By Craig Rucker
Wind turbines are intermittent, inefficient, labor-and resource-intensive, and require a tremendous footprint on land or water.
These massive turbines extract a heavy toll on eagles, hawks, birds, bats, and marine life.
On Saturday, I had the honor of joining a passionate group of nature and energy advocates at the Oklahoma State Capitol to declare a resounding “NO!” to the rapid push to erect large-scale industrial turbines across eastern Oklahoma.
Some attendees said they viewed the event as a “turning point” in the fight to preserve Oklahoma’s rural character and protect residents and wildlife from federal and state subsidized industrial overreach.
CFACT Senior Advisor David Wojick is a civil engineer with a Ph.D. in logic and analytic philosophy of science. He is a brilliant mathematician and policy analyst.
For years, David has been leading the way in analyzing the hard, inconvenient data on wind and solar energy, along with a host of other counterproductive government initiatives.
David Wojick’s work with CFACT has been having a profound positive impact on federal, state, and local energy and environmental policy.
Just this week, David posted a report to CFACT.org on a hearing in the House of Representatives on the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, which was designed to protect and preserve our birds.
An important topic was the accidental killing of birds, which David explains is called “incidental taking” by the bureaucrats. As David wryly observes, “It is not incidental to the bird, just to the operation of the facility.”
Are you surprised that the hearing somehow managed to skip, bypass, or outright ignore the massive “incidental taking” of birds and bats by wind turbines?
Not only do wind turbines strike eagles, hawks, birds, and bats out of the sky, once you erect them, many species abandon the area, never to return.
Abundant, affordable electricity is essential to human well-being in a modern society. Wind and solar increase costs, weaken the grid, require 24/7 backup from reliable sources, and impose a far dirtier environmental footprint than their advocates would have you know.
Intermittent wind and solar should not get a pass on environmental rules that are zealously enforced against efficient energy sources.
