Why does the this Admistration hate endangered species?

[Bigfoot]

Three articles on bird killing wind turbines.

For reference if a US citizen picks up an eagle feather here is the punishment.

"Anyone who possesses an eagle feather, and doesn't meet the requirements, could face fines up to $100,000 and a year in prison. A second offense is upgraded from a misdemeanor to a felony, and carries a maximum penalty of two years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The act also provides for a civil penalty of up to $5,000.”

Wind, timber and hypocrisy in the Pacific Northwest | The Daily Caller

Writing in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal, Robert Bryce described the toll that the nation’s burgeoning wind farms have taken on endangered birds. At one site alone — Altamont in Alameda County, California — 2,400 raptors, including 70 golden eagles, have been killed by the giant whirling blades. In 2009 the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service estimated the national death toll from wind turbines at 440,000 birds that year alone.

That seems like a lot of birds, particularly for those of us in the Pacific Northwest, where a once-vibrant timber economy has been devastated in a failing effort to save the spotted owl. Of course, we’re losing a lot of birds to wind farms as well. One 2010 estimate put the annual death toll in Oregon and Washington at 6,500 birds and 3,000 bats, but that seems low if the Fish and Wildlife estimate is correct.

----------------------------------------------------

So this is the picture: On the one hand we have an uneconomic wind energy industry being promoted and heavily subsidized by the government with the full knowledge that it is killing thousands of endangered birds and hundreds of thousands of other flying critters. On the other hand we have a moribund timber industry shut down by government in a failing effort to save a few hundred spotted owls. And because the spotted owl continues to decline in numbers despite the millions of acres of forest set aside as owl habitat, the government now plans to shoot hundreds of barred owls that compete with the spotted owl. (Barred owls also interbreed with spotted owls, but never mind what that might imply for the spotted owl’s status as an endangered species.)

Is there any wonder that people sometimes have their doubts about the effectiveness of the federal government?

<broken link removed>

You may have gotten wind of the seven North Dakota oil companies recently charged in federal court with the deaths of 28 migratory birds.
The birds allegedly landed in oil waste pits in western North Dakota last spring; the maximum penalty for each charge under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act is six months in prison and a $15,000 fine, the AP said. But did you know that wind-power companies are responsible for more than 400,000 bird deaths annually, and not one has faced a single charge?

The Wall Street Journal knows it, opining yesterday that the prosecutions are “bird-brained,” especially when wind-power outfits routinely beat the rap:

The companies have pleaded not guilty, though they are not unamazed. They say they’re not responsible for the bird deaths and that, even if they were, the deaths were “incidental” to lawful commercial activity in full compliance with all environmental laws.

Law enforcement officials we talked to in North Dakota say they can’t remember such a case ever going to court. One local commentator calls it “the most absurd legal action taken by the government in the history of North Dakota.” One of the charged oil companies “even went to U.S. Fish and Wildlife and self-reported a number of birds, asking what else they could do soon after they had found the dead birds,” reports the Plains Daily, North Dakota’s statewide newspaper.

U.S. Attorney Timothy Purdon is nonetheless undaunted as he pursues the cause of ornithological justice.

Absurdity aside, this prosecution is all the more remarkable because the wind industry each year kills not 28 birds, or even a few hundred, but some 440,000, according to estimates by the American Bird Conservancy based on Fish and Wildlife Service data. Guess how many legal actions the Obama Administration has brought against wind turbine operators under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act? As far as we can tell, it’s zero.

The American Bird Conservancy—no fan of the oil companies’ actions—also hammers the feds for hypocritical, selective enforcement.

“It is perplexing that similar prosecutions have yet to be brought against the operators of wind farms,” said American Bird Conservancy President George Fenwick. “Every year wind turbines kill hundreds of thousands of birds, including eagles, hawks, and songbirds, but the operators are being allowed to get away with it. It looks like a double standard.”

The Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) estimated in 2009 that about 440,000 birds were being killed by wind turbines, the ABC reports. With an anticipated twelve-fold wind energy build-out by the year 2030, bird mortality is expected to dramatically increase in the coming years, absent significant changes in the way wind farms are sited and operated. Based on studies, one wind farm in California is estimated to have killed more than 2,000 eagles, plus thousands of other birds, yet no prosecution has been initiated for violations of federal laws protecting birds.

Kevin Cramer, North Dakota’s public service commissioner, expressed concern about an apparent presumption of guilt that motivated the U.S. Wildlife Department’s 45-day helicopter search for dead birds in North Dakota’s oil fields, according to the Plains Daily.

“That’s chilling to me in a free society,” Cramer noted on a Bismark, N.D. radio show. “I’m certainly concerned this was a high priority for the government.”

Cramer agreed with the WSJ editorial board’s analysis, saying “when you selectively prosecute this way, it’s the worst injustice and the grossest form of discrimination in a free society that you can ever have.”

Wind Farms In Pacific Northwest Paid To Not Produce | Fox News

Wind farms in the Pacific Northwest -- built with government subsidies and maintained with tax credits for every megawatt produced -- are now getting paid to shut down as the federal agency charged with managing the region's electricity grid says there's an oversupply of renewable power at certain times of the year.

The problem arose during the late spring and early summer last year. Rapid snow melt filled the Columbia River Basin. The water rushed through the 31 dams run by the Bonneville Power Administration, a federal agency based in Portland, Ore., allowing for peak hydropower generation. At the very same time, the wind howled, leading to maximum wind power production.

Demand could not keep up with supply, so BPA shut down the wind farms for nearly 200 hours over 38 days.

"It's the one system in the world where in real time, moment to moment, you have to produce as much energy as is being consumed," BPA spokesman Doug Johnson said of the renewable energy.

Now, Bonneville is offering to compensate wind companies for half their lost revenue. The bill could reach up to $50 million a year.

The extra payout means energy users will eventually have to pay more.

"We require taxpayers to subsidize the production of renewable energy, and now we want ratepayers to pay renewable energy companies when they lose money?" asked Todd Myers, director of the Center for the Environment of the Washington Policy Center and author of "Eco-Fads: How the Rise of Trendy Environmentalism is Harming the Environment."

"That's a ridiculous system that keeps piling more and more money into a system that's unsustainable," Myers said.

All this carnage in exchange for 3% of US power generation and even less in the NW.

Since the government don't really care about the birds it makes you wonder if the destruction of the NW timber industry was not the goal all along.

Read More

 

[Kevatc]

Three articles on bird killing wind turbines.

For reference if a US citizen picks up an eagle feather here is the punishment.

"Anyone who possesses an eagle feather, and doesn't meet the requirements, could face fines up to $100,000 and a year in prison. A second offense is upgraded from a misdemeanor to a felony, and carries a maximum penalty of two years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The act also provides for a civil penalty of up to $5,000."

Wind, timber and hypocrisy in the Pacific Northwest | The Daily Caller



<broken link removed>




Wind Farms In Pacific Northwest Paid To Not Produce | Fox News



All this carnage in exchange for 3% of US power generation and even less in the NW.

Since the government don't really care about the birds it makes you wonder if the destruction of the NW timber industry was not the goal all along.

There are trade off's with every way of producing power. Is the trade off of the devastation done by the Deep Water Horizon fiasco worth it? What happens if fracking really does contaminate aquafers?

 

[sadiesassy]

Do not forget that California spent millions to recover the Condor. California wants alternative eneergy.
The number one killer of Condors are Wind Mills.

 

[billdeserthills]

Let them use Solar power,
Damn, there is always someone whining in Kali

 

[Swedish K]

Why does the this Admistration hate endangered species?

Could it be that they are reptiles and don't like competition for funds?

On a more serious note - I often wondered why they haven't tried a more solid blade design like the old water pump windmills - if it appeared to be a solid disc when rotating the birds might not fly into it....

 

[Bigfoot]

The oil companies came forward and self-reported many of those 28 dead birds to the feds, migratory birds, not endangered. In return the feds brought maximum charges and spent 45 days flying helicopters looking for more.

On the other hand they could just walk out to Altamont Pass and pick up endangered Golden Eagles. 70 dead in one year. No charges.

Nah, no double standard, no cronyism.

I have a theory on the California Dust Bowl. I'm expecting them to turn the water back on right after the family farmers sell out to huge farming corporations who are connected and give massive contributions to the CA politicians. And the two inch Delta Smelt? I predict a miraculous resurgence.

Solar power. I grew up with Glamis Sand Dunes as my playground. BLM shut down half of the dunes due to a little frog that comes out when it rains and then goes back underground. They've been trying to close the rest of the dunes by using one excuse or another ever since. They shut down much of the desert for use because of the endangered Desert Tortoise. Now I see that they are scrapping off miles of desert surface in prime tortoise habitat for a giant solar powerplant. Looks like they don't really care about the endangered tortoises either.

See how the feds are going Barred owl hunting? I wonder how many Spotted Owls will get shot instead since they are very difficult to tell apart, they even crossbreed. Think the feds really care about Spotted Owls?

 

[Mark W.]

I hate to bring this up. Since we all seam to be going along so nicely here. BUT Neither the Bald Eagle nor the Golden Eagle is on the Endangered Species list

Nor are Most of the raptors that this article would be including.

A valid point would be the number of BATS killed by these eye sores.

THAT said I am not a fan of Wind Turbines or the way they are being rammed down our throats and budgets.

 

[joken]

Unintended consequences of Government interference in the market place. For example, Bonneville ( us rate payers) are going to be paying the wind turbine owners in the gorge to not produce power during peak run off periods in the winter. Bonneville makes so much power that there is no market for the wind generated electricity at certain times.
Unintended negative consequences created as a result of liberal good intentions are typically ignored by the media. The list is long.
The only endangered species this administration hates is us hard working, God fearing men and women.

 

[billdeserthills]

I don't think the admin hates endangered species,
Seems to me like it is just another tool in their arsenal of stuff to use against Citizens

 

[Swedish K]

Just an FYI - a guy I used to work with recently retired from the State of CA - he was involved in getting solar power systems set up at most of the desert prisons in CA - they were pressuring him to push wind farms on some of the prison properties as well. He wasn't all that thrilled with the concept and pointed out an issue that as of yet has no solution. The immense pressure and heat created within the gear box on windmills on occasion will result in the windmill catching fire as they have not yet developed a lubricant that holds up under the conditions (especially when a bearing fails). The fire often spreads to the plastic/fiberglass housing and the resulting fire puts large amounts of toxins / carcinogens into the atmosphere. The prison system already pays out thousands for breeding programs every year to replace the endangered species that are killed on the lethal electrified fences that safeguard the maximum security prisons (including spotted owls). They also have paid insane amounts for biologists to capture and "humanely" exterminate non native species that compete with the endangered animals.

 

[JimmyS1985]

I hate to bring this up. Since we all seam to be going along so nicely here. BUT Neither the Bald Eagle nor the Golden Eagle is on the Endangered Species list

Nor are Most of the raptors that this article would be including.

A valid point would be the number of BATS killed by these eye sores.

THAT said I am not a fan of Wind Turbines or the way they are being rammed down our throats and budgets.

I for one like windpower. Ever since Ronald Reagan took out Jimmy Carter's solar panels on the White House, conservation of energy has largely been attacked by people on the right. THis makes no sense to me though, they complain about taxes a lot, well higher energy prices, from increased consumption is essentially a tax. I paid over $40 to fill up my miata, now with the government giving $100 billion to oil companies to go out and find new supply, I expected oil prices to be lower than they were under the Clinton administration, but it seems instead that the oil companies have stabbed us in the back, taken our tax dollars to go find new supply, and then threw it into their coffers while keeping prices for gasoline very high. I for one am against corporate welfare, the corporations need to pull themselves up by their own boot straps and start paying taxes instead of asking tax payers to subsidize their business operations.

When it comes to energy policy though, conservation should be the only policy. And if one of those ways is wind farms using up not much land and only requires maintenance to generate electricity, Im in support of it. Even if you don't believe in Global Warming, conservation of energy is still good policy in that it means lower prices, renewable energy such as windfarms is also a good way to generate a lot of electricity without the use of fossil fuels.

My personal favorite policy that I think should be implemented is High Speed Rail, they've made it work in Germany, France, Japan, and now China, we have large populations on the sea coast cities, so I would like to see high speed rail traversing the coastal areas. If there was a high speed rail line that could go from St. Louis to Chicago in 2 hours, I would be all over it, spend the day in the Chicago, hop back on the train at the end of the day, walk out to my car in the parking lot and go home. I think for medium sized distances, it would rival or surpass Air Travel while using a fraction of the fossil fuel needed to traverse long distances. There is no profit motive for the private industry to provide high speed rail in this country, so naturally, like highways and air travel, it would need to be subsidized, but I think one of the key things to having a strong economy is for the government to provide methods of transportation for citizens to traverse the country (Im not saying buy each citizen a car, but to provide a high speed rail network that citizens can use) As fossil fuel prices go up, there will be larger demand for things like high speed rail in the future, so I think it will be inevitable that we fund such a program and it will be good for the country as a whole.

 

[sailorman2010]

With all the raptors being killed at these wind farms, I'm pretty sure the rodent population goes up (coyotes couldn't keep up with controlling them). If these wind farms are located near farms or rural neighborhoods area's, just think of the possible explosion of mice, rats, etc. that carry diease and can ruin anything they get into (crops/storage). This is an issue that isn't brought up much.

 

[Mark W.]

I for one like windpower. Ever since Ronald Reagan took out Jimmy Carter's solar panels on the White House, conservation of energy has largely been attacked by people on the right. THis makes no sense to me though, they complain about taxes a lot, well higher energy prices, from increased consumption is essentially a tax. I paid over $40 to fill up my miata, now with the government giving $100 billion to oil companies to go out and find new supply, I expected oil prices to be lower than they were under the Clinton administration, but it seems instead that the oil companies have stabbed us in the back, taken our tax dollars to go find new supply, and then threw it into their coffers while keeping prices for gasoline very high. I for one am against corporate welfare, the corporations need to pull themselves up by their own boot straps and start paying taxes instead of asking tax payers to subsidize their business operations.

When it comes to energy policy though, conservation should be the only policy. And if one of those ways is wind farms using up not much land and only requires maintenance to generate electricity, Im in support of it. Even if you don't believe in Global Warming, conservation of energy is still good policy in that it means lower prices, renewable energy such as windfarms is also a good way to generate a lot of electricity without the use of fossil fuels.

My personal favorite policy that I think should be implemented is High Speed Rail, they've made it work in Germany, France, Japan, and now China, we have large populations on the sea coast cities, so I would like to see high speed rail traversing the coastal areas. If there was a high speed rail line that could go from St. Louis to Chicago in 2 hours, I would be all over it, spend the day in the Chicago, hop back on the train at the end of the day, walk out to my car in the parking lot and go home. I think for medium sized distances, it would rival or surpass Air Travel while using a fraction of the fossil fuel needed to traverse long distances. There is no profit motive for the private industry to provide high speed rail in this country, so naturally, like highways and air travel, it would need to be subsidized, but I think one of the key things to having a strong economy is for the government to provide methods of transportation for citizens to traverse the country (Im not saying buy each citizen a car, but to provide a high speed rail network that citizens can use) As fossil fuel prices go up, there will be larger demand for things like high speed rail in the future, so I think it will be inevitable that we fund such a program and it will be good for the country as a whole.

How long does it take for a windmill to create enough electricty to make up for the huge amount of energy and resources required to build the Windmill? This is the problem

Cost to product 1kw of electricity

Nuclear: $0.019
Coal: $0.027
Natural Gas: $0.081
Wind:$0.030
Hydroelectric: $0.009
Solar: No estimate found

<broken link removed>

 

[Bigfoot]

And when they finally pay for themselves and the taxpayer subsidy runs out they sit there and produce free power right?

No, they get abandoned.

Minnesotans For Global Warming reported last week on what happens to some wind turbines when the subsidies run out. They die.

"The U.S. experience with wind farms has left over 14,000 wind turbines abandoned and slowly decaying. In most instances the turbines are just left as symbols of a dying Climate Religion.

"Nowhere have the Green Environmentalists appeared to clear up their mess or even complain about the abandoned wind farms," Minnesotans For Global Warming reported.

The figure - 14,000 dead wind turbines - comes from Andrew Walden of the American Thinker in his report on the demise of a wind farm at Kamaoa, Hawaii. It was abandoned in 2006 after 21 years of haphazard operation.

Besides killing migratory birds and bats - leading some smart alecks to call them Cuisinarts - wind turbines are expensive to operate.

"The ghosts of Kamaoa are not alone in warning us," Walden wrote.

"Five other abandoned wind sites dot the Hawaiian Isles - but it is in California where the impact of past mandates and subsidies is felt most strongly.

"Thousands of abandoned wind turbines littered the landscape of wind energy's California big three locations - Altamont Pass, Tehachapi, and San Gorgonio - considered among the world's best wind sites."

Wind isn't the most important thing about wind turbines. It is all about the tax subsidies. The blades churn until the money runs out.

If an honest history is written about the turn of the 21st century, it will include a large, harsh chapter on how fears about global warming were overplayed for profit by corporations.

Solyndra is just the iceberg's tip.

 

[billdeserthills]

A company in my area called Solar City wants to install their solar panels on your home, then sell you electricity for 10% less than the electric company. Right now they have an additional $1,000 bonus.