It has taken five years, but a new set of guidelines to protect wildlife from the impacts of  land-based wind energy projects was announced by the US Fish and Wildlife Service today. If, looking them over, they seem familiar, that is because the draft guidelines were made available for comment last July.

The guidelines were developed by a committee made up of representatives from the wind power industry, non-government environmental organizations, and state wildlife departments. (There was also one representative of native tribes.)

These are just guidelines, with no regulatory teeth.

You can find the US Fish and Wildlife Service’s landing page for the wind guideline information — which includes a press release, a fact sheet, and the guidelines themselves, here.

Photo credit: Joshua Winchell, courtesy US Fish and Wildlife Service