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Wind Turbines Kill a Few Birds
Guppy06 writes "The Houston Chronicle has an article about how a 7000-turbine windfarm in Altamont Pass, California (the world's largest collection) has killed an estimated 22,000 birds during the past 20 years or so of operation, 'including hundreds of golden eagles, red-tailed hawks, kestrels and other raptors(.)' There are efforts to keep the operators from renewing their permit until they take measures to protect bird populations. To put things in perspective the article goes on to point out that the Exxon Valdez spill is estimated to have killed around 250,000, while the whole story can just about be summed up by one quote by a biologist: 'When you turn on your lights you kill something, no matter what the source of electricity.'" Killing 3-4 birds per day doesn't seem too bad. It's a shame that larger, rarer birds are getting killed, but... How many birds would die from the acid rain that a coal power plant would cause?
This Article. The only reason that coal plants spew acid rain is because your precious liberal idiot farms like the EPA, Greenpeace, and Sierra Club have consistently prevented old plants from upgrading to cleaner equipment and from building new coal plants that are just as clean as NatGas plants. Look at the 10-k of any major energy company to find pages of litigatory idiocy. Thanks a lot, hippies. I hope you all die.
Fat, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life, son.
news for nerds. Because its certainly not stuff that matters ;)
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I found the Michael commentary interesting.
/. would have made such comments.
"Killing 3-4 birds per day doesn't seem too bad. It's a shame that larger, rarer birds are getting killed, but... How many birds would die from the acid rain that a coal power plant would cause?"
Perhaps the comment was in jest, but in any case it's a cold and crass comment. If these raptors had been killed in an oil spill or because of a dam, I doubt
These deaths of endangered and threatened species aren't less important because the energy is "cleaner" or "greener" it's still a death of an endangered bird.
The difference is that clean energy like nuclear will be lawsuited into oblivion and modern coal and gas-fire generation will be harped at all day long, but something considered "cleaner" and "greener" will considered a boon no matter how many eagle bodies pile up.
Anyone who does anything productive is an enemy of the determined environmentalist. That's why most of us ignore environmentalists, even if some of what they say is true and important.