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风力发电成野生动物杀手

Wind power is key to efforts to produce clean, limitless energy and to slow global warming. It's one of the world's fastest-growing energy industries. But there is mounting evidence that expanding "wind farms" are taking a toll¹ on airborne wildlife. Thousands of birds and bats are killed every year by collisions with the the wind towers and their giant blades. Environmental activists² are taking the wind energy industry to court to find a solution.

风力发电能生产清洁、可再生能源，也是放慢全球变暖的关键。风力发电是世界上发展最快的能源工业，可是越来越多的证据表明，扩大风力发电场对空中飞行的野生动物造成极大的危害。每年，成千上万的鸟和蝙蝠因为撞上风塔和风电叶片而死亡。一些环保人士把能源工业告上法庭，试图找到解决问题的办法。

Estimates by the Department of Energy indicate that in the United States alone, there will be more than 100,000 wind turbines by 2030.

据美国能源部估计，到2030年，仅仅在美国就会有10万座风力涡轮机。

John Anderson is policy director at the American Wind Energy Association. “As time goes on, I think you will see wind replacing older plants that are being taken offline, but we are really capturing the new installation market," he said.

约翰?安德森是美国风力能源协会政策负责人。他说：“随着时间推移，你会发现风力发电会代替逐渐在淘汰的老式发电厂，我们正在抓住风电设备的新市场。”

But wind energy developers, in California and West Virginia, are being sued by environmental groups. A growing number of groups contend that hundreds of thousands of birds and bats are being killed every year by wind turbines, mostly at night when bats and migratory³ birds fly around mountain ridges⁴ where many wind farms are located.

可是加利福尼亚州和西维吉尼亚州的风力能源发展商却被环保组织告上了法庭。越来越多的组织反对说，风力涡轮机每年杀死成千上万只鸟，特别是在夜间当蝙蝠和候鸟飞跃山脊的时候，因为很多风电场都建在山顶上。

Kelly Fuller, with the American Bird Conservancy, said, “In 2009, an expert at the Fish and Wildlife Service estimated 440,000 birds were being killed by wind turbines a year. That was before we had more growth of the industry.”

凯利?福勒是美国鸟类保护协会成员。她说：“2009年，鱼和野生动物管理局的一位专家估计，每年有44万只鸟被风力涡轮机杀死。这还是在风电业没有这么发达的时候。”

West Virginia, in the eastern U.S., is a migratory corridor for birds. It's also an important habitat for bats -- millions of which have been dying from White Nose Syndrome⁵. The illness has brought some species to the brink⁶ of extinction⁷.  Now they face another threat. This amateur video shows bats flying at sunset near wind turbines in West Virginia.

美国东部的西维吉尼亚是候鸟迁徙的必经之路，也是蝙蝠的一个重要栖息地，一种叫做白鼻综合症的疾病导致数千万只蝙蝠死亡，使某些种类的蝙蝠面临灭绝。现在它们又受到另一钟威胁，这段业余录像显示，傍晚蝙蝠在风力涡轮机旁飞翔。

Judy Rodd is director of Friends of Blackwater, a West Virginia conservation group.  She says this cave, close to a wind farm, houses thousands of hibernating⁸ bats during the winter.  “The first year, they found 430 dead bats and I think 50 dead birds in a very preliminary sketchy⁹ study. The expert that analyzed¹⁰ those numbers, Dr. Tom Kunz from Boston University, estimated that finding 430 dead bats meant that actually 10,000 bats had been killed in one year," she said.

黑水之友是西维吉尼亚一个动物保护组织，朱迪?罗德是黑水之友的负责人。她说，有上万只蝙蝠在风电场附近的这个山洞里过冬。“第一年，调查人员在一次粗略调查中发现了430只死蝙蝠和50只死鸟。波士顿大学的汤姆?库恩斯对有关数据进行了分析，他估计，被发现的430只死蝙蝠意味着每年被杀死的蝙蝠有1万只。”

That's because the carcasses are scavenged by foxes, crows and other predators¹¹.

那是因为有些死蝙蝠被狐狸、乌鸦和其他动物吃掉了。

The U.S. government supports wind energy development to reduce the use of fossil fuels and to fight global warming.

美国政府支持开发风力能源，减少石油的使用，阻止全球变暖。

David Cottingham is senior adviser¹² at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.  He says the service does not have the authority to halt a wind project that's on a migratory path. “But we do have the authority to prosecute¹³ them for violating the endangered species act," he said.

美国鱼和野生动物管理局的高级顾问大卫?科廷厄姆说，他的部门没有权力阻止在候鸟迁徙路线上建立风电场。科廷厄姆说：“不过我们有权起诉他们违反濒危物种法案。”

Despite efforts to reduce wildlife collisions, no permanent solution has been found. The wind industry opposes shutting down or limiting turbine operations.

虽然大家在努力减少风电和野生动物间的矛盾冲突，可是目前还没有永久性的解决方案。风电工业反对停止或者限制使用涡轮机。

Industry, government, and environmental experts agree that choosing different locations for wind farms could be a good solution.  But often the best wind currents are found in the paths that migratory birds and bats have been using for millions of years.

风电工业、政府和环保组织专家一致认为，选择在其它地点建立风电场可能是一个好办法，可是通常风力流通好的地方正是数百万年来候鸟和蝙蝠生存的地方。