Wind industry’s wings are being clipped by a little bird that has US developers in a major flap

Efforts to protect the greater sage grouse have already delayed one major wind project and could put tens of thousands of square kilometres off limits to development in some of the windiest regions of the US. The bird’s habitat stretches across 11 states in the US West. It is most prevalent in Nevada, Utah, Wyoming, Idaho and Montana.

The sage grouse rarely flies high enough to be killed by a turbine’s spinning rotors, but there is evidence that it is averse to infrastructure.

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