Terahertz

A few days ago I reported that Ed Stelmach arbitrarily stated “wind turbines kill 30,000 birds per year,” however there is a reference for this: (Emma Marris & Daemon Fairless “Wind farms’ deadly reputation hard to shift” Nature vol. 447 no. 7141 p. 126.). I said that his numbers were a lie, however that was wrong, the point I was making however, remains.

It state’s that it takes “30 wind turbines to kill a bird per year” (the correction notes that this figure is only for raptors, the total birds/turbine total per year is 4.27).

It’s conclusion is however:

In the final analysis, though, whichever way you slice it, or them, America’s birds seem to die in turbine blades at a rate no higher than 40,000 a year. Deaths due to domestic cats, on the other and, are put at “hundreds of millions”. It is possible, the panel noted, that the turbines are rather worse for bats; recent studies have turned up more of their carcasses than expected. But the numbers are still small.

And this little gem comes at the end of the article:

But Rick Koebbe, president of PowerWorks, a California firm that owns turbines in Altamont, argues that this should be put into context. “I heard that over 1,000 birds a year run into the Washington Monument. Should we tear that down? We’re out here trying to do a job to save the Earth. We even save birds, since they are twice as vulnerable to pollution as humans.”

The point is, Mr. Stelmach, that measures are being taken to prevent unnessary bird deaths (sonar, etc.), and these will prevent future tradgedies in tar ponds and turbine towers. However, in the Syncrude example, they failed to meet the regulations, and many birds died. The deaths themselves exemplify the horrendous safety record and atrocious environmental damage that the tar sands are taken on our environment, and that is why it is media worthy.