Windpower Guidance Summary – North America

Categories:

Published: May 29, 2008

Pages: 25

The information in this document was assembled using current State, Federal and Provincial Windpower Guidance documents, as of March 20,2008. The exceptions are as follows, Kansas - Wind Power Position Paper prepared by the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks, Maryland â€" Recommendations from the Wind Energy Technical Advisory Group, Massachusetts â€" Model Amendment to a Zoning Ordinance or By-Law, Oregon â€" A Model Ordinance for Energy Projects, and Pennsylvania â€" Model Ordinance for Wind Energy Facilities.

Currently most countries, including the United States and Canada are providing guidance for wind power development proposals. For the purposes of this windpower guidance summary document, Canada, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFW) and 25 U.S. States* will be discussed. 21 U.S. States have locally developed wind power guidance or use the Federal USFW Interim Guidance on Wind Power. New York and West Virginia are currently drafting guidance, Minnesota has Wind Siting Law, and Maine has Site Law for any project in excess of 20 acres, but not specific to the development impacts related to wind facilities, and Maine has proposed wildlife guidelines for wind power siting.

* ARIZONA, CALIFORNIA, COLORADO, INDIANA, KANSAS, MAINE, MARYLAND, MASSACHUSETTS, MICHIGAN, MINNESOTA, MONTANA, NEVADA, NEW MEXICO, NEW YORK, NORTH DAKOTA, OHIO, OKLAHOMA, OREGON, PENNSYLVANIA, SOUTH DAKOTA, TEXAS, VERMONT, WASHINGTON, WEST VIRGINIA, WISCONSIN

States with guidance and Canada are listed by the following categories:

  • Preliminary Assessment & Site Evaluation
  • Pre-construction Wildlife Assessment
  • Site Development (Micrositing)
  • Retrofitting, Repowering & Decommission
  • Research
  • Mitigation