Okay, folks. Back to the coal mines...

[Gato_Solo]

The alternative energy movement is ruffling the feathers of animal rights activists.

Wind turbines, lauded for being an environmentally friendly energy source, are killing thousands of birds that fly into their propellers in the Altamont Pass (search) just east of Oakland, Calif., where more than 5,000 turbines have helped power the Bay Area for 20 years.

Jeff Miller, of the Center for Biological Diversity (search), said the latest research indicates that one to two thousand or more birds are killed each year in the area. Included in the yearly death toll are approximately 60 golden eagles, 300 red-tailed hawks, and 270 burrowing owls.

Two environmental groups are trying to stop the renewal of the windmills' permits to prevent more birds from dying in their blades.

The Alameda County (search) zoning board renewed a batch of permits in November angering green activists who demanded an environmental impact report and mandatory concessions from the energy industry to make the mills more bird-friendly.

"The public is owed an open environmental review of the issue," said Miller. "If the board of supervisors doesn't see it our way, I'm sure we'll look very carefully at some kind of legal action."

But the board felt the confrontation with the utilities was the wrong way to go.

"What we have is a conflict developing over the best environmental approach and that conflict is moving into a much larger scaled war than is necessary," said Larry Gosselin, of the zoning board. "We need a progressive study."

Can you say D'OH!!!

 

[Professur]

Idiots. Can't we run a few of them into the turbines too?

 

[Gato_Solo]

Idiots. Can't we run a few of them into the turbines too?

Sorry. Technically, that would be murder.

 

[Professur]

No it wouldn't. They'd be .... test subjects.

 

[chcr]

No it wouldn't. They'd be .... test subjects.

Furthering our understanding of how these wind turbines affect the environment. Surely such ardent environmentalists wouldn't hesitate to help the cause????

 

[Luis G]

shit, next thing they'll do is trying to stop us from eating meat

 

[Gato_Solo]

shit, next thing they'll do is trying to stop us from eating meat

When I first saw that, I thought... "Que chiste!" , but those folks are serious. They've forgotten about how much fuss they put up to get the windmills up there in the first place, and now...after they've proven to be a working technology, they want to count dead birds?!?

 

[Luis G]

Sun, eolic, hydro and thermoelectric plants are the better for the enviroment. What do they want?, no electricity?, stone age?

 

[PT]

Stone age. Every fucking animal or bird in the world should be left alive and unharmed. We shouldn't build houses anymore either, our comfort is nothing when compared to the sparrows that would have made it's nest in the trees we cut down. I'm so fucking sick of environmental activists.

 

[paul_valaru]

Sorry. Technically, that would be murder.

no, not murder, think of it as nature, survival of the fittest

 

[Kawaii]

no, not murder, think of it as nature, survival of the fittest

We work out. We're fit. We survive, let those slack-ass sparrows bite it.

 

[Gonz]

Don't they see the positive aspects? Every bird strong & smart enough to not fly into those things is an advance of the species. Darwinism at its finest.

Let's see;
No oil
No wind generation
No Nukes
No Solar (NIMBY)
No coal
No Hydro (bad for the fishies)

 

[Kawaii]

Don't they see the positive aspects? Every bird strong & smart enough to not fly into those things is an advance of the species. Darwinism at its finest.

Let's see;
No oil
No wind generation
No Nukes
No Solar (NIMBY)
No coal
No Hydro (bad for the fishies)

Well, let's get on those dynamos and start pedaling, then!

 

[PT]

Nope, that would make you sweat, which may offend the person next to you pedaling.