New limits on wind turbines at NJ coast
Monday, September 28th, 2009
By: Phil Gregory
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New rules proposed by the State Department of Environmental Protection would limit where wind turbines could be built off the New Jersey coastline.
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The rules would require those windmills to be located no closer than two and a half miles off the coast.
Eric Stiles, Vice President for conservation at New Jersey Audubon Society, says that would help protect the one million seabirds a year that migrate along the Jersey Shore.
Stiles: You have higher abundance and diversity of species around inlets as the birds move in and out from the back bay area to the coastal ocean. As you get further from the coastline both the abundance and species diversity drops off drastically.
The proposed rules would also streamline the state approval process for building land-based wind turbines. Wind power advocates say that's an important step in moving toward uniform standards they'd like to see throughout the state in getting permits for renewable energy projects.
