Oh! The birdamity!! Stop the slaughter.
Posted on 07/19/2009 2:22:57 PM PDT by smokingfrog
The landscape of West Texas is changing.
Standing hundreds of feet tall, like alien structures on the featureless plains, fields of shining white towers have sprung up seemingly overnight to harness formidable winds known all too well by those who have made the land home.
Call it what you will - alternative energy, a green solution, renewable resources - one thing is certain: like the oil booms of yesteryear, wind harnessing is sweeping across the Plains with the promise of a new tomorrow for the U.S. energy market.
Similar to transformations brought by oil and agricultural industries in past decades, the industry's impact is more than skin deep. Some researchers have found going green through a new generation of windmills may not be what's best for the environment.
"There's almost no understanding of the environmental impact of these wind turbines," said Ronald Kendall, director of Texas Tech's Institute of Environmental and Human Health. "I'm all for alternative energy, but I'm for getting it right."
Kendall and his colleagues have been looking past the benefits of pollution-free energy and focusing on how the industry will harm the region's oldest natives: its wildlife.
The spinning blades - many of which are more than 100 feet in length - present a unique challenge for birds and bats, and the mere presence of the mammoth towers could disrupt one the area's most threatened inhabitants, the lesser prairie chicken.
"If an agricultural pesticide killed as many birds as these turbines probably are, they'd be regulated right out of the market," Kendall said, adding one report in Canada found a single turbine could kill more than 100 birds a night. "Why don't we get ahead of the curve for once?"
And it's not just the turbines that have researchers worried.
(Excerpt) Read more at lubbockonline.com ...
Like clockwork.
as an alternative energy form reaches economic viability—
Presto
Like magic an abundance of reasons why it is an environmental threat.
Environmentalists want nothing except an end to capitalism.
I like to joke with my kids that these things are alien housing projects, or cylon baseships. What a waste of money.
Probably... could... maybe... kinda... sorta...
Oh, Boo-freakin’ Hoo!
Like there aren’t enough Canada Geese to go around. Rats with wings.
Liberals are insane.
Oh! The birdamity!! Stop the slaughter.
Nor will Solar....
Any spotted owls spotted near these windmills?
PETA is all over this.....
WIldlife can, and will adapt to their environment. The stupid ones will die - it’s natural selection in action.
Didn't anyone but me remember that this was what happened the last time the left pushed windmills for energy -- back in the 70s, I think -- until they discovered that birds can't see the blades when they're spinning? Don't they have any new lousy ideas? :(
I think if they filled the blades with Snail Darters or Spotted Owls, the resulting sound would scare the birds away.
I haven’t found any evidence that wind power is approaching viability, but yeah, you’re correct. It’s the hazard of having idiot government and academic morons decide policy. They can stand on the sidelines and make edicts, but they couldn’t make it work. Like the compact fluorescent light bulbs. Ten years ago, mercury was way too dangerous for thermometers. Now, they’re mandating mercury bulbs and outlawing incandescent.
Lesser spotted prairie chicken....Ha! .....
.....I was more thinking of the human race.
1. The high speed shadow of the blades causes epileptic fits...
2. Noise...particularly at night... when humans try to get some sleep.
3. Disintegrating great blades are hurled all over the countryside causing maim-death
I live out here in West Texas, and live next to the world’s largest Wind Ranch (NOT farms ;) ).
We rather like them out here. They’re actually quite fascinating and majestic. We really don’t care how many buzzards they kill. We especially like “wind rights”, much like mineral rights, which means we get paid for something we usually call a necessary annoyance - West Texas wind.
Infrastructure? Bring it. They’re aint much else out here.
Its provided us with another “oil boom” if you will, and we don’t have to worry about it running out;)
Is it a cure-all? Not by any means. But we are a perfect place for Wind energy.
These people are so full of crap.
What a waste of money.
Yes it is. The most costly power we can generate.
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