Wind power kills birds
Omaha World-Herald | www.omaha.com
This is in response to the Jan. 31 Midlands Voices article written by David Bracht, “Nebraska gains with wind power.” I for one understand the potential for wind power in Nebraska, but is Nebraska the right place for it?
We are in the middle of the hourglass or pinch point of mass bird migrations. The one everybody is familiar with is the sandhill crane migration, but that is minuscule compared with the big picture of all the waterfowl and other species of birds.
Wind power is always sold as being so green, but these turbines are very effective killers of migratory birds. Nobody has an accurate count of the thousands of birds being killed.
There is a rush to get as many of these built before the government quits subsidizing them or the truth comes out about how deadly they are.
We are sold on the premise that Nebraska is becoming more energy self-reliant, but the fact is this electricity is sold to the highest bidder, so we have the potential of being the supplier of energy to the “not in my backyard” cities and states, while our landscape is polluted with these windmills.
If we continue to go down this path, I urge our Legislature to make a law that resembles what MidAmerican Energy has done in Iowa, which is to modify its operation of these windmills at night during peak migrations. We need some common-sense regulations.
Larry Spangler, Greenwood, Neb.
URL to article: https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2019/02/06/wind-power-kills-birds/