SAMPLE EMAIL TO ODNR OFFICE OF COASTAL MANAGEMENT 

Copy and paste the message below into your email message to coastal.consistency@dnr.state.oh.us. 


Ohio Department of Natural Resources 
Office of Coastal Management
coastal.consistency@dnr.state.oh.us


To Whom It May Concern:  

I am writing in regard to the Federal Consistency review of the wind turbine project proposed 
for Camp Perry Air National Guard Station, Port Clinton, Ohio.

Threats to wildlife from this project are already well established.  In comments dating back as far as
2007 (when the project was first proposed), Ohio Division of Wildlife and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 
have declared the wind turbine proposed for the Camp Perry to represent a "high risk to migratory birds."  
More recently, in their written and published evaluation of the Environmental Assessment for the Camp 
Perry wind turbine, both the state and federal wildlife officials pointed out many inaccurate and/or misleading 
statements in the EA.  

For the purpose of the current comment period, I realize that the focus is only on consistency with Ohio’s 
Coastal Management Program.  Based on what I know of the project, the wind turbine project at Camp Perry
 is not consistent with those policies.  Even with a very narrow interpretation, Ohio Coastal Management 
Program Policy # 29, "Wildlife Management," requires that the Division of Wildlife is to protect native wildlife 
and to protect species threatened with statewide extinction.  Allowing the wind turbine to be constructed at 
Camp Perry would represent a failure on that obligation.  

The Environmental Assessment fails to acknowledge the fact that the lake shore represents stopover habitat, 
where vast numbers of migratory birds pause during their migrations to rest and feed before continuing their 
journey. The EA states that "a vast majority of nocturnal migration of song birds, waterfowl and shore birds 
occur at altitudes greater than the height of most modern utility scale wind turbines." While it is true that most
 nocturnal migration occurs high above the ground, this argument does not apply to stopover habitat.  Huge 
numbers of nocturnal migrants descend to the vicinity of the lake shore just before dawn and take off just after
 dark, when the dim light and their low flight would make them exceptionally vulnerable to obstacles such as 
wind turbines close to the shoreline. 

Among the birds that would be at risk from the Camp Perry turbine would be the federally endangered 
Kirtland’s Warbler.  This region of northwestern Ohio represents the only known consistent stopover area 
for that species during migration.  Also federally listed as endangered is the Great Lakes population of Piping 
Plover, which migrates through this area along Lake Erie.  In the state and federal wildlife agencies’ own 
published comments, the Camp Perry project directly threatens these federally endangered species, 
as well as the area’s population of Bald Eagles.  The project also would pose a threat to species officially 
listed as endangered in Ohio, including American Bittern, Black Tern, Common Tern, King Rail, Northern 
Harrier, Sandhill Crane, Snowy Egret, and Upland Sandpiper, all of which migrate through this immediate 
area and are known to use nearby sites as stopover habitat.

Numerous other flaws in the Environmental Assessment have been pointed out by others, and I won’t repeat
 them here.  But in my opinion, these threats to endangered species reflect a clear failure by the project to 
comply with requirements of Ohio Coastal Management Program Policy # 29, "Wildlife Management.”  I hope
 that you will agree and that you will issue an Objection to the application for a Consistency Certification for this 
project.  

Sincerely,