Thursday, February 28, 2008
Bird-killing wind farms
They all said "You're making a big poop out of nothing." Wind farms don't kill birdies! Well, I've scoured the news forever to find something, and here it is. Yes, people, wind farms make whoopi-burgers! Those poor cranes, chopped and diced. And they're putting up more and more of these horrible bird grinders!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
9 comments:
Regarding wind turbines the article is all speculative, no hard data are presented. On the other hand it says transmission lines are the current biggest threat to the whooping cranes, strange that no-one protests those. Maybe because they are not a threat to the vested interests in the power industry?
I keep finding these articles, and people keep shooting them down.....
As mentioned before there have been significant numbers of birds killed in the Altamont valley wind farms mainly because they are the older smaller fast turning 'Bird Blender' type turbines sited very close together. Current generation wind turbines are much larger, higher off the ground and geared up so the blades turn much slower.
One cannot trust the word of any US federal agency under the Bush administration on alternate energy even the Fish and Wildlife service.
blah, blah.
"blah, blah."
Ok fair comment I suppose.
One can find many articles that Minimize the bird kill issue and others that maximize it. In most cases the author has a vested interest one way or the other and it is difficult to decide where the truth lies. The article you provide seems to have pre-judged the issue. I would support a proper scientific study to settle it once and for all. Wind power is not the total solution to energy needs but is one of the easiest to bring on line in a short time frame.
Hey, no fair! You guys are actually *reading* the article! I just looked at the title. :)
There is plenty of data out there, (if it's not being sequestered from the public)that is a cause for concern.
People are in a green fog and refuse to even acknowledge anything that remotely questions wind power.
New York’s Maple Ridge wind energy facility (195 turbines) will slaughter up to 10,000 migratory birds and bats annually. The collision rate reported after the first fall season mortality survey was 34.12 targets per turbine or 6700 collisions, 72% of which were migrating bats (see: http://www.windaction.org/documents/8533). IWA estimates yearly collisions to rise to 10,000 after accounting for spring migration and other year-round migrants. Number of carcasses recovered, as cited in news reports, is not representative of the actual number of birds and bats killed.
This was discovered when the Delaware-Otsego Audubon Society in New York acquired (through a Freedom of Information Act) a draft report of the first year study of bird and bat deaths at the wind facility in Lewis County, New York[1].
It should be noted that the Canadian Wildlife Service (CWS) has, at the urging of CanWEA has ensured that monitoring information will not be shared with the public.
CanWEA: “Accordingly, we would like to request that the Canadian Wildlife Services speak to government experts in the area of Access to Information requests to determine what, if any, of the information currently envisioned to be part of the database could be protected from such requests.”
Canadian Wildlife Services: “Provisions will be made to ensure that proprietary interests are protected for all data submitted. While it is desirable to provide some results for the public, this will be at a very general level, to protect the concerns of individual proponents. Any released data will not be linked to particular projects and will not provide sensitive information without the consent of the proponent”
Why is this being sequestered from the public and scientific community? Why does the protection of the wind industry’s interests override the protection of wildlife and the environment? Based on this policy, the community cannot rely on proponent, CWS or EAAB assurances regarding impacts on bird populations.
[1] http://www.doas.us/
Yeah, somebody agrees with me! I'm going to code name them Bird Whackers, so the search engines don't find me. :)
Rebuttal?
The usual . . . yes wind turbines do kill birds. So do a lot of other things. We should not kill birds.
We should not drive automobiles.
We should not watch tv.
We should live in caves and feed the birds.
Of all the ways to generate electrical energy which has the lowest total ecological cost?
??
Al Gore!
Increased efficiency and reduced consumption!
This could be a job for scientists.
Poor rebuttal I know.
Has anyone noticed how AP is more and more like FOX news?
Post a Comment