AP IMPACT: Wind farms get pass on eagle deaths

[ptif219]

Obama protects green companies while fining oil companies for same thing. These dead birds show Obama's selective punishing of those he disagrees with.

We must stop the slaughter of these endangered birds.

Why is PETA and environmental groups are not complaining about this tragedy?

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_WIND_ENERGY_EAGLE_DEATHS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2013-05-14-07-57-59



It happens about once a month here, on the barren foothills of one of America's green-energy boomtowns: A soaring golden eagle slams into a wind farm's spinning turbine and falls, mangled and lifeless, to the ground.
Killing these iconic birds is not just an irreplaceable loss for a vulnerable species. It's also a federal crime, a charge that the Obama administration has used to prosecute oil companies when birds drown in their waste pits, and power companies when birds are electrocuted by their power lines.
But the administration has never fined or prosecuted a wind-energy company, even those that flout the law repeatedly. Instead, the government is shielding the industry from liability and helping keep the scope of the deaths secret.
Wind power, a pollution-free energy intended to ease global warming, is a cornerstone of President Barack Obama's energy plan. His administration has championed a $1 billion-a-year tax break to the industry that has nearly doubled the amount of wind power in his first term.
But like the oil industry under President George W. Bush, lobbyists and executives have used their favored status to help steer U.S. energy policy.
The result is a green industry that's allowed to do not-so-green things. It kills protected species with impunity and conceals the environmental consequences of sprawling wind farms.
More than 573,000 birds are killed by the country's wind farms each year, including 83,000 hunting birds such as hawks, falcons and eagles, according to an estimate published in March in the peer-reviewed Wildlife Society Bulletin.

[Chloe]

It's a difficult situation in my opinion since for the most part we can't have it both ways, at least not yet. Wind farms are better for the Earth and supply us with renewable and clean energy, however, they also unintentionally kill wildlife that happens to fly or migrate through the farms. You don't want to close the wind farm since the alternative in many cases is a dirty fossil fuel option which kills both the Earth and the wildlife, so basically we are left with trying to figure out ways to have clean energy and also protect the wildlife from that physical technology like the blades of the turbine. Hopefully we can try to figure out a way soon.

With regards to the fines and stuff for unintentionally killing a threatened species if a company, wind or oil, breaks a law or does something deserving of a fine then they should be held to the same standard obviously. I do think though that big oil and gas companies should be held to an even higher standard though since they cause much more overall damage and impact to the planet and wildlife, but that's just my opinion.

[Micketto]

It's a difficult situation in my opinion since for the most part we can't have it both ways, at least not yet. Wind farms are better for the Earth and supply us with renewable and clean energy, however, they also unintentionally kill wildlife that happens to fly or migrate through the farms. You don't want to close the wind farm since the alternative in many cases is a dirty fossil fuel option which kills both the Earth and the wildlife, so basically we are left with trying to figure out ways to have clean energy and also protect the wildlife from that physical technology like the blades of the turbine. Hopefully we can try to figure out a way soon.

With regards to the fines and stuff for unintentionally killing a threatened species if a company, wind or oil, breaks a law or does something deserving of a fine then they should be held to the same standard obviously. I do think though that big oil and gas companies should be held to an even higher standard though since they cause much more overall damage and impact to the planet and wildlife, but that's just my opinion.

Question... on the rare occasion of an accident that affects the lives of hundreds of animals.... and the obvious environmental clean up... do you think they come anywhere near the over 1/2 million bird deaths a year that the wind farms do ?

I'm not arguing with you because as you said... there is a cost to energy and in this case it is 500,000+ bird lives every year.

Just wondering how much worse you think the oil drilling is, on a yearly basis.

[Chloe]

Question... on the rare occasion of an accident that affects the lives of hundreds of animals.... and the obvious environmental clean up... do you think they come anywhere near the over 1/2 million bird deaths a year that the wind farms do ?

I'm not arguing with you because as you said... there is a cost to energy and in this case it is 500,000+ bird lives every year.

Just wondering how much worse you think the oil drilling is, on a yearly basis.

The physical drilling doesn't typically kill wildlife but the product that is produced from the drilling poisons the air, water, and the area around it which can and does kill some wildlife as well as damages the ecosystem around it, especially if it leaks or spills. Oil spills can kill hundreds if not thousands of animals depending on the size, but there is no such thing as a wind or solar spill. Animals are killed daily by cars on the highway, airplanes in the sky, ships in the sea, and they are all fueled by oil, and while that happens the emissions from those vehicles poisons the air, land, and water all at the same time.

I'm not saying that 500,000 birds is a good trade off because it isn't, but while animals are killed by the blades of the turbines spinning much more of the Earth is killed by what oil brings us on a daily basis. We can find ways to protect wildlife from the turbines I think, but it's much tougher protecting the Earth from fossil fuels in my opinion.

[ptif219]

It's a difficult situation in my opinion since for the most part we can't have it both ways, at least not yet. Wind farms are better for the Earth and supply us with renewable and clean energy, however, they also unintentionally kill wildlife that happens to fly or migrate through the farms. You don't want to close the wind farm since the alternative in many cases is a dirty fossil fuel option which kills both the Earth and the wildlife, so basically we are left with trying to figure out ways to have clean energy and also protect the wildlife from that physical technology like the blades of the turbine. Hopefully we can try to figure out a way soon.

With regards to the fines and stuff for unintentionally killing a threatened species if a company, wind or oil, breaks a law or does something deserving of a fine then they should be held to the same standard obviously. I do think though that big oil and gas companies should be held to an even higher standard though since they cause much more overall damage and impact to the planet and wildlife, but that's just my opinion.

More partisan BS. If it is illegal to kill them them they should be fined. the problem is wind farms are not working and without government subsidies they are not profitable. Wind farms are another failed policy of Obama and global warming environmentalists.

[Chloe]

More partisan BS. If it is illegal to kill them them they should be fined. the problem is wind farms are not working and without government subsidies they are not profitable. Wind farms are another failed policy of Obama and global warming environmentalists.

Partisan? I'm not a democrat or an Obama voter. I even told you that I think they should be fined equally.

[Micketto]

The physical drilling doesn't typically kill wildlife but the product that is produced from the drilling poisons the air, water, and the area around it which can and does kill some wildlife as well as damages the ecosystem around it, especially if it leaks or spills. Oil spills can kill hundreds if not thousands of animals depending on the size, but there is no such thing as a wind or solar spill.

True there is no spill, but they kill over a half million birds every year.
Spills, which happen very rarely, kill hundreds.... if and when they happen.


Animals are killed daily by cars on the highway, airplanes in the sky, ships in the sea, and they are all fueled by oil, and while that happens the emissions from those vehicles poisons the air, land, and water all at the same time.

Those deaths would occur no matter what was fueling the cars, planes and ships, right ?


I'm not saying that 500,000 birds is a good trade off because it isn't, but while animals are killed by the blades of the turbines spinning much more of the Earth is killed by what oil brings us on a daily basis. We can find ways to protect wildlife from the turbines I think, but it's much tougher protecting the Earth from fossil fuels in my opinion.

I understand.... and I agree alternative fules would be preferred.

I just don't agree that the impact of fossil fuels is as big as you are saying. And it kills a lot less wildlife.

And since wind farms are not producing anywhere near as much energy as they are intended to (on the brink of failure, basically).... those 500,000+ birds are a lot less necessary. The cost of fossil fuels is at least achieving a working energy source.

[Chloe]

Those deaths would occur no matter what was fueling the cars, planes and ships, right ?

fair point. I guess I don't have much of a response for that.


I understand.... and I agree alternative fules would be preferred.

I just don't agree that the impact of fossil fuels is as big as you are saying. And it kills a lot less wildlife.

And since wind farms are not producing anywhere near as much energy as they are intended to (on the brink of failure, basically).... those 500,000+ birds are a lot less necessary. The cost of fossil fuels is at least achieving a working energy source.

I guess it's more about immediacy vs consistency. Wind turbines kill immediately as the bird flies through the farm whereas fossil fuel companies kill things more consistently and on a more global scale through pollution, spills, fracking, and stuff like that.

[simpsonofpg]

More partisan BS. If it is illegal to kill them them they should be fined. the problem is wind farms are not working and without government subsidies they are not profitable. Wind farms are another failed policy of Obama and global warming environmentalists.

How hard is this to understand. I think it is stupid but it is still against the law. I would love to pick the laws I will obey and disobey. Al Gore laughs all the way to the bank about global warming. Wind farms are a hoax.

[Private Pickle]

Meh...coyotes gotta eat too...

[simpsonofpg]

The only ones profiting from the wind farm are the land owner who rent or sell the line where the turbines are installed.

[nic34]

I find all this concern over birds and the environment by the righties ..... well.... refreshing.

I welcome you to your new environmental activism!

[ptif219]

Partisan? I'm not a democrat or an Obama voter. I even told you that I think they should be fined equally.

You seem to support wind farms even though they kill birds and are useless

http://www.akdart.com/wind.html

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/mar/16/gunderson-some-basic-facts-about-wind-energy/?page=all

[Private Pickle]

I find all this concern over birds and the environment by the righties ..... well.... refreshing.

I welcome you to your new environmental activism!

Environmental activism has always been a Conservative agenda...the difference being Conservatives don't sacrifice humans for that activism.

Conservatives believe humans are native to Earth as well.

[ptif219]

The only ones profiting from the wind farm are the land owner who rent or sell the line where the turbines are installed.

Yes they get more for rent than the quarter acre of land could produce from crops. Each wind turbine takes away one quarter acre of farm land and costs over a million dollars

[ptif219]

I find all this concern over birds and the environment by the righties ..... well.... refreshing.

I welcome you to your new environmental activism!

It is about the hypocrisy and double standard. How many times has big oil been stopped because of a lizard or bird?

[jillian]

Environmental activism has always been a Conservative agenda...the difference being Conservatives don't sacrifice humans for that activism.

Conservatives believe humans are native to Earth as well.

environmentalism USED to be a conservative value. both left and right believed in CONSERVING the earth. that is why richard nixon started the EPA.

today's GOP wouldn't have allowed him through the primaries.

today's GOP lives by the mantra of what is good for corporations is good for us...

and with regard to the environment, and most other issues, that simply isn't true.

[Micketto]

Environmental activism has always been a Conservative agenda...the difference being Conservatives don't sacrifice humans for that activism.

Conservatives believe humans are native to Earth as well.

Nic is just taking the Truthmatters/Cigar/Jillian road of blurting out erroneous accusations for the sake of "effect".

[nic34]

Nic is just taking the Truthmatters/Cigar/Jillian road of blurting out erroneous accusations for the sake of "effect".

What was "erroneous" in that post?

http://thepoliticalforums.com/threads/13007-AP-IMPACT-Wind-farms-get-pass-on-eagle-deaths?p=289192&viewfull=1#post289192

I'm still all FOR your activism!