Clean Energy Producers Act of 2015 (H.R. 493): Eagle Slaughter Amnesty for Industrial Wind

By Jim Wiegand -- February 19, 2015

“When you can no longer hide and you have not obeyed the law, just ask your friends in Congress to bail you out. This is what this bill [H.R. 493] represents.”

For those that do not believe America has lost its way, all one has to do is look at the relationship between the wind industry and Washington D.C.  Unbiased observers will see a shell-game democracy funneling out untold billions for a highly destructive and inefficient “energy strategy.” One of the primary benefactors of this arrangement is a Washington-based group of panhandlers know as the wind industry. But this industry’s windfall set-up with Washington is threatened because word of wind power’s undisclosed impacts is reaching the public.

Profits at Risk

In the last several years it has come to the attention of the American people that the wind industry is not what it appears to be. Industry research has been rigged and this industry has been killing millions of highly protected species, including thousands of eagles, with their “green” eco-friendly turbines.

The public has also been made aware of the fact that there have been approximately 31,000 eagles sent to the Eagle Repository in Denver since 1997. The source of these carcasses has not been disclosed.

Finding an eagle carcass is a very rare event, so it is quite obvious that a large number of these eagle carcasses have come from around wind farms. After all, the most likely place for a person to ever find an eagle carcass is at or in the vicinity of a wind farm. These areas are patrolled regularly and turbines are well known killers of eagles.

Since 1997, orders filled by the Eagle Repository for eagle bodies and parts have increased by 366%, from 1213 in to 4438 in 2013.  Since 1997 a much higher percentage of the eagle carcasses received by the Eagle Repository are mutilated and parted out than in the past, a condition typically caused by wind turbine blade strikes. Also keep in mind that the regions that now ship the most eagle carcasses to the repository are the regions that have installed the most wind energy in eagle habitat since 2006.

This ugly secret of dead eagles had remained hidden for years behind rigged research and a culture of unaccountability created specifically by the Interior Department for the wind industry.

Dead eagles are just of small part of the fraud being put over on the public by the wind industry. This industry’s deception includes the slaughter of endangered species, hiding over 90% of turbine mortality, false energy projections, and the illusion that these inefficient turbines can magically fix climate.

But what makes all these eagles being killed by turbines so special is that their carcasses have left a clear trail to follow—an easy trail to follow, if Congress and the Interior Department had not put up road blocks. This carcass trail is not the only one because other highly protected species, which include endangered species and raptors, are being collected by the FWS and not accounted for.

It was not long ago, when far fewer wind turbines dotted the landscape, that wind turbines were listed by the FWS as one of the primary sources of eagle carcasses being sent to the National Eagle Repository, Denver. It was even proven in the 1990’s that wind turbines were the number one killer of eagles when placed in their habitat.

Below is a statement made by the FWS before they were censored about how deadly wind turbines are to eagles.

Eagles turned in to the repository typically have died of natural causes or fatal encounters with power lines, windmills, vehicles, or illegal shooters or trappers. The repository does not accept poisoned birds because of the hazard they pose to human health.

This slaughter did not deter this industry. In order to protect the wind industry’s heavily guarded secrets about eagle mortality, it armed themselves  with layers of gag orders, and voluntary regulations were put in place so the deception could continue. FWS agents were even silenced with new regulations and the threat of three years in prison.

As a result the public has been deliberately misled. Instead of hearing the truth about these turbines killing off species the public has been fed a steady diet of propaganda.  The ignorant public has been deliberately misled with deflective non-scientific research about other forms of bird mortality like cats, windows, communication towers, buildings, oil spills, coal plants etc. Much of this bogus research was created by many of the same shills that had been rigging wind industry mortality studies for years.

What all this deflective research left out was that all these factors contribute very little to eagle mortality and these factors have nothing to do with the wind industry’s eagle slaughter taking place on America’s ridgelines.

With the help the Interior Department, this dead eagle information and accountability for this slaughter has been very elusive. This industry was given voluntary regulations and this is the reason  Federal Fish and Wildlife Permit Applications and eagle take (kill) reports state “information requested in this form is purely voluntary.”  Even management activities associated with incidental take permits and habitat conservation plans (HCP) “to enhance, restore, or maintain habitat benefiting federally listed, proposed or candidate species” are voluntary. None of this protects wildlife from unethical profiteers.

The Sins of Omission … and Silence

Under this we won’t ask and you don’t tell arrangement the wind industry has succeeded to hide most of their horrendous turbine mortality impacts.

Only a few short years ago the endangered whooping crane population was expanding at a steady rate and the FWS proudly gave out accurate population numbers.  That all changed after 2007 when thousands of “green” and “clean energy” wind turbines invaded their extensive Central Flyway habitat.  This population did not fall prey to cats, windows, communication towers, buildings, oil spills, coal plants etc. They fell prey to profits, and like many species they have been put on a fast track to extinction. This is especially true for the highly vulnerable endangered species living in Hawaii.

These are some of the hideous truths about this industry and now that this green energy fraud is starting to unravel, swelling numbers of law abiding citizens will be demanding accountability.

For the industry it means windfall profits will disappear. Enter H.R. 493.

H.R. 493: Clean Energy Producers Act of 2015 

When you can no longer hide and you have not obeyed the law, just ask your friends in Congress to bail you out. This is what this Bill represents.

H.R.493 Official Text    

A  Bill To update avian protection laws in order to support an all-of-the-above domestic energy strategy, and for other purposes.

1.Short title

This Act may be cited as the:

Clarification of Legal Enforcement Against Non-criminal Energy Producers Act of 2015 or the CLEAN Energy Producers Act of 2015

To update avian protection laws in order to support an all-of-the-above domestic energy strategy, and for other purposes.

[New wording of note that dramatically change wildlife protection laws]

Permits for incidental take Section 1 of the Act of June 8, 1940 (chapter 278;  16 U.S.C. 668), popularly known as the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act, is amended by adding at the end the following:

 (d) Permits for incidental take

Upon submission of a substantially completed application, the Secretary shall issue or deny an eagle take permit for no less than 30 years under section 22.26 of title 50, Code of Federal Regulations that authorizes taking of any bald eagle or golden eagle that is incidental to, but not the purpose of, an otherwise lawful activity. Failure to issue or deny such a permit within a reasonable time (which shall not exceed one year) is deemed issuance of such permit, and the applicant shall not be subject to liability for any incidental take of a bald eagle or golden eagle that is in conformity with the information submitted to the Secretary as part of the application for the permit.

4. Migratory Bird Treaty Act

Section 6(a) of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (16 U.S.C. 707(a) is amended—(1) by striking shall the first and second place it appears and inserting shall with intent knowingly; and

(2) by adding at the end the following: For the purposes of this subsection, with intent knowingly does not include any taking, killing, or other harm to any migratory bird that is accidental or incidental to the presence or operation of an otherwise lawful activity.

What is Wrong, Deceptive About This Bill

1. Wind energy is not clean; it is highly destructive. Clean is unsoiled or uncontaminated.
2. This bill will remove legal enforcement pertaining to non-avian wildlife species harmed by industries claiming to be engaged in a legal activity.
3. This bill destroys avian protection laws clearing a path for all industries claiming to be engaged in a lawful activity. This includes the oil industry (spills), other energy destructive industries like solar, agriculture, logging, cattle ranching etc.
4. 4. R.493 brings amnesty to all the wind projects that have been operating fraudulently since the 1980’s.
5. Species extermination and extinction will now officially come second to industry profits.
6. Our domestic energy strategy is funneling billions upon billions of taxpayer dollars into an industry that is failing to meet the taxpayer needs. The profits given (not earned) to this industry for a far exceed the costs per kWh of other energy producers. Solar is even worse.
7. This bill fails to disclose that this industry has been operating secretly outside the law for decades and has been using rigged research to avoid persecution.
8. Information provided to the FWS by industry is voluntary. Information given on Incidental permits and applications is voluntary. Reporting dead eagles is voluntary and if for some reason it does get disclosed, business interests are protected and dead eagle information can remain confidential. 
9. This Bill will provide no accountability for 30 year eagle killing permits issued to the wind industry.
10. This bill fails to discuss that many other lawful activities in our society such as driving and gun possessions do have strict regulations with accountability. For these other activities mortality is not dismissed as being incidental and accidents carry liabilities. Mortality is also not confidential nor is it up to the discretion of a hit and run drivers to voluntarily decide if they should report any incidents.                                                                                                                                  

The Few “Benefits” of H.R. 493

Supporting Profits, and Lowering Accountability

1. This Bill if passed will probably reduce the need for the rigging mortality studies at wind farms because H.R. 493 will officially eliminate accountability. No matter how many of what species are being killed by turbines will not matter.
2. This Bill guarantees massive industry profits and unbridled expansion for an inefficient and incredibly expensive energy source.
3. This bill will endear supporting members of Congress to greedy unregulated profiteers.

How Important Is Wind Energy?

It is long past due that people started thinking clearly about how important wind energy really is to America’s energy strategy. This thinking should not be left to politicians and if the public is educated, Congress will have a much harder time deceiving the public.

As readers will find out below, in the big picture wind energy is “much ado about nothing”.

Every day Americans consume about  19 million barrels  of fossil fuels, 73.3 billion  cubic feet of natural gas, 2.7 million tons of coal, and about 2.2 billion kWh of nuclear energy. When  fossil fuel (37 kWh/gal), natural gas (0.29.kWh/cf), coal (3100 kWh/ton) and nuclear are converted to  kWh equivalents, the wind energy production today available to consumers amounts to a mere 0.36% of this energy consumption.

This figure could even be lower due to losses in wind energy transmission and other factors. These wind energy figures are based upon America’s 61,000 MW of installed capacity operating at 20% of capacity.   For the sake of comparison Europe’s turbines operate at about 19-20% of installed capacity.

Put in simpler terms, these other forms of energy production provide about 275 times the energy produced by wind. 

In 2015, total US liquid fuels (oil) consumption is forecast to grow by 290,000 bbl/d (1.4%). Once again when converted to kWh, just this increase in energy consumption far exceeds the production of kWh energy from every wind turbine spinning today in America.  With wind energy it has been this way for decades and this lack of production will continue indefinitely until we run out of room for these sprawling turbine projects or run out of money.

Now think about the destruction caused by wind energy along with all the precious species being slaughtered for this tidbit of “clean” energy.  This is not an energy strategy, it is a strategy set up for corporate profits and Swiss bank accounts.      

If this is truly a government by the people for the people and of the people this so called “Domestic energy strategy” gobbling up tax dollars, will be thoroughly analyzed. Congress will also give the American people an honest (not rigged) cost per kWh analysis for all energy sectors, so tax dollars can be fairly allocated.  Congress will also give the American people an actual species mortality per kWh analysis for all energy sectors, so tax dollars can be fairly allocated.

H.R.493, in sum, is an industry giveaway and should be rejected. A new Bill should be drafted to address our energy needs and not ignore the needs of the people or the world we live in.

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Jim Wiegand is an independent wildlife expert with decades of field observations and analytical work. He has devoted most of his life to researching, protecting and preserving species threatened by human encroachment and development.