Stop windmills from killing Eagles

The wind mills are killing 50,000 or more Eagles a year that's why we should care because they could go instinct. Get rid of windmills because there's a different alternative, solar panels.

There are a number of green energy projects vying for market share. Solar. Natural gas. The SH-Box by NRGLab, to name a few. But only one source of energy is killing over 83,000 birds each year – wind.

Bald and golden eagles, hawks, and falcons are but a few of the species of birds being victimized by the mills’ massive turbines. Grainger Hunt, an authority on the subject, explains why the birds are susceptible: “There’s nothing in the evolution of eagles that would come near to describing a wind turbine,” he says. “There’s never been an opportunity to adapt to that sort of threat.”

Although these birds of prey are no longer on the endangered species list, their populations are still considerably low compared to numbers from the turn of the 20th century. Disturbing their habitats, stealing their eggs, or killing an eagle is, in accordance with the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act of 1940, punishable by up to two years in prison and a $500,000 fine.

Yet the United States seems to hold certain sectors of their energy industry to a double standard. BP paid $100 million in fines for harming migratory birds during the 2010 Gulf oil spill. The previous year, PacifiCorp, the northwest U.S.’s leading utility supplier, paid $10.5 million for electrocuting 232 eagles in their power lines.



However, not a single wind farm has faced criminal prosecution since President Barack Obama took office in 2008!

In Altamont Pass, California, wind farms are responsible for more than 60 avian deaths per year, while more than 573,000 birds across the country have been killed so far. That number could even be substantially higher, since most companies are reluctant to admit how many birds they’ve butchered.

Wildlife advocacy groups are up in arms about the Obama administration’s indecisive double standard. “It’s the rationale that we have to get off of carbon, we have to get off of fossil fuels, that allows them to justify this,” says Tom Dougherty, formerly with the National Wildlife Federation. “But at what cost? In this case, the cost is too high.”

If the U.S. enforced federal laws concerning murderous wind mills, then green energy companies would be forced to regard avian populations and migratory patterns before starting construction on new farms. Even so, experts agree it’s unlikely that birds and wind mills will ever co-exist peacefully. Can you blame them? Giant metal blades whirling at incredible speeds versus creatures with hollow bones — doesn’t seem like a fair fight.