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Yes, it is a wonderful environment for indigenous wildlife and it is being devastated by the so-called renewable energy producers. A lot of those industrial wind companies more likely farm the subsidies than the wind. Between must-take provisions in RPSs, rigged capacity auctions,, payment-in-lieu-of-taxes, and no requirement for cleanup of decommissioned wind farms, those companies are almost like robber barons of the energy business.

I should have been clear that I was referencing utility-scale thermal solar as a terrible boondoggle. The Ivanpah solar thermal plant in CA is a disaster from and economic and performance standpoint. Likewise Solana in AZ. APS was bamboozled into a long-term PPA with Solana for 14 cents per Kwh, which will likely cost ratepayers over 20 cents per Kwh when delivered. Ironic because just down the road the Palo Verde nuclear plant is putting power on the grid at a cost of around four cents per Kwh.

I seem to recall an article in one of the VT publications where the company that sells PV solar was bragging about covering an "unused" field with a few hundred acres of solar panels. Well, geez, all they did was take a formerly verdant and lush greenfield and turn it into a lifeless, muddy (or dusty) brownfield, that will be lucky to pull a 20% capacity factor in the NE climate.

And yes, those windmills are having a deadly effect on avian and other flying species. I remember reading about how some western states that have gone all-in on windmills have found out the hard way the significant impact of widespread windfarms is taking on avian and other flying species. In particular, they kill untold numbers of, ready for this, bats. A mature bat can consume up to 10,000 mosquito-sized insects each night, some of which are in fact mosquitoes. Evidently the swooshing sound of windmills used in power generation fools the sonic locating apparatus of the bat senses, causing them to fly right into the windmill blades.