70 Golden Eagles killed

[chickened]

My wife's cousin works for Bratten Electric in the Dalles area in Oregon he repairs wind turbines. He said they do indeed kill alot of raptors but that they have someone collect them, fill out a form and never see it again.. hmmm makes me wonder.

I am no fan of wind power myself because they had ample hydro power all last year and they shut the wind turbines off the grid here in Oregon. You cannot look in any direction from the hills above the Dalles and not see wind farms. What is odd is raptors are federally protected yet they give some permit for acceptable losses regardless. The bottom line is they do kill birds, how many that is subject to how honest folks are. They kill bats also but not as many.

 

[airen]

Never said they don't- just that the video is suspicious, and those numbers have a high probability of being inflated.

And you're right- last year was a joke. You'd think if they were going to put all that money into it they'd have a better plan to use the stupid things... But spring is hard on the dams because it's not like they can reduce the flow of meltoff through the generators.

 

[CochinBrahmaLover]

No, I think you are dead wrong on this one. Even though I am in favor of wind energy I had no idea of this issue regarding eagles and I think that it is a serious enough problem to not only be brought to the public's attention, but serious enough for the scientists who work on wind energy to come up with a solution.

X infinity

 

[Gargoyle]

There is a huge issue of bats being killed en masse by wind turbines. A lot of research is starting to be done to quantify it and search for options.
http://www.mesc.usgs.gov/BatsWindmills/

 

[Royd]

I wonder how many other precious little species got stepped on, without a 10 yr. environmental study, just because it was "Green energy"?

 

[chickened]

The rabbit and rodent population has exploded on these wind farms and there is a rare burrowing owl that is being killed frequently.

 

[ThePigeonKid]

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/wind-energy-under-attack-for-thousands-of-wildlife-deaths/

Thats awful.

 

[mom'sfolly]

Here's a more balanced article...and even the article cited says that most of the bird fatalities at the Altamont wind farm happened in the first few years, and bird fatalities have fallen there.

Look and see how many species and total number of birds killed by running into windows...millions every year.

I'm not saying that wind energy doesn't have problems, but it's environmental problems, including bird and bat killings, are trivial compared to conventional power generation, and the millions of miles of power lines in this country. Many raptors are killed every year by running into, or sitting on power lines, and there doesn't seem to be much "buzz" about the inherent dangers of power lines, or communication towers for that matter.

http://studentaffairs.case.edu/farm/doc/birdmortality.pdf

http://nukefree.org/news/Avianmortalityfromwindpower,fossil-fuel,andnuclearelectricity

I don't really trust Chickened's source as anything other than trying to make a knee-jerk reaction to the evils of wind power. The fact that no sources are cited, and it is just a blog makes it less reliable.

 

[chickened]

Nice cheap shot... How much research does one need to determine wind turbines kill birds... ? Maybe all the nearby birds are dead? Houses and wind turbines... hardly a comparison.

They are considered visual pollution by some greenies.

Thanks for the article.

Here's a more balanced article...and even the article cited says that most of the bird fatalities at the Altamont wind farm happened in the first few years, and bird fatalities have fallen there.

Look and see how many species and total number of birds killed by running into windows...millions every year.

I'm not saying that wind energy doesn't have problems, but it's environmental problems, including bird and bat killings, are trivial compared to conventional power generation, and the millions of miles of power lines in this country. Many raptors are killed every year by running into, or sitting on power lines, and there doesn't seem to be much "buzz" about the inherent dangers of power lines, or communication towers for that matter.

http://studentaffairs.case.edu/farm/doc/birdmortality.pdf

http://nukefree.org/news/Avianmortalityfromwindpower,fossil-fuel,andnuclearelectricity

I don't really trust Chickened's source as anything other than trying to make a knee-jerk reaction to the evils of wind power. The fact that no sources are cited, and it is just a blog makes it less reliable.

 

[Gomes Bantams]

Do you know why they said "about"? Because these silly people drive to the middle of a turbine field, place a dead carcass, and leave. They then come back a couple days later. They then "extrapolate" how many birds are dying based on the number of carcasses they've *never seen.* ANY dead animal they see is logged as a possible turbine death- despite the fact that predators are all over the place.

There has never been a single reported case of a turbine hitting a bird- and I find that video ridiculously suspicious. What are the odds that person (who is trespassing- that car is not allowed that close to a tower) parked at the perfect place and perfect time to catch that? Really?

And though it is but rather bluntly, Rebel has a point. 80% of baby owl die every year because they hit a tree. They don't have flying down pat and boom. If they don't die immediately, the broken wing leaves them pretty helpless against predators.

I am not all for wind, either. It is NOT green. A turbine needs WAY too much oil in the generator to be considered "green", IMO. But it is renewable, and still produces less nasty stuff than, say, coal and older nuclear plants.

Just a possible other side...

u obviously never watched the vid.

Those poor things got killed, not placed there.