License to Kill

According to a study in the Wildlife Society Bulletin, wind turbines kill 573,000 birds and 888,000 bats every year. At one solar power plant in California, an estimated 3,500 birds died in just the plant’s first year of operation.

To add insult to injury, the Obama Administration finalized a regulation that allows wind energy companies and others to obtain 30-year permits to kill eagles without prosecution by the federal government in December of 2013. This “license to kill” often allows wind and solar companies to avoid punishment for their murderous tendencies, while oil and electric generating companies are forced to pay heavy fines for accidental bird deaths.

Click here to read IER’s full analysis on wind and solar’s propensity for decimating birds and bats – and why they so often go unpunished by the federal government.