"Each year, about 70 golden eagles are killed by the rotating blades of Altamont Pass's nearly 5,000 wind turbines.
L.A. Times
"If you shoot an eagle, or birds die in an uncovered oil company waste pit, fines and possibly prison terms are meted out. But wind farms slaughter bald and golden eagles, falcons, hawks, curlews, bats and other threatened, endangered and just plain majestic sky dwellers with no consequences. They even get fast-tracked through the environmental review process by the same Interior Department and EPA that routinely delay or deny oil and gas applications"
Paul Driessen
The Washington Post reports about the latest case involving bald eagles:
Six birds found dead recently in Southern California’s Tehachapi Mountains were majestic golden eagles. But some bird watchers say that in an area where dozens of wind turbines slice the air they were also sitting ducks.
The US Fish and Wildlife Service is investigating to determine what killed the big raptors and declined to divulge the conditions of the remains. But the most likely cause of death is no mystery to wildlife biologists who say they were probably clipped by the blades of some of the 80 wind turbines at the three-year-old Pine Tree Wind Farm Project, operated by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power.
As the Obama administration pushes to develop enough wind power to provide 20 percent of America’s energy by 2030, some bird advocates worry that the grim discovery of the eagles this month will be a far more common occurrence.
Windmills kill nearly half a million birds a year, according to a Fish and Wildlife estimate. The American Bird Conservancy projected that the number could more than double in 20 years if the administration realizes its goal for wind power.
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Over nearly 30 years, none of the nation’s 500 wind farms, where 35,000 wind turbines operate mostly on private land, have been prosecuted for killing birds, although longstanding laws protect eagles and a host of migrating birds.
If the investigation by the Fish and Wildlife Service’s law enforcement division results in a prosecution at Pine Tree, it will be a first. The conservancy wants stronger regulations and penalties for the wind industry, but the government has so far responded only with voluntary guidelines.
“It’s ridiculous. It’s voluntary,’’ said Robert Johns, a spokesman for the conservancy. “If you had voluntary guidelines for taxes, would you pay them?
Read the entire article here
It comes as no surprise that the American Wind Energy Association, which represents the industry, disputes the conservancy’s projection, and also the Fish and Wildlife count. It is saying that the current bird kill is only about 150,000 annually. The wind industry´s numbers are almost certainly much to low, but even 150,000 is a lot of dead birds. Why are the WWF, Greenpeace and the other major wildlife NGO´s that always are eager to attack industry for all kinds of environmental abuse not campaigning against this brutal killing of bald eagles and other birds?
The answer is pretty clear: If birds get into the way of the warmists´ holy "renewable" energy agenda, their lives suddenly lack any value for these "nature lovers".
Read the entire article here
It comes as no surprise that the American Wind Energy Association, which represents the industry, disputes the conservancy’s projection, and also the Fish and Wildlife count. It is saying that the current bird kill is only about 150,000 annually. The wind industry´s numbers are almost certainly much to low, but even 150,000 is a lot of dead birds. Why are the WWF, Greenpeace and the other major wildlife NGO´s that always are eager to attack industry for all kinds of environmental abuse not campaigning against this brutal killing of bald eagles and other birds?
The answer is pretty clear: If birds get into the way of the warmists´ holy "renewable" energy agenda, their lives suddenly lack any value for these "nature lovers".
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