Revenge is a dish best served cold.
Posted on 08/18/2014 7:21:25 PM PDT by markomalley
Oh, dear. They even have a name for them:
Workers at a state-of-the-art solar plant in the Mojave Desert have a name for birds that fly through the plant’s concentrated sun rays — “streamers,” for the smoke plume that comes from birds that ignite in midair.
Federal wildlife investigators who visited the BrightSource Energy plant last year and watched as birds burned and fell, reporting an average of one “streamer” every two minutes, are urging California officials to halt the operator’s application to build a still-bigger version.
The investigators want the halt until the full extent of the deaths can be assessed. Estimates per year now range from a low of about a thousand by BrightSource to 28,000 by an expert for the Center for Biological Diversity environmental group.
Trade-offs, people. Always trade-offs.
Jon Gabriel on the history of this plant with environmentalists and regulators:
The facility has concerned environmentalists in the past, as its construction bladed over 3,500 acres of virgin desert. Being California, the state government required BrightSource to relocate a bunch of desert gopher tortoises to the tune of $22 million. The installation also endangers pilots flying the busy Los Angeles–Las Vegas corridor; they can be dazzled by the intense light.
It remains to be seen if regulators will stop the plant’s operation, but at least the world’s largest bug zapper should educate environmentalists and green energy boosters.
For too long, the public has been told that energy production is less a matter of physics than one of morality. Renewable energy like solar and wind are sold as “good” while reliable energy sources like oil and coal are “evil.” Methods like hydroelectric, nuclear and natural gas all were initially sold as clean and green, but became demonized the instant they turned a profit or revealed unintended consequences.
Between this and slaying bald eagles with impunity, green energy is literally killin’ it lately.
The dirt people will excuse it because it is green energy.
“The installation also endangers pilots flying the busy Los Angeles–Las Vegas corridor; they can be dazzled by the intense light.”
the birds...are one thing.... but “dazzling” pilots aint too bright...
I have yet to see a bird combust while flying near a nuclear, coal, etc. fire plant.
What are the odds that one or more of those birds was the recently endangered California Condor?
None. 100’s of miles from their natural area.
I-15 drivers get the same dazzle as pilots.
(Just don’t look at it.)
Gaia is frowning.
Quick, raise taxes!. It’s for the Birds!
Is this the evidence of Global Warming they have been searching for??
Do streamers taste like chicken?
All sorts of ways to prepare your bird; pan fried, stir fried, deep fried, oven fried . The latest way? Let’s call it Solar fried.
28,000 birds killed. 3,500 acres of desert destroyed. Imagine the wailing if a coal fired power plant caused this level of destruction.
Maybe somebody will get to eat crow.
All this death and destruction, yet nothing from the musician class.
Where are the clever T-shirts? Like I’m steaming mad. If a bird gets soaked in crude oil, it is a fixture in the news for days.
Where is Neil Young? Bruce Springsteen? I guess they don’t have time to get involved, after taking so much from a fossil fuel economy that produces the fans that sustain them.
If God watches over even the sparrows, then this is not going to play out in favor of those persistent greenies who are destroying God’s creation for their stupid beliefs. Their god is the environment.
The bird community has rankled feathers about this.
Their members say the birds were actually flying away then they were zapped.
The solar officers say, that isn’t true.
The solar officer say the birds had turned and were rushing the solar collector when it zapped them in self defense.
Birds everywhere are chirping mad.
Protests have been called, but with a curfew of from dusk to dawn, the only time they can protest is during daylight hours. The birds have chosen to protest anyway, and the solar collector better be on notice.
The governor has stated that the solar collector has over-reacted, so the state energy commission reps are being called in to provide unbiased security.
If this doesn’t work, the national hawks and eagles will be called in. Normal birds generally don’t like that idea.
It remains to be seen if the militarization will indeed escalate over coming days.
Birds say they’re going to protest tomorrow. We’ll see if any streamers dematerialize.
Revenge is a dish best served cold.
:^)
At a bird “streamered” every 2 minutes, assuming operation 365 days a year, an average of 8 hours per day (gotta figure a few clouds now and then, even in the desert), that’s 365 x 8 x 60/2 = 87,600 birds killed per year.
(The investigators must attract birds?)
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