Australian Politics Forum - Wind energy company pleads guilty to killing birds

Baronvonrort

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Wind energy company pleads guilty to killing birds
Apr 9^th, 2022 at 11:21pm

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A wind energy company has pleaded guilty after killing at least 150 eagles

April 6, 2022

BILLINGS, Mont. — A wind energy company was sentenced to probation and ordered to pay more than $8 million in fines and restitution after at least 150 eagles were killed over the past decade at its wind farms in eight states, federal prosecutors said Wednesday.

NextEra Energy subsidiary ESI Energy pleaded guilty to three counts of violating the Migratory Bird Treaty Act during a Tuesday court appearance in Cheyenne, Wyoming. It was charged in the deaths of eagles at three of its wind farms in Wyoming and New Mexico.

In addition to those deaths, golden and bald eagles were killed at wind farms affiliated with ESI and NextEra since 2012 in eight states, prosecutors said: Wyoming, California, New Mexico, North Dakota, Colorado, Michigan, Arizona and Illinois. The birds are killed when they fly into the blades of wind turbines. Some ESI turbines killed multiple eagles, prosecutors said.

It's illegal to kill or harm eagles under federal law.

The case comes amid a push by President Joe Biden for more renewable energy from wind, solar and other sources to help reduce climate changing emissions. It also follows a renewed commitment by federal wildlife officials under Biden to enforce protections for eagles and other birds under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, after criminal prosecutions were halted under former President Donald Trump.

Companies historically have been able to avoid prosecution if they take steps to avoid bird deaths and seek permits for those that occur. ESI did not seek such a permit, authorities said.

The company was warned prior to building the wind farms in New Mexico and Wyoming that they would kill birds, but it proceeded anyway and at times ignored advice from federal wildlife officials about how to minimize the deaths, according to court documents.

ESI agreed under a plea agreement to spend up to $27 million during its five-year probationary period on measures to prevent future eagle deaths. That includes shutting down turbines at times when eagles are more likely to be present.

Despite those measures, wildlife officials anticipate that some eagles still could die. When that happens, the company will pay $29,623 per dead eagle, under the agreement.

NextEra President Rebecca Kujawa said collisions of birds with wind turbines are unavoidable accidents that should not be criminalized. She said the company is committed to reducing damage to wildlife from its projects.

https://www.npr.org/2022/04/06/1091250692/esi-energy-bald-eagles?utm_campaign=st...

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The_Barnacle

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Re: Wind energy company pleads guilty to killing birds
Reply #1 - Apr 10^th, 2022 at 11:57am

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Every year, as many as 1 billion birds die from colliding with buildings

, especially those with extensive glass surfaces. During the day, these collisions result from birds mistaking reflections of open skies or nearby vegetation for the real deal. At night, when most birds migrate, lit-up buildings disorient and attract them, luring them not just off their migratory paths, but straight into collisions. These fatalities account for 2 to 9 percent of all birds in North America in any given year, making building strikes second only to feral and free-roaming cats as a source of human-caused avian mortality in the United States.
https://www.audubon.org/news/building-collisions-are-greater-danger-some-birds-o...

So every year billions of birds around the world die from collisions with buildings
But for some reason conservatives are only concerned with the birds that collide with wind farms

I wonder why there concern is so narrowly targeted? Wink

It always amuses me when conservatives suddenly become conservationists when it suits their political agenda. It shows what hypocrites they are

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The Right Wing only believe in free speech when they agree with what is being said.

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lee Gold Member Offline Australian Politics Posts: 21502 Gender:	Re: Wind energy company pleads guilty to killing birds Reply #2 - Apr 10^th, 2022 at 12:22pm The_Barnacle wrote on Apr 10^th, 2022 at 11:57am: I wonder why there concern is so narrowly targeted? Because buildings are static. I have no problem with birds colliding with wind towers being killed.
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Dnarever Gold Member Offline Australian Politics Posts: 62253 Here Gender:	Re: Wind energy company pleads guilty to killing birds Reply #3 - Apr 10^th, 2022 at 12:29pm They never mention that many more birds are killed in oil production and accidents each year either or from other forms of power production.
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The_Barnacle

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Re: Wind energy company pleads guilty to killing birds
Reply #4 - Apr 10^th, 2022 at 1:08pm

Jail over killing of eagles in a Victorian first

Murray James Silvester faced Sale Magistrates Court on Monday morning charged over the deaths of the protected birds of prey.
He was found guilty of the death of 420 wedge-tailed eagles in East Gippsland between October 2016 and February this year, and sentenced to 14 days in jail and fined $2500.

It's understood to be the first custodial sentence for the destruction of protected wildlife handed out in Victoria.

The Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning has been investigating the deaths since uncovering scores of dead eagles at the Tubbut property in May.

https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/jail-over-killing-of-eagles-in-a-vic...

There was very little interest from conservatives either when this news story surfaced. many of them claimed it was fake news and didn't happen

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The Right Wing only believe in free speech when they agree with what is being said.

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Jovial Monk Gold Member Offline Dogs not cats! Posts: 51474 Gender:	Re: Wind energy company pleads guilty to killing birds Reply #5 - Apr 10^th, 2022 at 1:11pm Paint one blade black and no more birds killed. {Oops} Forgot about Booby’s permanent ban of me from this toilet of an MRB.
Back to top	OzPolitic needs a >real< Environment MRB now! OzPolitic needs a >real< Food MRB now! OzPolitic needs a >real< Health MRB now! OzPolitic needs a >real< Economics MRB now! Topics in the right MRB! IP Logged

lee Gold Member Offline Australian Politics Posts: 21502 Gender:	Re: Wind energy company pleads guilty to killing birds Reply #6 - Apr 10^th, 2022 at 3:33pm Jovial Monk wrote on Apr 10^th, 2022 at 1:11pm: Paint one blade black and no more birds killed. {Oops} Forgot about Booby’s permanent ban of me from this toilet of an MRB. It is so easy why hasn't it been done?
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lee Gold Member Offline Australian Politics Posts: 21502 Gender:	Re: Wind energy company pleads guilty to killing birds Reply #7 - Apr 10^th, 2022 at 3:33pm Dnarever wrote on Apr 10^th, 2022 at 12:29pm: They never mention that many more birds are killed in oil production and accidents each year either or from other forms of power production. So you have the stats for that?
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greggerypeccary

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Re: Wind energy company pleads guilty to killing birds
Reply #8 - Apr 10^th, 2022 at 3:49pm

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reports that 2,303 "visibly oiled" dead birds were collected "within the Deepwater Horizon/BP incident impact area."

The biggest cause of bird deaths, however, is not man — at least not in the United States. It is cats. One study claimed that cats responsible for killing about 2.4 billion — with a "B" — birds a year.

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lee

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Re: Wind energy company pleads guilty to killing birds
Reply #9 - Apr 10^th, 2022 at 4:11pm

I have just been reading a paper on Bird deaths from power generation.

Strangely they include bird deaths from fossil fuel to acid rain and climate change. Roll Eyes

Everyon knows birds can't move due to climate shackled as they are.

It concludes - "The shortcomings of this preliminary study are as obvious as
they are numerous: a focus on bird deaths but not bird births;
a small sample size for wind, coal, and nuclear facilities that may
not be representative; a focus on individual species such as the
wood thrush or waterfowl to produce overall estimates of avian
mortality that are definitely not representative (and undoubtedly
conservative); a presumption that coal was only mined using
mountain top removal (thereby excluding the impacts from other
types of coal mining); fatalities that happened on particular days
and weeks that were then presumed to be the only ones
throughout the year (also resulting in conservative estimates); an
assumption that only carbon dioxide emissions from power plants
contribute to climate change (again conservative for excluding
other greenhouse gases); highly uncertain deaths attributed to
climate change that may be prevented if future greenhouse gas
emissions are significantly reduced."

http://sci-hub.ee/10.1016/j.renene.2012.01.074

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Johnnie Gold Member Offline Australian Politics Posts: 12485 Gender:	Re: Wind energy company pleads guilty to killing birds Reply #10 - Apr 10^th, 2022 at 5:14pm Unfortunately some the birds are going to have to take for the good of the planet.
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greggerypeccary Gold Member Offline Australian Politics Posts: 155612 Gender:	Re: Wind energy company pleads guilty to killing birds Reply #11 - Apr 10^th, 2022 at 5:41pm Jovial Monk wrote on Apr 10^th, 2022 at 1:11pm: Paint one blade black and no more birds killed. That's interesting. I've never heard about that before.
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Bobby.

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Re: Wind energy company pleads guilty to killing birds
Reply #12 - Apr 11^th, 2022 at 7:21am

Jovial Monk wrote on Apr 10^th, 2022 at 1:11pm:

Paint one blade black and no more birds killed.

{Oops} Forgot about Booby’s permanent ban of me from this toilet of an MRB.

Wow - Monk got me banned for one week for a post on his forum.

I think I'll show my Christian forgiveness to
prove that I'm better than Monk by not reporting him.

Monk is possessed by devils.

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The_Barnacle

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Re: Wind energy company pleads guilty to killing birds
Reply #13 - Apr 11^th, 2022 at 11:15am

greggerypeccary wrote on Apr 10^th, 2022 at 3:49pm:

The biggest cause of bird deaths, however, is not man — at least not in the United States. It is cats.

Which is still actually caused by man given that we have bred cats as pets

Johnnie wrote on Apr 10^th, 2022 at 5:14pm:

Unfortunately some the birds are going to have to take for the good of the planet.

Given the number of birds killed by all human activities and structures, the number killed by wind farms is negligible

I'll look forward to seeing Baronvonrort out at the start of the next Duck shooting season protecting the birds Grin

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The Right Wing only believe in free speech when they agree with what is being said.

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John_Taverner Gold Member Offline Australian Politics Posts: 2217 Gender:	Re: Wind energy company pleads guilty to killing birds Reply #14 - Aug 7^th, 2022 at 2:56pm How many birds are killed by vehicles by comparison. I remember accidentally running into a flock of galahs once. (I don't mean this forum)
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