Bats, not birds, might be more at risk from a wind tower at the top of the Snowmass ski area, according to a local forest service official.
The blades of three potential turbines the Aspen Skiing Co. and the Forest Service are considering placing up from the Big Burn chairlift could be more deadly to bats if the agencies are required to place a light on the tower for aviation purposes, according to Jim Stark, winter recreation supervisor for the White River National Forest. The light could attract insects and therefore bats, he said.
The caution about the lights and the bats came about during a preliminary Forest Service study on potential environmental and visual effects the towers would have. Such impacts would be more fully vetted, if the project moves forward, with an environmental assessment that would be reviewed by the federal government.
But the Forest Service and SkiCo must first determine whether the wind speeds at the top of the Burn are appropriate for wind turbines. That effort suffered a major setback last week when a test tower fell to the ground as it was being winched up.
“I was just devastated,” Stark said. “I was hoping it didn’t hit the papers.”
Stark described the crash as happening in slow motion, with the winch breaking and leaving the tower sloped on a 30- or 40-degree angle.
The tower, which does not require an approval process because it is a temporary structure, should be back in the next week or so, Stark said. It will measure wind speed for a full year, at which point the agencies will decide if the project is feasible. If it is, then the federal review will start, which can take months or years.
Auden Schendler, SkiCo’s environmental affairs director, said the three turbines would supply two-thirds of the electricity required to run all four area mountains.
He also said there would be extensive environmental review and that SkiCo would not go forward with the 200-foot-high towers unless environmental impacts are minimal.
Schendler and Stark both predicted the biggest opposition to the towers would come from people opposed to the visual impacts.
“I think that five years ago you wouldn’t have been able to suggest this project,” Schendler said. “But I think today people understand the scale of climate change.”
Schendler said people will have to “pick their poison.” Choose between wind towers, whose impacts are primarily visual, or coal fired power plants, which create air pollution and other health impacts.
“Very few people have seen a wind turbine, much in the same way very few people have seen a coal plant,” Schendler said.
curtis@aspendailynews.com