We all know the federal government is so invested in "clean" energy that it will waste billions of dollars to prop up technology that can never deliver what is promised. Anybody suspect they'd go this far, though?
It's the not-so-green secret of the nation's wind-energy boom: Spinning turbines are killing thousands of federally protected birds, including eagles, each year.
Each death is a federal crime. And the Obama administration has prosecuted oil and power companies for such deaths.
But the administration has not prosecuted a single wind farm. An Associated Press investigation has found that it shields the industry from liability instead and helps keep the scope of the deaths secret.
The deaths force the Obama administration to choose between supporting wind energy and enforcing laws that could slow the industry's growth.
More than 573,000 birds are killed by the wind farms each year, according to an estimate in a scientific journal in March.
In other wind farm news, common sense seems to be slowly emerging in some places:
Many people living in a central Indiana county are organizing against construction of a proposed wind farm.
A Chicago-based company is seeking permission from Delaware County officials to build about 30 electricity-generating turbines in agricultural areas northeast of Muncie.
About 75 people attended a county plan commission meeting this month to voice objections to the plan, and project foe Kathy Gresh tells The Star Press (http://tspne.ws/100hX2C ) that about 125 people met last week to organize their opposition.
Alas, not in this neck of the woods:
The developer of a proposed wind farm in northeastern Indiana is increasing the number of turbines it wants to install as part of a $336 million complex on about 37,000 acres of land.
Apex Wind Energy of Charlottesville, Va., will present its new design to local officials next month and says it expects construction to begin by the end of the year.
