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ConnectGen details wildlife considerations

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Energy company ConnectGen says it has developed an active relationship with the Wyoming Game and Fish Department as it enters the permitting process for the Rail Tie Wind Project, even as opponents claim the project will have a long-lasting negative impact on the area’s wildlife.

John Kuba, ConnectGen’s director of environmental affairs, said the company begins every energy project by consulting guidelines provided by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as it considers a project area. Within Wyoming, that process also includes the Wyoming Game and Fish Department.

ConnectGen chose the Rail Tie project area for its wind production and proximity to a transmission line, as well as the fact that it doesn’t have wildlife resources such as sage grouse core areas and designated migration corridors.

“We want to put new renewables in the ground, but we want to do it the right way,” Kuba said.

Permitting process underway

Houston-based ConnectGen, a clean-energy subsidiary of Quantum Energy Partners, is preparing for federal, state and county permitting this year, with hopes of beginning construction of the wind project during the spring of 2022.

A draft environmental impact statement prepared by the Western Area Power Administration is expected by the end of March, according to project manager Amanda MacDonald. The administration owns the transmission line to which the Rail Tie project would connect.

The federal permitting process takes about two years and was started at the beginning of 2020. A public comment period and public hearing will be scheduled after the draft EIS is released, followed by the final EIS this fall and then a record of decision.

ConnectGen is also preparing applications for the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality Industrial Siting Division and Albany County, both of which will provide more opportunities for public comment.

The proposed Rail Tie site is located about 15 miles south of Laramie on public and private land on both sides of U.S. Highway 287 near Tie Siding. The northernmost part of the 26,000-acre project area reaches a couple miles south of Interstate 80.

The 20-month construction period would involve 120 workers and contribute $14.6 million in taxes to Albany County. During the 35-year life of the project, Albany County would receive an estimated $3.3 million a year in sales and use taxes, excise taxes and property taxes.

Amanda Losch, habitat protection supervisor for Game and Fish, said ConnectGen approached the agency early in its planning process asking for feedback on the proposed project area. That feedback includes information about crucial habitat and sensitive species in the area.

“One of the main components of our wind and solar energy guidelines is to work with the project proponent on a monitoring plan, pre- and post-construction, for the specific species that might be of concern in that particular project area,” she said.

While an energy company isn’t bound by Game and Fish suggestions as it develops a project, companies are required by the Industrial Siting Division to consult with Game and Fish and develop a wildlife plan in coordination with the agency.

“The (Industrial Siting Division) does require that we develop a signed monitoring plan with the company prior to the company constructing their facilities,” Losch said.

In cases where a project isn’t required to obtain a permit from DEQ, Albany County’s regulations also require consultation with Game and Fish.

Birds, bats, foxes and mule deer

Since early 2019, ConnectGen has been monitoring the presence of bats and birds, especially eagles and raptors. It’s also been looking for species considered by the state to be of conservation interest, such as the burrowing owl and swift fox.

Meanwhile, ConnectGen is developing a technical advisory committee, as requested by Game and Fish, that will meet annually to review wildlife data and make recommendations.

“That’s something that’s not standard state to state, and something I think is a good idea for a state like Wyoming where there’s a lot of interest in wildlife,” Kuba said.

The company will conduct another three years of monitoring after construction is complete, in order to see what might have changed. Those studies are important in case they uncover negative impacts that can be mitigated through adaptive management.

For example, turbines can be turned off at night during bat migrations, or during weather events that might drive bats into a project area.

“There’s no silver bullet that will prevent all potential collisions, but there are things we can do to help avoid and minimize that risk,” he said.

Biologists didn’t find any burrowing owls in the area, but there are swift foxes, a small grassland species that has been petitioned for listing as an endangered species because its historic range is threatened.

Kuba said they’re planning more surveys this spring to look for swift fox burrows, at which point they’ll work with Game and Fish on setbacks for construction activities.

Game and Fish also suggests a landowner monitoring plan, which allows landowners to coordinate with the company directly on conservation practices.

“There’s not another state I’ve worked in that has that mechanism,” he said.

Early in the planning process, Game and Fish alerted ConnectGen to the presence of an area considered to be crucial winter range for mule deer. Game and Fish recommends avoiding construction in those areas during the winter and spring so as not to further stress big game, which ConnectGen said it will do.

“We think it will be feasible for the project, and we are coordinating with Game and Fish to implement this as part of our standard environmental protection measures,” Kuba said. “It is a commitment that we’ve made.”

Losch said the area has a fair amount of use by big game, and likely some daily and seasonal movement by herds, though it’s not considered to be a migration corridor.

“Anywhere that you have intact habitat with very little disturbance, it’s important and valuable to try to conserve and reduce the fragmentation on the landscape,” she said.

Brent Lathrop, former southeast Wyoming program director for the Nature Conservancy, said more research needs to be done to learn about big game herds in that area specifically.

“When we’re looking at pronghorn, deer, elk — we don’t really have a good understanding of what they’re doing,” he said. “There’s been very little collaring done by Game and Fish.”

A study conducted by University of Wyoming ecosystem scientists and published last year observed that pronghorn avoided wind turbines on their home winter range, while advocating for further studies to be done.

“I don’t think there’s any doubt that (wind development is having) an impact on the wildlife in the area, and that this proposal is going to have an impact over there,” Lathrop said.

Nick Oceanak, an outfitter who lives in the area, said he’s watched big game herds move out of places with wind farms, just as they’ll be pushed out of the Rail Tie project area.

“We’ve seen what these wind projects have done to the wildlife, to their habitat and to their behavior throughout the years, and they’ve had major negative impacts,” he said.

He argued that outfitters will lose another place to guide and there will less money coming into the state from hunters.

“All outdoor enthusiasts will be affected,” he said.

New guidelines

Game and Fish spent most of 2020 working on updates to its guidelines for wind and solar energy development, which were last updated in 2010. The updates were approved by the Game and Fish Commission in January.

Losch said the updates didn’t include major changes for wind energy development, but they did add specificity and guidance to some requirements. She said it shouldn’t be too hard for a company like ConnectGen, which has been operating for the last two years under the old guidelines, to adjust to the updates.

“The new guidelines will be easy to insert and work with ConnectGen on this,” she said.

She emphasized that the main objective for the department is developing an ongoing relationship with energy companies so they can balance energy production with the needs of the project area.

“We have the most success in minimizing impacts for wildlife when we can have good communication relationships with operators,” she said.

Kuba said coordinating with Game and Fish was critical in implementing any guidelines.

“If there were something new that we needed to be doing that was different than what we are already doing, Game and Fish would be telling us that through the active communication and coordination effort that’s occurred,” he said.