Fogdog
Well-Known Member
Yes, wind power is killing a lot of birds. That's a fact. Also a fact that the largest risk to birds is global warming. Also a fact that fossil fuel industry which is responsible for far more bird deaths due to oil spills alone is funding lobbyist efforts in opposition to wind power.
https://www.audubon.org/news/will-wind-turbines-ever-be-safe-birds
In months to come, USFWS plans to overhaul the MBTA (migratory birds treaty act), and in a show of pragmatism, it’s proposing that wind farms be allowed "incidental take permits," which would make it legal for wind companies to (unintentionally) kill a limited number of protected species each year. But companies would only be awarded permits if they can prove they’re doing everything possible to avoid bird strikes, like ensuring best siting and deterring birds from blades.
“The permit rule would modernize and strengthen the Migratory Bird Treaty Act and put in place critical new protections for America’s birds from coast to coast,” says Mike Daulton, who leads Audubon’s national policy team. By placing pressure on wind companies to abide by these rules—or face massive fines—it could protect North America’s most threatened species. It’s “a win-win for the industry and for birds,” says Daulton. “It will provide legal certainty to the industry and new protections for the birds.”
Wind Done Right
After Audubon released its 2014 Birds and Climate Change report, which showed that climate change will threaten more than half of North America's birds if we don't rapidly reduce emissions, it became abundantly clear that the organization needed to focus more on expediting properly sited renewable energy. Audubon’s goal is to ensure that 50 percent of America's energy comes from renewable sources by 2030. Audubon members believe this transition is important and the organization has a role to play: In a January 2018 survey of more than 2,300 members nationwide, every respondent supported more renewable energy investments. Eighty-nine percent said that renewable energy is critical to the health of the planet, and 78 percent said that fossil fuels harm global bird populations.
Further, more than 90 percent said that Audubon should collaborate with the clean energy industry on bird-friendly solutions. Those efforts are already underway: Audubon is working closely with partners in the renewables industry and government to properly site projects and help them develop and implement practices and technologies such as IdentiFlight that avoid killing of birds by turbines. —Martha Harbison
Another fact is that the wind industry is a crappy self-regulating body:
http://savetheeaglesinternational.org/releases/spanish-wind-farms-kill-6-to-18-million-birds-bats-a-year.html
On 12 January 2012, at the First Scientific Congress on Wind Energy and Wildlife Conservation in Jerez de la Frontera, Spain, the Spanish Society of Ornithology (SEO/Birdlife) made public its estimate that, yearly, Spain’s 18,000 wind turbines may be killing 6 to 18 million birds and bats (1). The average per turbine comes down to 333 – 1,000 deaths annually, which is a far cry from the 2 – 4 birds claimed by the American wind industry, or the 400,000 birds a year estimated by the American Bird Conservancy for the whole United States, which has about twice as many turbines as Spain.
Duchamp has always maintained that earlier studies, made when bird mortality at windfarms wasn’t such a hot potatoe, were more credible than recent ones. “It is a curious business where those consultants who find or predict the lowest mortality land all the contracts. This is what is being asked of them, and this is what they do. This unethical conduct has already condemned the Tasmanian Wedge-tailed eagle to extinction (3), and more recently the Golden Eagle in the United States (4). Another factor is the occultation of carcasses by windfarm employees, as may be seen in the SEO/Birdlife report.” (5)
Another fact is the fossil fuel industry is working against the wind power industry
https://www.energyandpolicy.org/anti-wind-groups-coordinate-with-fossil-fuel-funded-organizations/
On February 1st and 2nd, at least two prominent advocacy groups connected to fossil fuel corporations, the American Tradition Institute (ATI) and Committee For A Constructive Tomorrow (CFACT), met in Washington with 32 NIMBY (“Not in my backyard”) organizations to discuss a coordinated “subversion” campaign to wreck wind energy.
The American Tradition Institute is now the Energy & Environment Legal Institute.
As Suzanne Goldenberg of The Guardian writes, “The strategy session is the latest evidence of a concerted attack on the clean energy industry by think tanks and lobby groups connected to oil and coal interests and free-market ideologues.”
Conclusion 1: Wind power is a nascent disruptive technology that can either deliver on its promise for a better future or simply replace one bad solution with another bad one. Wind energy corporation behavior demonstrates that the profit incentive conflicts with their ability self regulate their industry. Wind power development and construction companies must be made to partner with trusted independent organizations with independent objective to implement and verify best known solutions. The model of the Audubon society partnering with the wind power industry is something that looks promising going forward.
Conclusion 2: The fossil fuel industry opposes all progress to replace their technology with clean ones. Sue the shit out of them and use the money to fund better research and make them pay for their crime of delaying implementation of alternative sources of energy.
https://www.audubon.org/news/will-wind-turbines-ever-be-safe-birds
In months to come, USFWS plans to overhaul the MBTA (migratory birds treaty act), and in a show of pragmatism, it’s proposing that wind farms be allowed "incidental take permits," which would make it legal for wind companies to (unintentionally) kill a limited number of protected species each year. But companies would only be awarded permits if they can prove they’re doing everything possible to avoid bird strikes, like ensuring best siting and deterring birds from blades.
“The permit rule would modernize and strengthen the Migratory Bird Treaty Act and put in place critical new protections for America’s birds from coast to coast,” says Mike Daulton, who leads Audubon’s national policy team. By placing pressure on wind companies to abide by these rules—or face massive fines—it could protect North America’s most threatened species. It’s “a win-win for the industry and for birds,” says Daulton. “It will provide legal certainty to the industry and new protections for the birds.”
Wind Done Right
After Audubon released its 2014 Birds and Climate Change report, which showed that climate change will threaten more than half of North America's birds if we don't rapidly reduce emissions, it became abundantly clear that the organization needed to focus more on expediting properly sited renewable energy. Audubon’s goal is to ensure that 50 percent of America's energy comes from renewable sources by 2030. Audubon members believe this transition is important and the organization has a role to play: In a January 2018 survey of more than 2,300 members nationwide, every respondent supported more renewable energy investments. Eighty-nine percent said that renewable energy is critical to the health of the planet, and 78 percent said that fossil fuels harm global bird populations.
Further, more than 90 percent said that Audubon should collaborate with the clean energy industry on bird-friendly solutions. Those efforts are already underway: Audubon is working closely with partners in the renewables industry and government to properly site projects and help them develop and implement practices and technologies such as IdentiFlight that avoid killing of birds by turbines. —Martha Harbison
Another fact is that the wind industry is a crappy self-regulating body:
http://savetheeaglesinternational.org/releases/spanish-wind-farms-kill-6-to-18-million-birds-bats-a-year.html
On 12 January 2012, at the First Scientific Congress on Wind Energy and Wildlife Conservation in Jerez de la Frontera, Spain, the Spanish Society of Ornithology (SEO/Birdlife) made public its estimate that, yearly, Spain’s 18,000 wind turbines may be killing 6 to 18 million birds and bats (1). The average per turbine comes down to 333 – 1,000 deaths annually, which is a far cry from the 2 – 4 birds claimed by the American wind industry, or the 400,000 birds a year estimated by the American Bird Conservancy for the whole United States, which has about twice as many turbines as Spain.
Duchamp has always maintained that earlier studies, made when bird mortality at windfarms wasn’t such a hot potatoe, were more credible than recent ones. “It is a curious business where those consultants who find or predict the lowest mortality land all the contracts. This is what is being asked of them, and this is what they do. This unethical conduct has already condemned the Tasmanian Wedge-tailed eagle to extinction (3), and more recently the Golden Eagle in the United States (4). Another factor is the occultation of carcasses by windfarm employees, as may be seen in the SEO/Birdlife report.” (5)
Another fact is the fossil fuel industry is working against the wind power industry
https://www.energyandpolicy.org/anti-wind-groups-coordinate-with-fossil-fuel-funded-organizations/
On February 1st and 2nd, at least two prominent advocacy groups connected to fossil fuel corporations, the American Tradition Institute (ATI) and Committee For A Constructive Tomorrow (CFACT), met in Washington with 32 NIMBY (“Not in my backyard”) organizations to discuss a coordinated “subversion” campaign to wreck wind energy.
The American Tradition Institute is now the Energy & Environment Legal Institute.
As Suzanne Goldenberg of The Guardian writes, “The strategy session is the latest evidence of a concerted attack on the clean energy industry by think tanks and lobby groups connected to oil and coal interests and free-market ideologues.”
Conclusion 1: Wind power is a nascent disruptive technology that can either deliver on its promise for a better future or simply replace one bad solution with another bad one. Wind energy corporation behavior demonstrates that the profit incentive conflicts with their ability self regulate their industry. Wind power development and construction companies must be made to partner with trusted independent organizations with independent objective to implement and verify best known solutions. The model of the Audubon society partnering with the wind power industry is something that looks promising going forward.
Conclusion 2: The fossil fuel industry opposes all progress to replace their technology with clean ones. Sue the shit out of them and use the money to fund better research and make them pay for their crime of delaying implementation of alternative sources of energy.
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