Dayton "Dirt" Green Blog November, 2009

According to a recent Wall Street Journal article, some aspects of the green energy industry are not so green. Most notably, it is that windmills are killing our birds!

The most notorious wind farm for bird killing according to the article is located at Altamont Pass, California in which estimates are as high as 10,000 birds being killed every year.

Michael Fry, of the American Bird Conservancy, estimates that wind turbines kill between 75,000 and 275,000 birds per year.

Environmental groups are pushing for a twelve fold increase of generating capacity from wind by 2030 so that we might possibly expect a twelve fold increase in the slaughter of birds from wind turbines.

Oil companies that have been found guilty of killing birds that come into contact with crude oil or other residues from oil operations have received stiff fines under the 1918 Migratory Bird Treaty Act.

Even electric utilities such as Pacificorp have paid fines for electrocuting 232 eagles in Wyoming over a two year period because of poorly designed power lines.

What is interesting about the wind turbine industry is that there have been no prosecutions for killing birds as required by the 1918 law. According to Mr. Fry, “Somebody has given the wind industry a get-out-of-jail-free card”.

According to the wind industry’s website, the number of birds killed is small when compared to the number (about 1 billion) that are killed by cats every year.

Robert Bryce, the author of this article, notes that the lawn does not require cats to appear in court and be prosecuted as it would the wind industry.

Rob Lee, of the Fish and Wildlife Service was a lead investigator of bird kills in western oil fields. According to Mr. Lee, solving bird problems in the oil fields was easy and cheap whereas the fix for the wind turbine industry is not easy or cheap.

A larger question according to Robert Bryce who is also the managing editor of Energy Tribune, is why a federal law is being applied with a double standard as federal officials turn a blind eye to the harm done by “green” energy while slapping heavy fines on other industries for bird kills.