One of the dirtiest secrets of the green energy scam is the toll exacted on avian life by wind power. In order to combat the entirely theoretical menace of carbon dioxide emissions, heavily-subsidized killing machines have been erected that exact a bloody toll. Such is the power of the green energy lobby that bird conservation groups have been forced to bow down to global warming climate change as a threat sufficient to justify the large scale slaughter by windmills of our feathered friends.

The Audubon Society:

Audubon strongly supports properly sited wind power as a renewable energy source that helps reduce the threat posed to birds and people by climate change. However, we also advocate that wind power facilities should be planned, sited, and operated in ways that minimize harm to birds and other wildlife, and we advocate that wildlife agencies should ensure strong enforcement of the laws that protect birds and other wildlife.

The American Bird Conservancy:

We recognize that properly sited and operated wind energy projects may be an important part of the solution to climate change, a contemporary challenge that indisputably poses a rapidly growing threat to species and ecosystems,” Hutchins said.

But after years of watching hundreds of thousands of birds, including endangered species, annually massacred, pushback is beginning to come from at least one of these groups. The American Bird Conservancy has issued a petition calling for more regulation, and citing some horrifying aspects of the ongoing massacre.

…if not done right, wind energy also poses a serious threat to various species of birds, including birds of prey such as the Bald Eagle, Golden Eagle, Ferruginous Hawk, Swainson’s Hawk, Short-eared Owl, and Flammulated Owl; endangered and threatened species such as the California Condor, Kirtland’s Warbler, Whooping Crane, Snail Kite, Marbled Murrelet, Hawaiian Goose, and Hawaiian Petrel; and other species of special conservation concern such as the Bicknell’s Thrush, Sprague’s Pipit, Cerulean Warbler, Oak Titmouse, Lewis’s Woodpecker, Brewer’s Sparrow, Long-billed Curlew, Bay-breasted Warbler, and Blue-winged Warbler. 

“These species are impacted by existing wind energy projects and threatened by potential projects primarily through collisions with wind turbines and associated power lines and towers, and through loss or modification of essential habitat,” said Hutchins

Based on the operation of a mere 22,000 turbines, FWS [Fish and Wildlife Service] estimated that at least 440,000 birds-- including threatened and endangered species—were being killed per year by wind turbines in 2009. Since then, another peer-reviewed study expanded that estimate to 573,000 in 2012. By 2030 or perhaps even earlier, a ten-fold increase in the number of wind turbines in the United States is expected, which together are projected to kill between 1.4 -2 million birds each year. ABC [American Bird Conservancy] believes this number will be exceeded significantly, especially because these estimates do not include mortality at associated power lines and towers, which are also undergoing massive expansion and currently kill over 6.8 million birds annually.  Further, wind energy projects are expected to impact almost 20,000 square miles of terrestrial habitat and another 4,000 square miles of marine habitat.

The MBTA [Migratory Bird Treaty Act], Endangered Species Act (ESA), and the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act (BGEPA), prohibit “take” of migratory birds, endangered and threatened species, and Bald and Golden Eagles. (Federal regulations define the term “take” to include wounding or killing, or attempting to wound or kill.) Bald and Golden Eagles are protected under both MBTA and BGEPA, and many species listed under the ESA are also protected under the MBTA, such as Whooping Cranes, California Condors, Least Terns, Kirtland’s Warblers, Northern Aplomado Falcons, Roseate Terns, and Piping Plovers.

While the ESA and BGEPA provide mechanisms for FWS to regulate, and in some instances authorize, take of endangered and threatened species and Bald and Golden Eagles respectively, at present no such comparable mechanism exists under the MBTA to limit or authorize incidental take by wind power projects.

”In effect, the MBTA is not being enforced, except perhaps under very special circumstances,” said Hutchins. “This reality is particularly significant for the wind industry because wind energy projects will inevitably take birds protected under the MBTA.  In fact, because it is virtually impossible to operate a wind energy facility without killing or injuring at least some migratory birds, most operational wind energy projects are in ongoing violation of the MBTA, and are effectively breaking the law with impunity.” 

This is progress, albeit at a slow pace. The amount of pressure from other conservation groups and from the green energy lobby must be enormous to have distracted groups whose primary purpose is the protection of birds. We have just seen in Oregon further proof of the reach of the corrupting power of subsidies. The takeover of the environmental movement by carbon frenzy is but one aspect of the largest scientific fraud in history,   

Hat tip: Peter von Buol