Posted on 04/11/2022 6:37:42 PM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum
Last week the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that they had sentenced ESI Energy for a “blatant disregard” of federal wildlife laws of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA). In their guilty plea to multiple violations, ESI admitted to the killing of at least 150 bald and golden eagles across 50 of its wind-energy facilities since 2012. Nearly all died of blunt force trauma attributable to being struck by a wind-turbine blade.
The so-called “clean” energy company — a subsidiary of NextEra Energy — was fined $8 million, or about $53,300 per carcass. It turns out that the fine and sentencing was NOT because they killed many dozens of our national symbol, but rather that they killed them without first acquiring the necessary permits that would have legalized the slaughter.
Why would ESI simply fail to do the paperwork that is regularly a part of the process for permitting wind facilities? The answer: money, and a lot of it.
The most egregious project was located in Converse County, Wyoming, known as the Cedar Springs I, II and III wind-power facilities. In the spring of 2019, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) informed the company that Cedar Springs was expected to kill 44 golden eagles and 23 bald eagles over the first five years of operations and recommended that the “proposed wind facilities not be built.” Later that same year the FWS repeated its objection and recommended that the facility, if built, should “implement seasonal curtailment during daylight hours.” Construction continued, and no curtailment was employed.
According to DOJ, the company expedited construction “intended to meet, among other things, power purchase agreement commitments and qualifying deadlines for particular tax credit rates for renewable energy.” The DOJ press release further stated: “ESI and its affiliates received hundreds of millions of...
(Excerpt) Read more at humanevents.com ...
The killing of birds is one of dozens of reasons we should do away with these monumental pieces of crap.
*Note that DDT is used by most of the other countries of Earth.
Back in the olden days(1990’s), maybe it would have slowed it down. Now? Pffffttttttt!
The Left is NEVER able to conduct a complete and honest cost-benefit analysis. NEVER. Every factor is burdened with emotion.
There is probably a way to use wind to create energy that does not kill birds, but it requires the ability to see beyond ideology in order to find it.
I agree the turbines, as designed is not a solution, but there is probably one out there.
Yes it is too high a price to pay. And turbine blades cannot be recycled, they are put in landfills.
Has anyone tried putting big plastic hawks on top of the windmills?
It’s as simple as putting one of those deer whistles on the edge of the blade.
I long for the day when the entire planet is covered in wind and solar farms, don’t you? Because that’s what it will take to come close to the amount energy produced daily by fossil fuels.
It will be so much more beautiful than the ugly natural landscape.
I’m old enough to remember when Eco-Wackos cared about wildlife not phony baloney political agendas.
No, I don’t.
As currently designed, solar and wind are ugly monstrosities.
They are statements by the left of their conquests.
I just think they don’t have to be. I think there is a way to use solar and wind to generate power that doesn’t have to take away from the beauty of the planet. Do you think that God gave us wind and solar to not use it?
Send prison inmates to harvest shredded poultry in vicinity of wind farms.
We just need to figure out how to make them seem more natural, which is an engineering design problem. That’s all I’m saying.
The real question is, is shoveling up the dead birds a green job?
Birds Lives Matter!
The dem envirowhackos will shut down housing and watering of our crops for a tortoise or a tiny fish no one has ever heard of but are perfectly okay with swatting eagles out of the sky. How about the Condor? How many of those get killed by these monstrosities? Oh wait, it’s okay because the wind energy companies are paying to breed them in captivity. Sure. SMH
Follow the money. Money talks, animals don’t.
Hold the wind farm operators AND the landowner criminally responsible for this sh!t and my guess is there would be a lot less enthusiasm for windmills.
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