. . . and I’m here to enforce the law and protect your natural resources . . . as long as it doesn’t interfere with my other agenda.
My October 10 post focused on criminal prosecutions and convictions of oil and gas operators in several states for violations of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. It appears that enforcement of this and other federal wildlife protection statutes is quite selective.
Fox News reports that while oil and gas operators have been fined for causing the death of a few migratory birds (numbering in single and double digits), the wind industry has been exempted from prosecution under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act and the Eagle Protection Act for the destruction of tens of thousands of birds and bats.
Why? Because, proponents believe that such discrimination is necessary to allow the wind industry to compete with other fuel sources. Or maybe it’s because a homely poule d’eau drowned in a noxious pit of crude oil isn’t as tasty a dinner treat for other critters in the forest as a hamburgered golden eagle, ground up, as it were, to promote easy digestion.
For those of you who view Fox as the rightest of the right-wing conspirators, Voice of America reports generally the same news, and that conservation groups are suing wind developers in California and West Virginia.
And the American Bird Conservancy is concerned, as indicated by their Policy Statement on Wind Energy and Bird-Smart Wind Guidelines.
Sadly, as mentioned before in ths space this was to be the science-driven administration.