Wind energy’s bird and bat butchery
By Craig Rucker and Paul Driessen This article originally appeared in the National Journal. In 2009, the federal government fined ExxonMobil $600,000 for the unintentional deaths of 85 birds in five states during a five-year period. Meanwhile, well over 500,000 birds and countless bats are killed annually by wind turbines, according to the US Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS) and other experts. The slaughter “could easily be over 500” golden eagles a year in our western states, says Save the Eagles International biologist Jim Wiegand. Bald eagles are also being butchered. The two species body count could soon reach 1,000-per-year. Supposedly [...]