LS Power (dba Magic Valley Energy) is attempting to build a massive wind farm on BLM property at Lava Ridge Idaho. They are running an ad on Facebook that asserts “Wind energy’s avian fatality estimate is roughly half that of nuclear energy and almost 20 times smaller than traditional fossil fuels.”
The study this ridiculous claim is based on is a study funded by two wind turbine companies — Altamont Winds, Inc., and Idaho Winds, Inc — per the acknowledgments in the study.
According to the Golden Gate Audubon Society, Altamont Winds — one of of the companies that paid for that bogus study — shut down its 828-turbine wind farm after it “killed outrageous numbers of birds in the Altamont area”.
“Golden Gate Audubon Society – together with other Audubon chapters and the S.F. Bay Sierra Club chapter — mounted a major campaign last spring to stop Altamont Winds Inc. (AWI) from operating because of its notorious track record. AWI killed at least 67 Golden Eagles, 80 American Kestrels, 57 Burrowing Owls, and 172 Red-tailed Hawks in a recent 10-year period.”
The Green Energy concept is based on the idea that CO2 in the atmosphere can cause global warming yet scientists have looked at the long history of the earth and found no connection. When the coal beds were formed high levels of CO2 in the atmosphere were necessary, yet there is no evidence that there were changes in the earths temperature.. And then there is the fact that the earth has always had a cooling system that has always worked even though the sun has been heating the earth from the beginning.
I enjoyed the article. You give voice to the voiceless. Would you enjoy bluegrass? Here's a golden eagle song. https://youtu.be/JZTgEa1PaOM
I'm President of the non-profit group CAlifornians for Renewable Energy, Inc. (CARE) and our charitable purpose is to to sue the government over energy projects for example wind farms like the Altamont Pass Wind Resources Area (APWRA) in California. We settled and this resulted in the removal of thousands of old wind turbines saving thousands of raptor lives in the APWRA. https://oag.ca.gov/news/press-releases/browns-office-brokers-settlement-save-birds-and-make-altamont-wind-turbines-more
Butcher avian wildlife with wind turbines; chop down and pelletize vast swaths of mature trees to be then shipped to England to burn for power generation; strip-mine the planet for rare minerals to manufacture batteries....all committed under the aegis of saving the planet. I am staggered by these acts of betrayal and despair for our children's futures.
As env. industry pros this has gnawed at us for years. The MBTA magically seems to have different teeth and application for wind/solar than it does for hydrocarbons. (Similarly, we cringed at the scene of protected desert cacti getting ground to dust by a spinning blade on the end of a bobcat for the Ivanpah solar plant in Jeff Gibbs "Planet of the Humans").
Another example we've watched: Atlantic Coast Pipeline, Mountain Valley Pipeline (nat gas) and wind turbine installations in the Appalachians. See for yourself, readers. For fun:
Overlay those two. Note that a pipeline easement cuts maybe a 100 or so foot swatch along those pipeline routes. And, pipelines don't have blades that spin and chop up birds or bats.
The gas molecules in the pipelines would carry energy from Appalachia that emits about half the CO2 when burned as the coal from Appalachia. Yet the Atlantic Coast pipeline was killed and the Mtn. Valley barely saved (by Joe Manchin, as part of the Inflation non-Reduction Act) and the endangered Indiana bat was one of the weapons in the defeat of the former and the near-defeat of the latter. (Meanwhile, New England-ISO burns oil partly because of it. All superb environmental outcomes. /S).
(may need to range in on the MW and Appalachians to rough scale of the above).
Now, overlay the MW in this GIS map with the territory map above for the endangered Indiana Bat.
If it occurs to readers to wonder how a 100 foot wide swath through the hills could be a greater risk to endangered Indiana Bats than the wind turbines you see on that last map, you're not alone.
A bat is a bat. A Golden Eagle is a Golden Eagle. Apply the MBTA, ESA and other laws protecting the environment equally.
Breaking bird eggs to make omelets for "renewable energy" doesn't square this.
It’s too bad that your headline and commentary on these topics do not focus on the greed and statutory disregard of the developers — those company names should be called out as capitalists with criminal intent. They were warned about potential eagle deaths but went ahead with their projects anyway. That’s a better story line here. Those protections are in place for a reason, which they blatantly ignored for corporate gain.
I’m in favor of molten salt nuclear reactors, over all the other insignificant renewable technologies. Where is your ongoing support of this? Environmentally safe, fiscally responsible, cost effective, small footprint, local power, constant output 24/7.
Only the lobbyists are holding back this technology from being implemented. You know who they are.
LS Power (dba Magic Valley Energy) is attempting to build a massive wind farm on BLM property at Lava Ridge Idaho. They are running an ad on Facebook that asserts “Wind energy’s avian fatality estimate is roughly half that of nuclear energy and almost 20 times smaller than traditional fossil fuels.”
https://www.facebook.com/100083063805353/posts/pfbid0rxiyAMesE7fFULjiFC6oRXgCW5GGATLY9mxHxDbXyZLhPngEyc8ZjCokYo2pogbbl/
The study this ridiculous claim is based on is a study funded by two wind turbine companies — Altamont Winds, Inc., and Idaho Winds, Inc — per the acknowledgments in the study.
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1943815X.2012.746993
According to the Golden Gate Audubon Society, Altamont Winds — one of of the companies that paid for that bogus study — shut down its 828-turbine wind farm after it “killed outrageous numbers of birds in the Altamont area”.
“Golden Gate Audubon Society – together with other Audubon chapters and the S.F. Bay Sierra Club chapter — mounted a major campaign last spring to stop Altamont Winds Inc. (AWI) from operating because of its notorious track record. AWI killed at least 67 Golden Eagles, 80 American Kestrels, 57 Burrowing Owls, and 172 Red-tailed Hawks in a recent 10-year period.”
https://goldengateaudubon.org/blog-posts/altamont-winds-inc-to-shut-down-its-bay-area-turbines/
The Green Energy concept is based on the idea that CO2 in the atmosphere can cause global warming yet scientists have looked at the long history of the earth and found no connection. When the coal beds were formed high levels of CO2 in the atmosphere were necessary, yet there is no evidence that there were changes in the earths temperature.. And then there is the fact that the earth has always had a cooling system that has always worked even though the sun has been heating the earth from the beginning.
In Australia a recent coal mine application was denied on Environmental grounds. Yet the same standards don’t seem to apply to wind or solar farms.
How can wind turbines possibly kill whales?
https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/new-england-mid-atlantic/marine-life-distress/frequent-questions-offshore-wind-and-whales
I enjoyed the article. You give voice to the voiceless. Would you enjoy bluegrass? Here's a golden eagle song. https://youtu.be/JZTgEa1PaOM
I'm President of the non-profit group CAlifornians for Renewable Energy, Inc. (CARE) and our charitable purpose is to to sue the government over energy projects for example wind farms like the Altamont Pass Wind Resources Area (APWRA) in California. We settled and this resulted in the removal of thousands of old wind turbines saving thousands of raptor lives in the APWRA. https://oag.ca.gov/news/press-releases/browns-office-brokers-settlement-save-birds-and-make-altamont-wind-turbines-more
Butcher avian wildlife with wind turbines; chop down and pelletize vast swaths of mature trees to be then shipped to England to burn for power generation; strip-mine the planet for rare minerals to manufacture batteries....all committed under the aegis of saving the planet. I am staggered by these acts of betrayal and despair for our children's futures.
Super, Robert.
As env. industry pros this has gnawed at us for years. The MBTA magically seems to have different teeth and application for wind/solar than it does for hydrocarbons. (Similarly, we cringed at the scene of protected desert cacti getting ground to dust by a spinning blade on the end of a bobcat for the Ivanpah solar plant in Jeff Gibbs "Planet of the Humans").
Another example we've watched: Atlantic Coast Pipeline, Mountain Valley Pipeline (nat gas) and wind turbine installations in the Appalachians. See for yourself, readers. For fun:
First, a map showing the general area of both pipelines: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mountain_Valley_Pipeline#/media/File:Mountian_Valley_Pipeline.png
Next, a map showing the general range of the endangered Indiana bat: https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Geographic-range-of-Indiana-bats-showing-the-locations-of-sampled-hibernacula-and-the_fig1_301312512
Overlay those two. Note that a pipeline easement cuts maybe a 100 or so foot swatch along those pipeline routes. And, pipelines don't have blades that spin and chop up birds or bats.
The gas molecules in the pipelines would carry energy from Appalachia that emits about half the CO2 when burned as the coal from Appalachia. Yet the Atlantic Coast pipeline was killed and the Mtn. Valley barely saved (by Joe Manchin, as part of the Inflation non-Reduction Act) and the endangered Indiana bat was one of the weapons in the defeat of the former and the near-defeat of the latter. (Meanwhile, New England-ISO burns oil partly because of it. All superb environmental outcomes. /S).
Finally, here's US Fish & Wildlife Service's "US Wind Turbine (GIS) Database": https://eerscmap.usgs.gov/uswtdb/viewer/#5/41.18/-82.76
(may need to range in on the MW and Appalachians to rough scale of the above).
Now, overlay the MW in this GIS map with the territory map above for the endangered Indiana Bat.
If it occurs to readers to wonder how a 100 foot wide swath through the hills could be a greater risk to endangered Indiana Bats than the wind turbines you see on that last map, you're not alone.
A bat is a bat. A Golden Eagle is a Golden Eagle. Apply the MBTA, ESA and other laws protecting the environment equally.
Breaking bird eggs to make omelets for "renewable energy" doesn't square this.
It’s too bad that your headline and commentary on these topics do not focus on the greed and statutory disregard of the developers — those company names should be called out as capitalists with criminal intent. They were warned about potential eagle deaths but went ahead with their projects anyway. That’s a better story line here. Those protections are in place for a reason, which they blatantly ignored for corporate gain.
I’m in favor of molten salt nuclear reactors, over all the other insignificant renewable technologies. Where is your ongoing support of this? Environmentally safe, fiscally responsible, cost effective, small footprint, local power, constant output 24/7.
Only the lobbyists are holding back this technology from being implemented. You know who they are.
Where is that story?
Keep saying it Robert - you are making a difference!
We can't save the planet by destroying it!
Insanity at every turn.. what's it going to take?