Posted on 06/06/2011 8:45:41 PM PDT by upchuck
California's attempts to switch to green energy have inadvertently put the survival of the state’s golden eagles at risk.
Scores of the protected birds have been dying each year after colliding with the blades of about 5,000 wind turbines.
Now the drive for renewable power sources, such as wind and the sun, being promoted by President Obama and state Governor Jerry Brown has raised fears that the number of newborn golden eagles may not be able to keep pace with the number of turbine fatalities.
The death count along the ridgelines of the Bay Area’s Altamount Pass Wind Resource Area has averaged 67 a year for three decades.
The 200ft high turbines, which have been operating since the 1980s, lie in the heart of the grassy canyons that are home to one of the highest densities of nesting golden eagles in the US.
‘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,’ field biologist Doug Bell, manager of East Bay Regional Park District's wildlife programme, told the Los Angeles Times. ‘We only have 60 pairs,’ he added.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
How come we have to hear about this from a British newspaper?
The Endangered Species Act would be enforced by the US Wildlife people if it were y ou or I.
So, US Wildlife....shut the damn things down!!!
I say we sue the EPA on behalf of the eagles, shut down the turbines and declare the property a sanctuary...
If you want some chuckles, follow the link and read the comments. Sounds like a bunch of FReepers :)
A golden Eagle? Well it’s a small price to pay...
now if it was a snail darter or a salamander and
the turbines were owned by Exxon that would be different!
I have heard the turbines called condor cuisinarts.
We can’t be killing golden eagles. seriously. They are way too awesome. Some science nerds needs to develop a technology that repels eagles and other birds...a sonic ELF emitter perhaps? something.
Bump
A man is defending himself at trial after having been caught by a game warden just as he blew a Spotted Owl into a flurry of feathers.
After reading the charges, the judge, well known for his environmental sympathies, gravely announced that since the species concerned is in danger of imminent extinction, he would have to make an example out of the defendant.
The man, waxing eloquent, said he was very sorry for what he’d done, but that he was totally destitute and needed the bird to feed his hungry children. All he had to his name, he said, his voice cracking with emotion, was the little bit of bird shot he had left in his gun.
The judge took off his glasses to wipe a tear from the corner of his eye, and after regaining his composure, told the defendant he would let him go with a warning this time.
The man beamed with pride as he started out of the courtroom.
Just then, the judge called out, “Oh, by the way, what does a Spotted Owl taste like?”
The man’s face came alive as he turned around and said, “Your honor, it’s hard to describe. Sort of a cross between a Bald Eagle, a Whopping Crane and a California Condor.”
Umm, because you need a Brit to write something this stupid?
Being “eagle-eyed” doesn’t seem to do much good in the periphery.
We should sue Obama for killing our golden eagles. And here in California we will ruin the great valley for the opportunity to save a few anchovies. But the golden eagles, feh!
The unintended Consequences of Liberalism, even killing America’s symbol.
Yep. We have the salamander huggers in Austin... It used to be a nice place to go until the tree huggers from the West found a new place to destroy.
If this involved anything other than the enviro agenda, these turbines would have been chainsawed years ago over this.
I don’t know if that will work. They found out the high rate of bat kills is due to air pressure changes.
Scores of the protected birds have been dying each year after colliding with the blades of about 5,000 wind turbines.
Now the drive for renewable power sources, such as wind and the sun, being promoted by President Obama and state Governor Jerry Brown has raised fears that the number of newborn golden eagles may not be able to keep pace with the number of turbine fatalities.
Sigh. What's a PETA loving, socialist, pro-green, anti-drilling, anti-coal, liberal RAT bastard retard to do? Don't these stupid golden eagles realize the RAT bastard libturds are here to save the planet? sarc/
I love it when mother nature doesn't cooperate with the utopian plans of liberal, socialist, RAT bastard demoRATs.
How about microwave emitters connected to a radar that detects incoming eagles and then directs a mild microwave pulse at them to ward them away? For the bats, I imagine the lights on the towers that alert low flying air craft of their presence is attracting bugs which in turn attracts the bats. Moving the lights will move the bugs which should move the bats. Something new would have to be developed to alert low flying planes of the presence of the towers which shouldn’t be too hard. Something has to be done. A few deaths here and there is tolerable but mass kills like this will make the technology unworkable and that would be a shame as would be killing off the golden eagle population. Somebody could get rich off this too.
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