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)

A Flight of Fantasy

"Mockingbird"
Available Painting
$550.00 (framed size 12X15)
Contact me to purchase.

USA TODAY
1/5/2005 3:23 PM


Wind turbines taking toll on birds of prey
By John Ritter, USA TODAY
ALTAMONT PASS, Calif. — "The big turbines that stretch for miles along these rolling, grassy hills have churned out clean, renewable electricity for two decades in one of the nation's first big wind-power projects.

But for just as long, massive fiberglass blades on the more than 4,000 windmills have been chopping up tens of thousands of birds that fly into them, including golden eagles, red-tailed hawks, burrowing owls and other raptors.

The size of the annual body count — conservatively put at 4,700 birds — is unique to this sprawling, 50-square-mile site in the Diablo Mountains between San Francisco and the agricultural Central Valley because it spans an international migratory bird route regulated by the federal government. The low mountains are home to the world's highest density of nesting golden eagles."


Here we are four years later and who is listening? The information above is not new. And it is ongoing. Meanwhile a whole lot of birds are biting the dust thanks to this insane push for "wind power." Not to mention the visual blight the turbines create. The so called 'environmentalists' have a huge hypocrisy problem. While they jump up and down and yell about "green" energy solutions, they are creating nothing more than fat bank accounts for themselves and their chosen few suppliers of this 'so called' "green" energy. They try to make you believe that they are on the side of wildlife and how the planet will collapse in short order if you don't buy into their schemes. The sorry thing is that they are stealing your taxes to support their very flawed agenda. By creating a false crisis, a lot of fat cat politicians and schemers are getting rich producing nothing of value from your hard work.

This Informative Article from the National Center for Policy Analysis

An excerpt here: "How many dead birds equal a dead fish equals an oil spill?" Ten thousand cumulative bird deaths from 1,731 MegaWatts of installed U.S. capacity is the equivalent of 4.4 million bird deaths across the entire capacity of the United States electric market (approximately 770 gigawatts). A 20 percent share of U.S. capacity, a figure that the American Wind Energy Association put forward some years ago in congressional hearings (see above), would equate to 880,000 cumulative bird deaths. Calculated on an average operating basis, the number would rise severalfold."

And this:

Other Environmental Drawbacks

"A distinct air emission problem of wind capacity is created when a new project is built where there is surplus electric generating capacity. Since large wind farms require thousands of tons of materials, virtually all of the air emissions associated with the electricity used to make these materials (such as cement or steel) must be counted against the air emissions "saved" once the farm comes on line and displaces fossil fuel-generated output. For example, a recently announced Zond wind farm of 40 to 45 effective megawatts is composed of 150 wind turbines weighing 35 tons each or just over 10 million pounds. The entire electricity requirement for these materials (cement, steel, fiberglass, etc.) must be estimated before assigning an air emission factor. To calculate a net emission savings, that factor must be subtracted from the air emission reduction once the wind project comes online."

The sad thing for me is twofold. First, I love birds. If I could grow wings, I would. Second, I know people who think they are friends of birds, who belong to "Bird Watching" organizations, yet who voted for this President and his "Green Energy" nonsense. I guess they don't realize it when they are at odds with their own goals and mindlessly vote for the "feel good" agenda. I wonder how the brain can disconnect from logical consequences. I am having a very hard time suffering these fools.