First Wind Turbines -- And Now "Safe Passage" -- The Government Is Out to Kill The Few Remaining Whooping Cranes

I cannot make this stuff up.

There is a solution to protecting whooping cranes from wind turbines, but the government has put a stop to that. The solution to protect young whooping cranes is called "safe passage." It is very, very similar to the underground railroad of the 1860's. The government tried to stop that "safe passage" also.

This is incredible.

Link here.

Ten young whooping cranes and the bird-like plane they think is their mother had flown more than halfway to their winter home in Florida when federal regulators stepped in.

Now the birds and the plane are grounded in Alabama while the Federal Aviation Administration investigates whether the journey violates regulations because the pilot was being paid by a conservation group to lead the cranes on their first migration instead of working for free.

FAA regulations say only pilots with commercial pilot licenses can fly for hire. The pilots of Operation Migration's plane are instead licensed to fly sport aircraft because that's the category of aircraft that the group's small, open plane with its rear propeller and bird-like wings falls under. FAA regulations also prohibit sport aircraft — which are sometimes of exotic design — from being flown to benefit a business or charity.

Has this administration gone nuts?

Thank goodness for the Drudge Report.

Take It From a Retired Wildlife Biologist -- Wind Turbines and 007: License to Kill

Update

From MDU message board, don't listen to me, listen to a retired wildlife biologist -- pretty sad --

Just some of my thoughts re wind farms. First, be advised that I am a retired wildlife biologist with 35 years professional experience and even though I have been away from the field for many years the principles have not changed. Many hundreds of thousands of birds will be killed flying into the paths of blades. Especially during migration periods. Evolution has not provided behavioral modification to protect birds from 100 MPH blade tips any more than 70 MPH vehicles. Many or even most of the bird strikes will go undetected and/or unreported since predators and scavengers will clean up the mess and we will not know the full impacts unless specific long term studies are completed. I doubt there will ever be any modifications or limitations or prohibitions imposed upon the industry.

Original Post

The whooping cranes are passing through North Dakota on their migration south. Many of them will end up just south of where I live in San Antonio, Texas. My wife and I have gone out to see them on several occasions. Quite magnificent.

This is the quote from Mike Szymanski, waterfowl biologist for the North Dakota Game and Fish Department:

When disturbed, Szymanski said they [whooping cranes, not biologists] can risk injury or death from power lines, barbed wired fences or other obstructions.

I'm not exactly sure what he meant by "when disturbed." But it is interesting that he left out the most contentious issue at the moment regarding whooping cranes and other migratory birds: wind turbines. I guess wind turbines fall under the category of "other obstructions."

He did note:

Szymanski said hunters and others can confuse whooping cranes with pelicans, swans or egrets and its a violation to disturb whooping cranes.

The US Fish and Wildlife Service has applied for an exemption to allow wind turbines to kill whooping cranes:

Back in July, 2011, Reuters reported that the Obama administration is working on a plan that will permit wind developers to kill endangered whooping cranes who fly in the path of the turbine blades.

The formal language of the Administration is less pointed but the impact the same.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service intends to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) on a proposed application for an Incidental Take Permit (ITP) issued under Section 10(a)(1)(B) of the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act).

If approved, wind developers will be permitted to 'take' an unspecified number of endangered species including the whooping crane. 'Take' under the Endangered Species Act, is defined as the injuring or killing of endangered species. 

I don't know where this application stands. 

By the way, if you are in the Corpus Christi, Texas, area this winter, you should take time to visit the whooping cranes. These are our favorite tour guides: Rockport Birding and Kayak Adventures. Captain Tommy Moore uses very small boats, and gets very, very close to the whooping cranes as well as scores of other species. I believe my wife cataloged 125 different species when she last went out. The birds are very used to these small, unobtrusive boats and continue to feed, almost no matter how close we get. You are guaranteed to see whooping cranes. In addition, there is a very good chance you will see some dolphins in the gulf on the way out to the birding sites.

Harassment, Pure and Simple -- the Bakken, North Dakota, USA

Updates

May 1, 2012: Speaking of harassment -- anyone who has questioned my world view that this administration is out to destroy the oil and gas industry, is more proof needed?

Armendariz used a metaphor that he acknowledged was “crude” to portray the enforcement practices of the EPA.

“It was kind of like how the Romans used to conquer little villages in the Mediterranean. They’d go into a little Turkish town somewhere, they’d find the first five guys they saw, and they would crucify them. And then you know that town was really easy to manage for the next few years,” Armendariz said.

“You make examples out of people who are not complying with the law,” he added.

“It is no secret in Texas, the heart of America’s oil and gas industry, that the EPA has become a petty, arbitrary and demagogic organization. It is a sad fall for an institution charged with safeguarding the public,” a letter signed by 26 members of Congress sent to Jackson on Friday said.

Original Post

At this link, read this paragraph:

Carter in his time imposed an excess profit tax and behold, soon there was no profit. It was but a matter of a few months when America’s rig count on active wells went from 4,500 to less than 55 in response to Carter’s meddling. Today, drilling permits are delayed or denied, causing projects to be abandoned. Oil and gas companies in North Dakota are charged with killing 28 birds in violation of the Migratory Bird Act and could face six months in jail, while bird-killing Cuisinart-like wind farms are ignored. Michael Fry of the American Bird Conservancy estimates that wind turbines kill between 75,000 and 275,000 birds per year, including an average of 80 golden eagles per year. Yet, there is no record of the Justice Department bringing a case against wind companies. This isn’t law enforcement, it is simple harassment dressed up as law enforcement.

Then, look at this PDF, and look at the off-shore drilling chart.

From all I can tell, based on mainstream media, the federal response to the 2010 oil spill in the gulf caused more economic damage (which is ongoing) than the original spill itself. The oil industry stopped the spill, and paid for the clean-up, and it's pretty much over, based on mainstream media reports. The government showed up with lawyers, briefcases, yellow legal pads, and laptops.

By the way, exactly who in the oil industry goes to jail for six months if found guilty of killing 26 migratory birds (ducks)?

If bird watchers and bird conservationists aren't at all sick of the thought of more whopping crane killers being put up, it speaks volumes about their sincerity. Wow, I am reminded of Dr Zhivago: when the wrong city was scorched, the perpetrators felt that the error was justified in the overall big picture.

A Little Bit Of Irony In This Post -- The Oil Company BP Will Get a Pass When It Kills Whooping Cranes in Kansas

Some things I just cannot make up.

I don't recall if the US Fish and Wildlife Service has gone "final" with its plan to legally allow wind turbines to kill migratory birds (whooping cranes, golden eagles, bald eagles, and such).

Meanwhile, of course, six or seven oil companies in North Dakota have been charged with killing 26 migratory birds (ducks) this past spring when the birds allegedly flew into oil waste pits during one of the worse spring floods in North Dakota history.

So, here we have a bit of irony. BP plans to build $800 million worth of migratory bird killers in Kansas in 2012.

BP Plc announced plans on Monday to build an $800 million wind farm in Kansas next year, providing a lift for the U.S. wind power industry as its outlook dims with the looming expiry of federal tax credits.

The 419-megawatt Flat Ridge 2 wind farm will include 262 General Electric turbines spinning about 43 miles southwest of Wichita, BP said, in what will be the largest installation for both the state and BP Wind Energy.

Because of the Central Flyway migratory route, Kansas claims 470 species of birds within its borders more than surrounding states. Ah, yes, some folks were upset with the Gulf spill. Now they can talk about sanctioned bird kills.

The other irony in all this is that under normal operating conditions, wind turbines are expected to kill birds. When birds are killed by wind turbines it is not because the turbines are malfunctioning; they are operating as engineered.

On the other hand, everyone in the oil industry -- regulators, operators, oil service companies, environmentalists -- are working to prevent a malfunction in the oil exploration and production system which would harm the environment. But accidents happen.

From the wind turbine perspective, when a whooping crane or a bald eagle is killed by a wind turbine, it is not an accident. I guess that's why it's legal.

Meanwhile, environmentalists are lined up in Nebraska to stop the Keystone XL pipeline.

The irony of it all.

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By the way, how many ducks and/or mergansers are hunters allowed to take in North Dakota during hunting season? The daily limit is six ducks/day/hunter and five mergansers/day/hunter with 12 and 10, respectively, of each in possession. Once the hunter has disposed of the "possession limit" he/she may go out for more. I don't know how many duck hunters there are in North Dakota, but at least one estimate puts 80,000 duck hunters in Minnesota.

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So, are there any whooping cranes in Kansas?

Likely the most well-known endangered bird in North America, the whooping crane was nearly extinct. In 1941, only 16 birds made the semiannual migration between Canada and Aransas National Wildlife Refuge in Texas. Through intensive conservation efforts, this number grew to 43 by 1966 and just over 230 individuals in 2004. There were 54 documented nests in 2004 at Wood Buffalo National Park in Canada. These nests produced a record number 41 young. There is also a captive breeding flock in Florida. The population is closely monitored on breeding grounds, wintering grounds and in migration by wildlife officials. Whooping cranes occur over central Kansas during migration and are often seen near Cheyenne Bottoms or Quivira National Wildlife Refuge. For many Kansans, spotting a whooping crane is a sighting of a lifetime.