Wind, Solar Facilities Killing Millions of Birds, Other Animals

[Geee]

Heartland:

The Institute of Energy Research reports on a study in the Wildlife Society Bulletin, showing every year 573,000 birds (including 83,000 raptors) and 888,000 bats are killed by wind turbines - 30 percent higher than the federal government estimated in 2009, due mainly to increasing wind power capacity across the nation.

 

This is figure is likely an underestimate because it is based on the data from 2012, while the number of wind and solar facilities has grown since then.

 

Fossil Fuels, Renewables, Disparate Treatment

 

In 2010, Mother Jones estimated about 800,000 birds died because of the British Petroleum (BP) oil spill. As a result, they paid $100 million in fines for killing and harming migratory birds.

In 2009, Exxon Mobil paid $600,000 for killing 85 birds in five states.

PacifiCorp, which operates coal plants, paid more than $10.5 million for electrocuting 232 eagles that landed on power lines at its substations.