Windmills Take Toll on Wildlife

Los Angeles Times ^ | December 8, 2003 | Rone Tempest

[Willie Green]

ALTAMONT PASS, Calif. — When the giant Altamont wind farm sprouted here two decades ago, the only major objections were aesthetic. Local residents didn't appreciate the forest of 7,000 ungainly wind towers cluttering their view.

No one, apparently, thought about the birds.

Since the phalanx of giant windmills began churning in the air above the Altamont Pass east of San Francisco Bay, an estimated 22,000 birds have died, including hundreds of golden eagles, red-tailed hawks, kestrels and other raptors, after flying into the spinning blades of the wind turbines.

Now, some environmental groups that routinely supported wind power as a clean, alternative source of electric power are opposing the renewal of permits for the wind farm until steps are taken to reduce the bird deaths.

[RightWhale]

In Fairbanks, there is no wind. The question is moot.

[biblewonk]

Rush has never once "taken on" windmills. He just blathers about them and since he's Rush we're just spose to say "megga dittos". This is where he is just a big fat idiot.

[discostu]

If wind power to generate as much power per acre as nuclear plants. Then it wouldn't be silly.

[newgeezer]

This is where [Rush] is just a big fat idiot.

Uh-oh. Yer on yer own now, buddy! ;O)

I hope I remember to tune in to hear what he said about wind energy today. Maybe he's seen the light, now that he cleaned up his formerly oxy-stained brain, and cried, and all that other life-changing sh*t. :-))

(I still wonder why we never hear about Marta anymore...)

[upcountryhorseman]

You are spot-on! Wind power is the most inefficent method
of generating power I know of. The next time you go over Altamont Pass, check to see how many turbines are not
functioning.

[newgeezer]

If wind power to generate as much power per acre as nuclear plants. Then it wouldn't be silly.

Every acre is sacred?

Coal-burning plants are silly.

Hydro-electric plants are silly.

Fission plants are silly; they don't generate as much as fusion plants.

I dunno, maybe it's just me. But, that measure sure seems silly.

[biblewonk]

Why is per acre important and not cost, renewability, or cleanness?

[RightWhale]

Windpower would be the choice when connecting to the grid is uneconomical. If somebody is on his homestead in remote Alberta and can't afford or the government can't afford to run 100 miles of power lines to his homestead, then a windmill might keep his Internet connection live. Windpower might be a backup up system on Mars. There could be times when the power grid goes down and the neighbor with a windmill is the only one with any kind of electricity. Windpower has its place.

[discostu]

Every acre isn't sacred, but efficiency is.

At this juncture yes coal-burning plants are silly, they're inefficient and highly poluting.

Since you wouldn't be able to put a nuclear plant where a hydro-plant is, and since they serve other purposes (making lakes) hydro are OK.

It is just you, there's never anything silly about efficiency.

[CyberAnt]

"(..................."Dean's got Tom McClintock Eyes".........................)"

You people just can't give it up can you ..?? You won the damn election, you got Arnold .. why do you feel it necessary to disparage Tom McClintock ..?? I find your tag line very distasteful and misleading, as well as very offensive.

[Slicksadick]

- Vehicles: 60 million - 80 million - Buildings & windows: 98 million - 980 million - Power lines: 10,000 to 174 million - Communication towers: 4 million - 50 million - Wind turbines: 10,000 - 40,000

Note that above numbers do not include domestic cats and their damage..

I found a number on cats, 150,000 killed per day by cats in Great Britan alone.

[newgeezer]

In Fairbanks, there is no wind. The question is moot.

So, your declaration regarding prarie farms in the '20s and "feel-good gestures" was specifically in regard to the thought of harnessing wind energy in Fairbanks?

[oyez]

The last time is was in Texas I noticed a particular kind of black bird that followed other birds around and when they found food the larger black birds moved in to steal what the other birds had worked so hard to find. Does that sound familiar to today's politics?

[discostu]

Cost is both a long term and short term issue, but in the long run the more space you need to generate power the higher the cost is going to be. Renewability is nice but isn't a real issue for any of our current sources of power. The problem with cleanness as a guide is that the two most clean methods we have right now for power (wind and sun) are grossly inefficient and you'd have to pretty much blanket the country with them to generate the power we need.

[newgeezer]

It is just you, there's never anything silly about efficiency.

Efficiency isn't silly. Your "power per acre" test is an extremely silly measure of efficiency.

[RightWhale]

Of course in Fairbanks we don't give a darn how they do it Outside.

[newgeezer]

Wind power is the most inefficent method of generating power I know of. The next time you go over Altamont Pass, check to see how many turbines are not functioning.

Walk past a junkyard sometime, and check to see how many cars are not functioning. By your measure, the automobile is the most inefficient method of travel.

[discostu]

If it was so silly you could refute it with facts instead of insults. You're reaction shows that you know I'm right. Windfarms take up far too much land for the power they give.

[discostu]

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

You're disingenuous comparison of cars that have reached the end of their useful life and windmills that haven't shows how wrong your position is.

[biblewonk]

In Fairbanks, there is no wind. The question is moot.

I Fairbanks there is not no wind. Wind conditions are part of the answer if you knew enough about the topic to form an answer.