Government subsidizes wind turbine slaughter of wildlife
The Daily Sentinel | www.gjsentinel.com 13 August 2012
The Daily Sentinel | www.gjsentinel.com 13 August 2012
The Production Tax Credit for wind power is set to expire at the end of the year, and the Senate is slated to consider extending the credit. Sens. Udall and Bennet are pushing hard to extend the PTC.
We have subsidized the wind power industry for 30 years, and the industry says quite clearly they would still not survive without subsidies. Where is the common sense? The message is clear. Wind power is not economic. Neither is ethanol and solar power. We should stop subsidizing these industries.
But, it gets worse. According to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, wind turbines are killing more than 500,000 birds and countless bats each year, including bald eagles, golden eagles and whooping cranes. In 2009, one oil company was fined $600,000 for accidentally killing 85 birds in five states over a period of five years. And, mining companies are all required to go to great lengths to not kill birds or be fined huge sums. Yet, not one single wind turbine company has been fined $1 for killing thousands per year over the past 30 years. Instead, our government subsidizes the slaughter.
And now it gets even worse. The Fish and Wildlife Service is proposing to grant “programmatic take” permits, allowing turbine operators to kill all these birds and bats without fear of penalty. This is all totally ridiculous. We, The People, should demand that Udall and Bennet both vote to not extend the tax credit.
If they don’t, which it’s obvious they won’t, they should be voted resoundingly out of office.
LARRY F. BROWN
Palisade
URL to article: https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2012/08/14/government-subsidizes-wind-turbine-slaughter-of-wildlife/