WASHINGTON - 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.
The American Wind Energy Association, which represents the industry, disputes the conservancy’s projection, and also the Fish and Wildlife count, saying the current bird kill is about 150,000 annually.
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?’’
The government should provide more oversight and require wind turbine operators to select sites where birds don’t often fly or hunt, the conservancy says. It also wants the industry to upgrade to energy-efficient turbines with blades that spin slower.
The lack of hard rules has prompted some at the conservancy to speculate that federal authorities have decided that the killing of birds - including bald and golden eagles - is a price they are willing to pay to lower the nation’s carbon footprint with cleaner wind energy....
Yup, MORE DEATHS due to LIES!
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Also see: Fly Away Little Birdie, Fly, Fly, Fly
We are talking holocaust numbers, aren't we?
