Our feathered friends don’t appear to be faring very well in the new era of green energy. In fact they’re sustaining some heavy casualties, especially in California, land of loony enviros.
William La Jeunesse reports:
As California attempts to divorce itself from fossil-fueled electricity, it may be trading one environmental sin for another — although you don’t hear state officials admitting it.
Seems the wind turbines are taking out birds by the thousands each year, including protected species of eagles, hawks and owls. Nationwide, the Fish and Wildlife Service says about 440,000 birds are killed at wind farms across the country each year.
Wind farms are often located in areas that provide layover spots for migratory birds traveling between Canada and Mexico. These areas can also be prime hunting grounds for raptors where updrafts enjoyed by birds of prey are ideal for generating power.
The raptors seem attracted to the turbine-provided updrafts as well,
like this unfortunate vulture:
La Jeunesse’s article continues ~
“The cumulative impacts are huge,” said Shawn Smallwood, one of the few recognized experts studying the impact of wind farms on migratory birds. “It is not inconceivable to me that we could reduce golden eagle populations by a great deal, if not wipe them out.”
California supports roughly 2,500 golden eagles. The state’s largest wind farms kill, on average, more than 80 eagles per year. But the state is set to triple wind capacity in the coming years as it tries to become the first state in the nation to generate 33 percent of its electricity from clean energy sources by 2020.
The green killer: Scores of protected golden eagles dying after colliding with wind turbines ~ It’s not looking good for the fate of the eagles, from the UK Daily Mail:
‘It would take 167 pairs of local nesting golden eagles to produce enough young to compensate for their mortality rate related to wind energy production,’ field biologist Doug Bell, manager of East Bay Regional Park District’s wildlife programme, told the Los Angeles Times. ‘We only have 60 pairs,’ he added.
And yet, the save-the-environment crowd doesn’t appear too motivated
to actually save the birds…
“Politics plays a huge role here,” Smallwood said. “Our leaders want this power source so they’re giving, for a time being, a pass to the wind industry. If you or I killed an eagle, we’re looking at major consequences.”
Smallwood and others say it is almost inconceivable the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which enforces the U.S. Endangered Species Act, the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, hasn’t acted.
“There’s a big, big hypocrisy here,” Sue Hammer of Tehachapi Wildlife Rehab in Kern County said. “If I shoot an eagle, it’s a $10,000 fine and/or a vacation of one to five years in a federal pen of my choice.”
Among others, Exxon, an Oregon utility company and a fish hatchery have all had to pay up – big bucks – but “Big Wind” gets a pass.
Bat populations are being negatively effected by the spinning blades as well. And the casualties are global.
Progressives always seem to care so deeply about their latest issue. They don’t. Instead they dupe the truly well-intentioned (- who doesn’t want to “save the environment”?) but misinformed, and suck them into following along as they charge full steam ahead with no planning or foresight. And when faced with the inevitable failures of their destructive policies they ignore the facts, talk about “shared sacrifice” and move on to the next bad idea.
You only have to look at a sad story like this to realize that all they really care about is control.
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Dead birds aren’t the only drawback to wind turbines:
They sink: That sinking feeling
They freeze: Northern New Brunswick wind turbines frozen solid
They’re an eyesore: Wind turbines off Normandy beaches a ‘desecration’
And if there’s no wind, they don’t work (duh!): No Wind In Texas
Well so much for the new era of civility… Maybe Maxine just didn’t get the memo.
