to
movement patterns resulting from the turbines and transmission lines. Provide an outline of an
adaptive management program.
Black
Provide details of the impact of the proposal on critical habitats, threatened species, populations or
Springs
ecological communities, or their habitats, and details of the impact of the proposal on birds and bats
An adaptive management plan must be outlined.
Cullerin
Impacts on critical habitats, threatened species, populations, ecological communities, and their
habitats; impact on birds and bats. The applicant should provide an outline of an adaptive
management program.
Conroy’s Gap The environmental assessment must address: impact on critical habitats, threatened species,
populations, ecological communities, and their habitats; impact on birds and bats. The applicant
should provide an outline of an adaptive management program.
3. BALANCE OF PUBLIC INTEREST
 s79C(1)(e)Decision maker needs to take public
interest into account
 Taralga Landscape Guardians Inc v Minister for
Planning and RES Southern Cross Pty Ltd: Preston CJ
= the “broader public good”. Bird deaths can be an
acceptable risk, especially if mitigation measures
are implemented
 Telstra Corporation Limited v Hornsby Shire Council:
Preston CJ =objectives of ESD
 Minister for Planning v Walker: Court drew
inferences from the report of the Director -General for
planning as well as other instruments relevant to the
EIA process
EIS process identifies potential risks. In
order to identify actual risks monitoring is
necessary, and in order to fine-tune
management responses, and achieve predetermined objectives, operators of wind
farms need to implement adaptive
management practices.
4. ADAPTIVE MANAGEMENT
 Iterative approach that involves continual monitoring,
investigation, testing and modification
 Also requires formulating purposes or objectives that: set
targets for achieving key conservation aims; underpin
how management decisions are made; and, identify the
motivation for interest in the conservation issue
 Much of adaptive management hinges on good
monitoring. For this reason, regulators and managers
need quality baseline data
 If adaptive management is not acting as a counter -balance to the
front-end environmental decision making processes of the EIA ,
then it is questionable whether aims and objectives of ESD are
being achieved and it also casts doubt on whether public interest
is being served
5 PUBLIC INTEREST AND ADAPTIVE
MANAGEMENT
 By extending the conditions of wind farms post-construction,
the Minister is anticipating that adaptive management will
deal with the actual risks of the projects .

 New South Wales Parliament, Legislative Council. General
Purpose Standing Committee No. 5, Rural Wind Farms, The
NSW General Purpose Standing recommended that the
Minister for Planning ensure that wind farm developers
comply with bird and bat management conditions of consent.
A summary of results of bird and bat monitoring, including the
number of deaths, should be published annually on the
Department of Planning website. Where the results
demonstrate non-compliance with the conditions of consent
the Minister should apply appropriate penalties or action
In 2013 the NSW Department of Planning released an audit on
three wind farms that were fully operational: Capital, Cullerin
and Woodlawn
These were relevant conditions of approval…….
No.
Wind
Farm
Capital 34
35
36
Conditions
A Bird and Bat Adaptive Management Program must be prepared as part of the
OEMP.
The Applicant must prepare annual reports commencing 12 months from the start
of Operation describing the activities undertaken within the Bird and Bat Adaptive
Management Program.
The Applicant must implement all Reasonable and Feasible mitigation measures
where the need for further action is identified through the Bird and Bat Adaptive
Management Program.
Cullerin 99
Range
A Bird and Bat Adaptive Management Program must be prepared as part of the
OEMP. The Program must incorporate monitoring, and a Decision Matrix that
clearly sets out how the Proponent will respond to the outcomes of monitoring.
80
Birds and bats must be monitored in accordance with the Bird and Bat Adaptive
Management Program.
Reports must be prepared on an annual basis.
80
Woodla 37
wn
38
39
A Bird and Bat Adaptive Management Program must be prepared as part of the
OEMP,
The Applicant must prepare annual reports commencing 12 months from the start
of Operation describing the activities undertaken within the Bird and Bat Adaptive
Management Program.
The Applicant must implement all Reasonable and Feasible mitigation measures
where the need for further action is identified through the Bird and Bat Adaptive
Management Program.
Wind
Farm
Capital
Condition
Number
Conditions
34
Preparation
of
Adaptive Not complied with
Management Program.
Annual reports.
Not complied with –
monitoring not undertaken
in accordance with
conditions of approval.
Not addressed
Implement mitigation
measures.
35
36
Cullerin 99
Range
80
80
Woodla 37
wn
38
39
Preparation of Adaptive
Management Program.
Monitoring.
Annual Reports.
Audit Findings
Appears to have complied
but could be improved by
proactive placement of
project related information
on the project’s website.
Preparation
of
Adaptive Plan Prepared.
Management Program.
Annual Reports.
Documents sighted by
auditors. Reports not due
at time of audit.
Implement mitigation
None considered
measures.
necessary by the operator.
• Not possible to determine how operators are
using data gathered from monitoring; not
possible to compare data in the pre-construction
and operational phases of the wind farm
• In Australia – problem exacerbated by insufficient
studies on the risk to Australian bats and other
non-avian species from wind farms
• Ferrer et al, examined information contained in
53 EIAs - found that predicted and actual
mortalities of birds differed significantly.
• Means that decision-makers are arguably giving
approval for construction and operation of wind
based on incorrect assumptions
* Wind farms are seen as a viable
alternative to fossil fuels.
* Adaptive management s a way of mitigating bird and bat
losses
* To date it there is little follow-up to ensure that operators are
adhering to conditions of approval.
• If regulators don’t know what the actual risks are and
adaptive management not being implemented, are we
fulfilling principles of ESD and if not, is this in the public
interest?
Animal Welfare Institute v. Beech Ridge
Energy LLC,172 172. 675 F. Supp. 2d 540
(D. Md. 2009) concluded: "[t]he
development of wind energy can and should
be encouraged, but wind turbines must be
good neighbors."