Bill will review the history of commercial wind energy in NY and efforts on the federal, state, NGO, and grassroots levels to minimize avian impacts. He will then focus on the proposed Lighthouse Wind Energy Project, 30 miles WNW of Rochester in the Towns of Somerset and Yates, discussing why he thinks it will have the highest spring fatality rate of birds in North America and why the project would be a bad precedent for wind energy in New York.

Bill Evans is Executive Director of Old Bird Inc., a 501(c)(3) nonprofit focused on nocturnal bird migration research & education. He has studied nocturnal bird migration across the eastern U.S. for 30 years and co-authored the CD-ROM, Flight Calls of Migratory Birds with Michael O’Brien. Bill’s expertise on nocturnal bird migration led him into active involvement mitigating avian fatalities at communications towers and wind turbines. Over the past 20 years he has carried out avian studies at numerous commercial wind projects, but he has also critically reviewed and presented expert testimony in hearings regarding projects he believes would have high bird impacts. Bill’s research has been featured on PBS, BBC, NPR and in Science, The New York Times and is included in the new documentary on songbirds called The Messenger. Bill is a member of the Tompkins County Environmental Management Council and lives with his wife and two kids in the highlands south of Ithaca.