BIRD BRAINS IN CHARGE OF ENERGY POLICIES

I'm not about killing birds unless it happens to fulfill the need for food. (Actually I feel that way about most animals unless they are predators that kill us or our livestock.) I've written about this subject before, a few months ago. I have a real distaste for huge wind turbines that blight the landscapes and kill lots of birds. Wind turbines as a major source of energy is just a dumb idea that only idiots would buy into. For one thing, it takes more energy to build them than they create. (minor detail....ahem.) That fact, coupled with the fact that these behemoths kill thousands and thousands of migratory birds, is enough to send me into an apoplectic display of utmost frustration. If I were two years old again and out of control, I'd have a regular temper tantrum and be sent to my room crying. Since I can't do that, I really hope I can make some people see the light regarding this very stupid dive into "green" energy using wind turbines.

To bolster my argument today I found an article on the famously respected website called, "Junk Science." The article is written by Robert Bryce, Wall Street Journal. You can find the Junk Science link on my side bar to the right. Without further adieu, I give you more evidence that wind turbines should become quickly abandoned by our energy gurus and become a relic of the past....pronto!! And just in case you thought our government would prosecute laws uniformly and with justice for all, this article below will clue you in on how the "politically correct" schemes and schemers of the day get favoritism from the justice department. Oh, to be one of the pet projects of the power brokers.....I guess the birds are only protected from oil companies but not from GE's wind turbine industry, or maybe T.Boone Pickens' outfit. More turbines...more sliced and diced birds.

Headline:
Windmills Are Killing Our Birds - One standard for oil companies, another for green energy sources.

"On Aug. 13, ExxonMobil pleaded guilty in federal court to killing 85 birds that had come into contact with crude oil or other pollutants in uncovered tanks or waste-water facilities on its properties. The birds were protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, which dates back to 1918. The company agreed to pay $600,000 in fines and fees.

ExxonMobil is hardly alone in running afoul of this law. Over the past two decades, federal officials have brought hundreds of similar cases against energy companies. In July, for example, the Oregon-based electric utility PacifiCorp paid $1.4 million in fines and restitution for killing 232 eagles in Wyoming over the past two years. The birds were electrocuted by poorly-designed power lines.

Yet there is one group of energy producers that are not being prosecuted for killing birds: wind-power companies. And wind-powered turbines are killing a vast number of birds every year.

A July 2008 study of the wind farm at Altamont Pass, Calif., estimated that its turbines kill an average of 80 golden eagles per year. The study, funded by the Alameda County Community Development Agency, also estimated that about 10,000 birds—nearly all protected by the migratory bird act—are being whacked every year at Altamont.

Altamont's turbines, located about 30 miles east of Oakland, Calif., kill more than 100 times as many birds as Exxon's tanks, and they do so every year. But the Altamont Pass wind farm does not face the same threat of prosecution, even though the bird kills at Altamont have been repeatedly documented by biologists since the mid-1990s." (Robert Bryce, WSJ)