NextEra’s “blatant disregard” for wildlife, Hanekamp talks food, Big Solar spanked in Maine, Eagles
NextEra's "blatant disregard" for wildlife laws, Big Solar spanked in Maine, Hanekamp on the podcast for 2nd time, my sitings of Bald and Golden Eagles
I’m back in Austin this week, catching up on podcasts and writing. The big news of the week is Tuesday’s blockbuster announcement by the Department of Justice that it has prosecuted ESI, a wholly owned subsidiary of NextEra Energy, under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act for killing eagles and for its “blatant disregard” of federal wildlife laws. I published a Power Brief on the prosecution yesterday and published a Twitter thread this morning. I have been writing about bird kills and energy production for more than 30 years. Here’s a piece I published in the Christian Science Monitor in 1990. I will be writing more about the latest prosecution of Big Wind over the next few days.
Two other quick things: a shoutout to two of my favorite writers: Emmet Penney and Meredith Angwin. Emmet has a great newsletter, Grid Brief. Yesterday’s edition features a Q&A with Meredith that’s outstanding. Read it and subscribe to Emmet’s newsletter. Also, my friend Robert Hargraves is teaching an online class at Dartmouth called “Fission Is In Fashion.” It’s free. Sign up here.
Now, cut to the chase. Five items today:
Power Brief: NextEra’s “blatant disregard” for wildlife
Forbes: Big Solar gets spanked in Maine
Hanekamp: The real worry is not energy, it’s food
Media hit: The Ann and Phelim Scoop
My sitings of Bald and Golden Eagles
Yesterday, I published a short podcast (nine minutes) about the DOJ’s prosecution of a subsidiary of NextEra Energy for killing at least 150 Bald and Golden Eagles. I did so because the agency’s press release is such a remarkable document, one that reads like an indictment -- which it is -- of the company and its conduct. Among the most important paragraphs is this one:
“The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) has a long history of working closely with the wind power industry to identify best practices in avoiding and minimizing the impacts of land-based wind energy facilities on wildlife, including eagles,” said Edward Grace, Assistant Director of the USFWS’ Office of Law Enforcement. “This agreement holds ESI and its affiliates accountable for years of unwillingness to work cooperatively with the Service and their blatant disregard of wildlife laws, and finally marks a path forward for the benefit of eagles and other wildlife resources entrusted to the Service’s stewardship.”
And this:
ESI and its affiliates began commercial operations at new facilities on a schedule intended to meet, among other things, power purchase agreement commitments and qualifying deadlines for particular tax credit rates for renewable energy, and with production amounts not impacted by avoidance and minimization measures that might have been required under an eagle take permit. ESI and its affiliates received hundreds of millions of dollars in federal tax credits for generating electricity from wind power at facilities that it operated, knowing that multiple eagles would be killed and wounded without legal authorization.
Again, here’s a link to the podcast on YouTube.
This morning, I published a piece on Forbes about the latest rejection of Big Solar. I began:
The vote wasn’t close. Last Saturday, residents of Lovell, Maine voted by a margin of 80% to 20% to reject a large solar project that was proposed to be built in their town. As reported by James Corrigan of WTMW-TV, “Lovell residents voted 202-30 to pass an ordinance killing a proposed 180-acre solar farm in a town meeting Saturday morning.” Corrigan continued, “The farm, proposed by Walden Renewables, drew the ire of residents for its potential impact on the views of the surrounding mountains, as well as threatening the rural landscape of the town according to residents.”
The lopsided vote in Maine to reject Big Solar provides yet more evidence of the raging backlash in rural America against the encroachment of large-scale renewable energy projects. Of course, this backlash gets scant coverage in big media outlets like the New York Times, Washington Post, or National Public Radio. Nor does it square with the never-ending claims made by climate activists and academics from elite universities that solar and wind are supposedly cheaper than traditional forms of electricity production.
I concluded:
the Lovell rejection of the solar project reminds me that when given the chance to express their views in an up-or-down referendum, New England residents have shown they don’t want big renewables. About six years ago, as I explained in a piece published in the Wall Street Journal, residents of Irasburg, Vermont “overwhelmingly voted down, 274-9, a proposed five-megawatt wind project near their town.” In the same article, I noted that residents of Swanton, Vermont had recently “met to consider a seven-turbine wind project proposed to be built atop nearby Rocky Ridge. The tally: 731 votes against, 160 in favor.
Like Saturday’s vote in Lovell, those votes in Vermont did not garner much national media coverage. But the hard fact is that with each passing month, more rural communities across the country are saying no to big renewable projects and proving yet again, that land-use conflicts are limiting, and will continue to limit, the growth of wind and solar energy.
Hanekamp: "You cannot just stop exporting 30% of any supply chain and not expect serious ramifications"
In his second appearance on the podcast (his first was on November 17), St. Louis-based consultant John Hanekamp talks about global coal demand, railroad bottlenecks, Ukraine’s grain exports, fertilizer demand, and why some parts of the world may soon be facing famine. As John noted in a recent newsletter, “the real elephant in the room is not energy, it’s food.” During the podcast, he explained “Ukraine is responsible for about 30% of the feed grains and wheat and oilseeds exported out of let’s call it Eastern Europe, for the world, and most of that goes into Africa, and parts of the Middle East and parts of India and Southeast Asia. You cannot just stop exporting 30% of any supply chain and not expect serious ramifications.”
I always enjoy talking to John. He has spent his career in the commodities sector. He has a deep understanding of global commodity production and transportation and the limits on those networks. Again, here’s a link to the audio. The video is available on YouTube. (Please share and subscribe.)
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This week I spoke at length to my pal, Ann McElhinney on The Ann and Phelim Scoop, talking about global energy after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, fertilizer, food, and the all-renewable lie. Check it out.
My recent Bald and Golden Eagle Sitings
I never get tired of seeing Bald Eagles and Golden Eagles. Indeed, I’ve written about them several times in this “news” letter. That’s why Tuesday’s announcement that the Department of Justice has prosecuted NextEra Energy, the world’s largest producer of renewable energy for killing at least 150 eagles and for its “blatant disregard” for federal wildlife laws was both welcome and deeply maddening. I published a longish Twitter thread this morning about the prosecution, and have written a piece that I hope to publish in the next few days. But in the meantime, here are my recent pieces about eagles. Last June, I wrote about seeing a .
While looking out the window, I spotted a Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) in the far distance. The bird never got closer than a quarter mile or so, but I could easily tell what it was due to the white head, dark body, and white tail. When I pointed it out to my sons, Michael and Jacob, they quickly came over to take a look. The occasion allowed me to give them yet another disquisition on birds and bird identification. Over the years our boys, and our daughter, Mary, have become pretty good at identifying birds. I told the boys about a wonderfully written book, The Genius of Birds, by Jennifer Ackerman, that I recently started reading. In the first section of the book, Ackerman discusses her history of birdwatching and how one of her mentors taught her to ID birds by using GISS, short for general impression, size, and shape. (It is sometimes abbreviated as Jizz.) As explained in Wikipedia, it is defined as "the indefinable quality of a particular species, the 'vibe' it gives off.”
Now, maybe I would’ve known that the bird was a Bald Eagle without knowing about GISS, but I’ve found that more often than not, I can identify a bird just by having a glance of its size, the way it flies, or acts. Of course, last Sunday, I was also helped by my previous sitings of Bald Eagles along the banks of the Arkansas River in Tulsa. Thus, I knew that they are fairly common on that stretch of the river. Add in the size of the bird and its distinctive markings, and it was obvious that it didn’t take a whole lot of GISS to make the identification.
Nevertheless, it’s always a thrill to see a Bald Eagle. Whether seen up close or at a distance, it’s a marvelous bird.
Last October, I wrote about seeing a Golden Eagle at Long Lake National Wildlife Refuge. I explained,
off in the distance, maybe a half a mile away, I spotted a very large bird of prey. And by large, I mean the size of a double-wide trailer. Even at a long distance, I could see it had a giant wingspan. I got out of my car and walked down a long gravel road toward the bird, but it kept moving and I never seemed to get much closer to it. After 30 minutes or so, I had to turn around. Dusk was approaching, the wind was raging, and a light rain began to fall. While still at the refuge, I called my pal, and fellow birder, Chris Cauthon, to ask him about identifying the Golden Eagle. As I recall, he said something to the effect of “they are big f***ers and they have a long neck.” With that expert description, as well as a look at Long Lake’s bird list, which lists the bird as an occasional visitor, I’m convinced I saw a Golden Eagle (Aquila chrysaetos).
Size was the deciding factor. Golden Eagles can have wingspans of six or seven feet. Wikipedia says: “Size readily distinguishes this species from most other raptors... Among raptorial birds that share the golden eagle's range, only some Old World vultures and the California condor are distinctly larger.”
My anger about
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