Industry and Environmentalists Collaborate to Develop Voluntary Colorado Wind Energy Guidelines

Over the past three years, wind energy developers and conservation groups have worked together to develop a set of voluntary best practices for siting and building wind energy projects in Colorado while minimizing adverse environmental impacts. Five environmental groups and ten wind developers, working collectively as the Colorado Renewables and Conservation Collaborative, have developed wind energy guidelines that simultaneously serve goals that are sometimes at loggerheads: environmental conservation and economic viability.

The guidelines are tailored to unique conservation issues in each county in Colorado, and include such measures as limiting work during mating seasons, avoiding rare plants and wetlands, and locating turbines to avoid separating bird and bat species from daily roosting, feeding, or nesting sites.

These voluntary best management practices promote environmental interests in that they are geared to reduce impacts on 12 species and ecosystems. They serve industry interests because they provide predictability and help developers identify potential issues before a project starts. And equally important, the guidelines provide strategies developed jointly by industry and environmentalists to avoid, minimize, or mitigate adverse effects.