Extra Crispy!
credit: kfc.com
In Frying Through The Air in February of 2014, I wrote about the Tonopah solar power plant in Nevada and its unfortunate tendency to fry birds on the wing. An excerpt:
Well of course! Who could possibly have foreseen that birds flying though massive beams of 1000° heat might be harmed? Obviously the same is true of those technological, public policy, political geniuses that could not possibly foresee massive wind farms as what they actually are: avian Cuisinarts.
This is truly an Obama accomplishment on a par with saving jobs and the economy by destroying jobs and the economy and then calling it a good thing because people won’t be locked in jobs they don’t want. Apparently they don’t want the wages that go with those jobs either, which is good because they won’t be able to afford the electricity anyway.
Now we have billions poured into the most inefficient and costly methods of generating electricity known to man, which also have the effect of killing hundreds of thousands of members of endangered species, or turning those not currently endangered into endangered species, and all in the name of—what, exactly– green? Climate change? The war on women? Obamacare? But hey, that’s a good thing, because those birds were probably tired of all that noisy wing flapping anyway.
Perhaps Mr. Obama can sell his quick-frying method to Kentucky Fried Chicken? And I’m sure KFC can branch out into more exotic fare, provided courtesy of Barack Obama, NRG Energy Inc., Google Inc. and BrightSource Energy Inc. Heck, all those birds are just layin’ around the plant, pre-cooked. That way the taxpayers might get some benefit from this latest energy boondoggle.
Avian Cuisinart Installation
credit: earthtimes.org
That’s quite an accomplishment for an administration that turns everything it touches to excrement. However, that’s not all, no. Because the Obamites are progressives, they must progress, move forward on all fronts, and in sweeping birds from the skies, they have no peers. Courtesy of Fox News:
The Obama administration is revising a federal rule that allows wind-energy companies to operate high-speed turbines for up to 30 years, even if means killing or injuring thousands of federally protected bald and golden eagles.
Under the plan announced Wednesday, companies could kill or injure up to 4,200 bald eagles a year without penalty — nearly four times the current limit. Golden eagles could only be killed if companies take steps to minimize the losses, for instance, by retrofitting power poles to reduce the risk of electrocution.
Bald Eagle
credit: guardianlv.com
Oh sure, that’ll work. It’s OK to slice and dice them on the wing, but not to electrocute them on the wires. That makes all manner of sense—to progressives.
Fish and Wildlife Service Director Dan Ashe said the proposal will “provide a path forward” for maintaining eagle populations while also spurring development of a pollution-free energy source that’s intended to ease global warming, a cornerstone of President Barack Obama’s energy plan.
Ashe said the 162-page proposal would protect eagles and at the same time “help the country reduce its reliance on fossil fuels” such as coal and oil that contribute to global warming.
‘There’s a lot of good news in here,’ Ashe said in an interview, calling the plan ‘a great tool to work with to further conservation of two iconic species.
These people really do think we’re idiots. Notice that Ashe, who presumably must be among the most intelligent of Obamites, doesn’t say he’ll do anything to prevent eagles from being killed in ever increasing numbers, just that the proposal will “provide a path forward” for thinking about maybe doing something about it sometime–you know: progress! And this “path forward” will “protect eagles”—apparently by killing them in far greater numbers so fewer of them are at risk of dying from natural causes—using “a great tool to work with to further conservation…”
Oh, I should explain. Intelligence among Obamites consists primarily of a willingness to tell any lie in the service of The One. This, of course, also requires the willingness to warp mathematics in any way required to support the lies:
Golden Eagle
credit: adlayasanimals.wordpress.com
The Fish and Wildlife Service estimates there are about 143,000 bald eagles in the United States, and 40,000 golden eagles.
Even though I was born without the math gene, even though I do not look at equations and perceive the beauty and order of the universe, even I can figure this one out (with the help of a calculator):
Let’s see…we’ll assume there are 10 such wind generating companies—I’m sure there are many more—each legally killing 4200 bald eagles a year. That’s 10 X 4200 = 42,000. Then we divide 143,000 by 42,000 and we get 3.4. It’s going to take only 3.4 years for these companies to—legally and in the holy name of global warming–kill every bald eagle in America. But it’s OK, because they’ll have permits!
What’s that you say? What about eagles being born? They’ll make up the difference? Not if their parents are killed, and 42,000 is only the legal number. The unreported, illegal numbers, considering there are surely more companies, will be much, much higher. Golden eagles? Meh. We’ll slice and dice all of them before you know it! Another great legacy for Barack Obama!
Our New National symbol?
credit: animaliaz-life.com
Ben Franklin wanted the Turkey to be our national bird. As we learned from WKRP, they don’t fly, so it looks like Franklin’s idea was better than it initially seemed.
Golden and bald eagles are not endangered species but are protected under the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. The laws prohibit killing, selling or otherwise harming eagles, their nests or eggs without a permit.
We’re the Federal Government. We don’ need no steenking permit!
Under the new proposal, companies would pay a $36,000 fee for a long-term permit allowing them to kill or injure eagles. Companies would have to commit to take additional measures if they kill or injure more eagles than estimated, or if new information suggests eagle populations are being affected.
The permits would be reviewed every five years, and companies would have to submit reports of how many eagles they kill. Now such reporting is voluntary, and the Interior Department refuses to release the information.
Companies would be charged a $15,000 administrative fee every five years for long-term permits. The fees would cover costs to the Fish and Wildlife Service of conducting five-year evaluations and developing modifications, the agency said.
Hmm. Voluntary reporting, secret governmental documents. Yup. It’s the most transparent administration in history. I can just see the Fish and Wildlife Service modifications:
Dear Acme Windmill Corp:
You’re killing too many eagles. Stop that please.
Yours,
The Fish and Wildlife Service
That ought to preserve them. Oh, and I’ll have a side of coleslaw with my golden eagle, please.
Stately McDaniel Manor 
videos:
eagle hit http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=8NAAzBArYdw
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http://www.thegazette.com/subject/opinion/guest-columnists/industrial-wind-is-destroying-iowas-eagle-habitats-20151227
Wind farms are clusters of turbines as tall as 30-story buildings, with spinning rotors as wide as a passenger jet’s wingspan. Though the blades appear to move slowly, they can reach speeds of up to 170 mph at the tips, creating tornado-like vortexes. http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/03/12/house-panel-subpoenas-white-house-on-wind-power-eagle-deaths/
Bob Sallinger with the Audubon Society of Portland said wind farms across the country have killed more than 80 eagles over the last decade.
“If you have dozens and dozens of them on the landscape it is basically a giant Cuisinart for birds,” said Sallinger. “Bald eagles took decades to recover … we almost lost them because of DDT. Golden eagles are a species biologists are concerned about because they appear to be declining.” http://www.kgw.com/news/Official-Wind–257599781.html
“Improperly sited and operated wind energy facilities can kill significant numbers of federally protected birds and other species,” said U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Dan Ashe, urging developers to follow the Service’s Land-based Wind Energy Guidelines. “That’s why it’s imperative that wind energy developers work with the Fish and Wildlife Service to minimize these impacts at every stage in the process.”
Commercial wind power projects can cause the deaths of federally protected birds in four primary ways: collision with wind turbines, collision with associated meteorological towers, collision with, or electrocution by, associated electrical power facilities, and nest abandonment or behavior avoidance from habitat modification.
http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/utility-company-sentenced-wyoming-killing-protected-birds-wind-projects-0
A recent study by federal and state scientists found that U.S. wind turbines could kill up to 1.4 million birds of all species per year by 2030 as the wind energy industry continues to expand. http://www.ibtimes.com/should-wind-turbines-be-allowed-kill-eagles-debate-ratchets-bird-group-lawsuit-1607240
“Chokecherry and Sierra Madre, the largest onshore wind farm planned in the United States, would annually kill 10 to 14 golden eagles, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service projected in a draft environmental study released Wednesday. That figure represents a substantial reduction from the 46 to 64 golden eagle fatalities estimated by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management in 2012.
” http://trib.com/business/energy/feds-project-reduction-in-eagle-deaths-at-chokecherry-and-sierra/article_d0a88aec-3145-5cd2-8f7f-503b421275b1.html
” The U.S. Bureau of Land Management estimated in 2012 that all 1,000 turbines would kill 46-64 golden eagles. The Fish and Wildlife estimate, which applies only to the first phase, takes into consideration measures including wind turbine siting intended to reduce eagle deaths. ” http://www.bcdemocrat.com/2016/04/20/wy-wind-farm-eagles/
“I estimated 888,000 bat and 573,000 bird fatalities/year (including 83,000 raptor fatalities) at 51,630 megawatt (MW) of installed wind-energy capacity in the United States in 2012,” writes K. Shawn Smallwood, author of the study that was published in the Wildlife Society Bulletin. http://dailycaller.com/2015/04/20/wind-turbines-kill-more-birds-than-bp-oil-spill/
I used to believe in Environmentalism, but now I see that it has less to do with science and ethics than with a leftist religion. I believe in conservation, preserving our natural resources (which are not really resources if we never use them), and keeping our HUMAN environments clean, with unpolluted air, water, and food, not in worshipping Gaia.
And if company A kills less than its allowed 4,200, it can then sell the balance as a credit to company B. Wait, we could have the government set up an exchange for the trading of these undead bird credits and all get rich! The cost of electricity will needs be skyrocket, but hey rich!
How much does the 1000 degrees of heat reflected off those solar panels approx. 14 hours/day contribute to “global warming”?
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