Altamont Pass Wind Farm
A pretty disgustung site.
Posted on 06/14/2011 10:26:37 PM PDT by RC one
ALTAMONT, Calif., June 6 (UPI) -- Wind power turbines have been blamed for the deaths of scores of protected golden eagles in California's Bay Area, wildlife experts say.
The death count of more than 60 birds a year during the last three decades worries field biologists because the turbines in the Altamont Pass Wind Resource Area -- which have been providing thousands of homes with emissions-free electricity since the 1980s -- are situated in a region of rolling grasslands and canyons containing one of the highest densities of nesting golden eagles in the United States, the Los Angeles Times reported Monday.
"It would take 167 pairs of local nesting golden eagles to produce enough young to compensate for their mortality rate related to wind energy production," biologist Doug Bell, manager of the East Bay Regional Park District's wildlife program, said. "We only have 60 pairs."
The Fish and Wildlife Service says about 440,000 birds are killed at wind farms across the country each year.
So far, no wind energy company has been prosecuted by federal wildlife authorities in the death of protected birds, the Times reported. Environmentalists have had some success -- often through litigation -- requiring the energy industry and federal authorities to modify the size, shape and placement of wind turbines, the newspaper said.
Leave the situation alone and the alleged Golden Eagles (Used to be shot as pest since they raid livestock so badly) will evolve to avoid the blades.
Hard to see how they are being killed there anyway, every time I go over that pass most of the windmills are stationary, or not even mounted to the towers.
Last time over it appeared the number of windmills was being reduced, and the generator heads were being changed out to a new type.
Gee, has anyone got the statistics on the Golden Eagle deaths resulting from other forms of energy production?
The Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act (16 U.S.C. 668-668c), enacted in 1940, and amended several times since then, prohibits anyone, without a permit issued by the Secretary of the Interior, from "taking" bald eagles, including their parts, nests, or eggs. The Act provides criminal penalties for persons who "take, possess, sell, purchase, barter, offer to sell, purchase or barter, transport, export or import, at any time or any manner, any bald eagle ... [or any golden eagle], alive or dead, or any part, nest, or egg thereof." The Act defines "take" as "pursue, shoot, shoot at, poison, wound, kill, capture, trap, collect, molest or disturb."
For purposes of these guidelines, "disturb" means: “to agitate or bother a bald or golden eagle to a degree that causes, or is likely to cause, based on the best scientific information available, 1) injury to an eagle, 2) a decrease in its productivity, by substantially interfering with normal breeding, feeding, or sheltering behavior, or 3) nest abandonment, by substantially interfering with normal breeding, feeding, or sheltering behavior."
In addition to immediate impacts, this definition also covers impacts that result from human-induced alterations initiated around a previously used nest site during a time when eagles are not present, if, upon the eagle's return, such alterations agitate or bother an eagle to a degree that interferes with or interrupts normal breeding, feeding, or sheltering habits, and causes injury, death or nest abandonment.
A violation of the Act can result in a fine of $100,000 ($200,000 for organizations), imprisonment for one year, or both, for a first offense. Penalties increase substantially for additional offenses, and a second violation of this Act is a felony.
Fatal Attraction: Birds and Wind Turbines - KQED QUEST http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtgBWNKwBkE&feature=related
Altamont Pass Wind Farm
A pretty disgustung site.
Some lady in MI got a felony conviction and a couple of years in jail - for picking up a feather off the floor at the zoo.
Isn’t government grand?
Eric Cartman on an endangered species........
Stan: Dude, dolphins are intelligent and friendly.
Cartman: Intelligent and friendly on rye bread with some mayonnaise.
Why not just count the dead birds at the base of each tower? Or parts there of...
That’s a good thought. Or some kind of noise maker that Eagles don’t like the sound of.
I wonder how she feels about eagles being killed with impunity by electric companies out in California.
We were in north Texas 2 weeks ago, driving near the Red River. Absolutely beautiful country, then we went up on a ridge and saw a long line of windmills. It made me want to puke.
In 30 years in California and the Bay area I have seen 3 golden eagles and one bald eagle (on the Russian River).
So, you want to cite EVERY power company, since all sorts of dumb birds have a habit of landing on power poles and getting fried?
Tear down every office building, birds cannot see glass?
no, I just want the people that are killing Golden Eagles cited, fined, and/or jailed as the law requires.
Those of us who are skeptical of the huge numbers often quoted, have been saying exactly that for years... Where are the dead bodies, or skeletons? Show us some pictures...
But nobody wants to drive around and document carcasses. Instead, the anti-wind lobbies just make numbers up and scare people.
As a bird lover, but also a lover of Truth, I'd like some numbers based on facts rather than speculation. Since no one, including me, wants to spend lots of time doing it by hand, it seems to me that an automated system, which is far less expensive than a person's salary plus gas, makes sense.
And just who, EXACTLY, would you hold responsible?
The PUC members who authorized the installation, the “Green” groups who pushed for it, the manufacturers of the blades, the guys who actually installed the turbines, congress for creating the tax breaks that made the facility profitable, the investors?
Guess we will have to build another prison, maybe not “Green” wind energy powered though?
Sixty birds a year is hardly a crises, nature kills many times more than that without windmills.
Of those sixty, how many are Eagles?
I doubt anyone knows, the article is emotion driving drivel, I wonder what group actually sponsored it.
Sure it does. You just have to understand the liberal hierarchy of needs. Like many pagan deities, Gaia demands a little blood sacrifice from time to time.
Just be grateful she's satiated with the occasional eagle for now. Soon she'll be demanding human sacrifice and her true-believers will be more than happy to oblige, as long as it's not one of them.
the corporation profiting off the windmills obviously.
Sixty birds a year is hardly a crises, nature kills many times more than that without windmills. Of those sixty, how many are Eagles?
They're all eagles genius, read the article. And it is a crisis: "It would take 167 pairs of local nesting golden eagles to produce enough young to compensate for their mortality rate related to wind energy production," biologist Doug Bell, manager of the East Bay Regional Park District's wildlife program, said. "We only have 60 pairs" Furthermore, what nature does is irrelevant. It is a felony to kill eagles. period. These corporations are not above the law anymore than you or I are. They need to be held accountable.
the article is emotion driving drivel
the article is perfectly factual and honest and; what's more, there are hundreds of articles on the internet about this. The only drivel here is your weak attempt to defend the indefensible, the slaughter of a protected species.
The author provides zero proof his claims are accurate.
Nature is never irrelevant, a sudden cold snap, disease among the food supply species, etc. and a species can be devastated overnight.
Corporations are a group entity, will you arrest the janitor as well as the CEO?
You did not address those who enabled the corporation, surely they are equally responsible?
Still a guilt tripping puff-piece.
Your arguments are pathetic and weak because, like I said, you're trying to defend the indefensible. When you try to do that, you inevitably concoct ridiculous conspiracy theory like arguments as you have done. Wind energy is just one more liberal delusion.
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