The Endangered Species Act And Wind Power: A Rule, Or More Of A Guideline?

David Blackmon, 5/16/2013

We’ve had more than a small kerfuffle in the media this week about the fact that the wind power industry has for years sought, and the Obama Administration has granted, exemptions from federal regulations. Specifically, the administration has looked the other way on the fact that wind turbines are killing all manner of bird species that are protected under the ESA and/or the MBTA. It seems that the Fish and Wildlife Service has for years willfully refused to act when birds – including Bald Eagles, Golden Eagles and even the highly endangered California Condor – die horrible deaths by flying into the enormous blades of 300 foot-tall wind turbines that litter broad swaths of landscapes in many parts of the country. Even worse, the Administration has refused to act while at the same time filing civil and even criminal charges against fossil fuel companies that experience listed bird deaths on their properties…….Many in government and in the environmental community attempt to justify all of this rank hypocrisy with the rationale that Climate Change is a bigger threat to endangered birds in the long run, so we have to build more wind power. In other words, to save the birds, we must kill millions of birds. Seriously, that’s the logic behind this……. Such selective enforcement of the laws is not the way government is supposed to work in this country. The birds either need to be protected, or they don’t. If they do, everyone needs to be responsible….To Read More…..