Forty three years ago, I testified at my first Congressional hearing, in favor of a wilderness area in Utah. This did not make me popular with the local landowners.
After that, I fought for the Clean Air Act and volunteered two summers as a wilderness ranger for the USFS in New Mexico. I still ride my bicycle for all of my local transport and do everything I can to work towards a clean, healthy environment for people and wildlife.
That is one of my primary motivations for fighting the global warming crooks who have hijacked the environmental movement.
The US Park Service says that there are twenty thousand Golden Eagles in the western US
The most recent survey of Golden Eagles across four large Bird Conservation Regions (BCRs) in the West (80 percent of the species’ range in the lower 48 states is in these BCRs) provided an estimate of 20,722 Golden Eagles of all ages across the survey area.
www.fws.gov/windenergy/docs/Golden_Eagle_Status_Fact_Sheet.pdf
The Altamont Pass wind farm kills one Golden Eagle every three days, which means they have killed more than 10% of the population.
Dr. Shawn Smallwood’s 2004 study, spanning four years, estimated that California’s Altamont Pass wind “farm” killed an average of 116 Golden Eagles annually (2). This adds up to 2,900 dead “goldies” since it was built 25 years ago.
US windfarms kill 10-20 times more than previously thought | Save the Eagles International
Greens want to put these impenetrable death traps up all over the country, causing the extinction of large bird species – which have little chance of flying through a wind farm safely.
Turbine blades are as long as a football field, and travel more than 100 miles per hour. They create low pressure in their wake, which sucks flying creatures in and then decapitates them, like ISIS terrorists.
GOLDEN EAGLES FACE EXTINCTION IN U.S. AS NUMBERS PLUMMET, NEW STUDIES REVEAL
By Miriam Raftery
January 6, 2012 (San Diego’s East County) – San Diego County’s 48 pairs of nesting golden eagles and even rarer bald eagles could be in peril if proposed industrial-scale wind farms are built. In a press release issued today, Save the Eagles International (STEI) issued a dire warning, providing detailed documentation proving that golden eagles and their nests are disappearing rapidly near wind farms across the U.S.
The group also blasted the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service for changing its mission from protecting wildlife to “catering to the interests of an industry” that is a “ruinous one to boot.”
Although the studies focused on golden eagles, if no major action is taken, wind turbines’ razor-sharp blades will also threaten the existence of other species, STEI predicts.
The international group “solemnly warns the Western States that the biologically-blind policies will cause the extinction of the Golden Eagle, the California Condor, and other species of raptors.” Also at risk are species in Eastern and Central states, such as the Whooping Crane.
GOLDEN EAGLES FACE EXTINCTION IN U.S. AS NUMBERS PLUMMET, NEW STUDIES REVEAL | East County Magazine
President Obama has put in place a policy which greatly increases the likelihood of extinction of these birds. Green groups applaud him, because they are being paid millions of dollars by big green energy interests to remain silent about this environmental disaster.
Education is the solution to everything … according to the Left… Education and more Taxes…
So why not implement “Safe Flying Classes” for these Birds… Educate them … Tax the evil Corporate Wind Farm to pay for these Free Classes…
Classes like “How to navigate a Wind Farm 101 and the Advanced 201 class”.
… more upper Level classes and a BS could be earned by all Eagles, Cranes, Condors, Ducks… Advanced Aerodynamics…. Feathered Flight for Dummies… How and Where to Poop at low Altitude Flight…
Education is the Key here my Friends… Education and more Taxes… lets Tax these Wind Farms out of existence… 20 million fine for every Bird murdered… decapitated… like Obama said.. “You can still own a coal plant… it’ll just be too expensive to run”..
I live nearby… with you’re support I’ll go out and start issuing fines to these evil Corporations … racist Corporations and people singling out and executing specific species…
Too bad we can’t fine the government, instead.
I was and am an environmentalist but am not and will never be a Stalinist.
I deeply regret Stalin and his buddies took control of the environmentalist movement in the United States after WWII.
I appreciate your lifetime of environmental advocacy, but as a native Utahn we are still grappling with having over 70% of our total land area owned by the Federal Government. There are times when federal ownership is good, such as the National Parks that have been developed and opened for millions of visitors from around the globe. But most of the land that has been “locked up” by the federal government has not been developed and has simply been made inaccessible to everyone, including locals.
Utah is considered to be “fly-over country” by most Americans, the problem with locking up so much land area is that it turns it into “fly-over country” for locals as well. The article you posted talks about how one of the first impacts of locking up the area would be that a proposed scenic road would be stopped. I guess if you’re into horseback riding and 14 day camping trips through the wilderness that wouldn’t be a problem. But most people can’t do that, and blocking access roads just makes the areas totally inaccessible. If you happen to have a disability and are confined to a wheel chair, good luck ever seeing 99% of the federally owned land around you.
The conflict came to a head when Washington couldn’t agree on a budget and the government was shut down. Most of the largesse kept operating as “essential”, but the national monuments and national parks were scheduled for closure. The entire premise of having a national park is to make sure it remains open and accessible to everyone. If the federal government shuts down and locks the gates, they are undermining the entire rationale behind setting the area aside to begin with. I guarantee that the state and local areas would never consider locking the gates, they heavily rely on the money tourists bring into their local economies. It’s emblematic of the problem with having over 70% of your state owned by someone else and out of your control.
http://wilderness.org/sites/default/files/all_us_public_lands_0.jpg
Private landowners have wrecked Colorado. Around Fort Collins you have to drive for tens of miles just to get to public lands where you can shoot.
I went to the University of Utah for college, and they are having serious problems with parking. It is mostly a commuter school, some students live on campus but most drive in from remote areas.
On the East side they have “Upper Campus” with the medical school, hospitals, and medical research. This area has grown dramatically over the last 20 or 30 years, but the only parking available is a tiny strip of parking lots going up into the foothills. Right beside the parking the area is completely empty, with wild grass growing all the way up the side of the mountain, and a few dirt trails crisscrossing the area. Instead of simply adding one more strip of parking another 30 feet up the hill, they have instead chosen to built very costly parking garages. The ultimate reason is that the foothills are federal land, and are not available for any development whatsoever.
There is no common sense applied, the ares are locked up for no apparent reason. Having an extra 30 feet of wilderness area going up the mountainside provides zero benefit, but locking it up causes very serious hardship on lots of students and workers that are required to be there but are not provided free or affordable parking despite the expansive unused land area right beside them.
Pffft! Private lands trump government lands. I fired off 3 shots from my patio door 2 nights ago, to scare off a feral cat that was harassing the wildlife on my property. I shoot clays in the backyard, and we have an ATF weekend out here at least once every year. Get out of the city, you will live longer, have more freedom, and be happy. 🙂
I own 23 acres of forest and fields with tons of hunting and this is a great supply source for tasty meat. Few neighbors is a bonus.
Amen sister!
Perhaps accessibility is NOT the goal…. Perhaps it’s isolation.
When each state can control it’s own territory (and the waters flowing into it) everything works better. The Federal Gov is too big and removed from most people and still it seeks more power over and control of everything and everyone.
You don’t have to fly over, you can walk, and if the gates are closed, you walk around them. To me wilderness means you walk, or float, although I’ve driven the White Rim Trail in Canyonlands NP and that seemed a derivative of wilderness as well.
Also “flown over” en route to a rafting put in for a private trip down Cataract Canyon.
https://geosciencebigpicture.files.wordpress.com/2015/04/100_1395.jpg
The same year Tony testified I walked Escalante Canyon. Sorry, I was young then and took no pictures.
Pity is, the “wild ” west is gone forever. We would all have it back if we could, but wilderness is now the best we can do.
You-know-who is going to have a fit. 😆
9600 windmills = 1 nuclear plant.
It takes 300 sq. miles of windmills to equals 1 conventional plant. To supply Ca. power, take a mile wide swath from SF to LA, multiply by 30, = Ca power needs.
Doesn’t it seem odd and devious how they dismiss and ignore the destruction of our national symbol?
Thanks, Steve/Tony for this thread. I appreciate your background. I have tried to do the same (comparably very small) in the classroom.
I have learned a whole bunch in the last few minutes.
Also, kudos to all who posted here, from one who is also very much considered living in a fly over Zone.
Regarding Minnesota’s 10,000 lakes, (actually about 15,000); there was equal or greater acreage in sloughs and marshes. (Which I still much prefer) But well over 50% of that type of land has been drained and converted to crop land. So have some small lakes.
Much of that happened with the advent of federal rules that require the use of alcohol in fuels. That drove the price of corn and in tandem soy beans and therefore the price of land to unheard of values.
Prices have dropped recently.
These “believers” lack morals while denigrating honest people. “Do not give false witness against your neighbor” and “do not lie”? I support a non-profit called the Innocence Project. Using suppressed evidence and often DNA, they have exonerated many innocent people. The AGW religion convicts innocent people and incriminates CO2 for crimes it never committed. They care only for their own egos.
“There are six things which the LORD hates; yes, seven which are an abomination to Him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that run rapidly to evil, a false witness who utters lies, and one who spreads strife among brothers.” Proverbs 6:16-19
Yes, God hates sin. And God told Moses that we are not to bear false witness against our neighbors, He did not forbid lying to protect the innocent from evil. Therefore God hates it when His children bear false witness against their neighbors, and not all lies in general.
It is really very simple, if you understand that “Thou shalt not lie” was not part of the Ten Commandments, it is a misinterpretation of God’s word. The original Hebrew is very clear on this.
And this misinterpretation likely arose purposely under monarchies (but then even King James version gets it right, “Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour”), authorities who wanted their subjects to tell them whatever they wanted to know.
It is the second part, “against thy neighbor”, that qualifies the commandment. When the Nazi’s came to Anne Frank’s door and asked if she was aiding Jews and she replied, “No”, she was not bearing false witness against her neighbor. Anne Frank was a liar at times, but a great follower of God, and did not bear false witness against her neighbors (that I know of).
Another example of misinterpreting the Ten Commandments is, “Thou shalt not kill”. That is not what the original Hebrew says. It says “You shall murder not”, or in Hebrew “??? ????????”.
Killing, and lying, are permissible when it is in defense of the innocent.
These misinterpretations are often used by atheists to confuse, and cry ‘hypocrite’.
But truth, the original word of God, always wins.
It is important that liberals feel warm inside about producing token amounts of “clean energy”, even if they mindlessly wipe out thousands of birds in the process.
I’ve been contemplating how wind turbines kill birds. The blades don’t leave low pressure in their wake. Like an aircraft propeller, they have low pressure forward of the blade travel with higher pressure slightly behind the blades. I suspect it has a lot more to do with the tip vortices. With aircraft, controllers leave about a 3 mile separation from airliner to light aircraft in part because of wing tip vortices. They hold together for a long time and are just like whirlpools in the air as high pressure air wants to travel to low pressure air at the tips of the airfoils. On wind turbines, they’d twist downwind in a screw-like fashion for quite a distance, particularly at optimum wind conditions. Any birds caught up in these rotors, even at moderate distances, would be in danger of getting wings and necks broken, especially something with a bit of momentum like an eagle.
I notice that modern airliners have a turned up wing tip to help reduce that vortex and also improves the efficiency of the aircraft. There’s probably ways to put some sort of alternative design of blade tip on a wind turbine as well.
Mind you, takes another 25 years and 3000 eagles to figure out if you got the shape right. Even once the optimum shape is figured out, still won’t be completely safe for birds.
Wind turbines are ugly, inefficient, noisy and cannot generate meaningful amounts of electricity that can be stored efficiently (in lead acid car batteries as direct current). It still has to be converted to AC to be sent any distance and used.
Can you imagine what the blight on the landscape will be when actual economics demonstrates the absurdity of these turbines and they are abandoned. They will be rusting, decaying behemoths, like something following a battle in War of the Worlds, and will provide stark reminders of our insanity.
Now that Tony has stolen the CO2 capture device market from Mike and me, I plan to start a new company that will offer to remove these rusting, decaying behemoths. It will keep me busy for decades.
Unfortunately, Tony, the windmill is the opposite of an airplane propeller. It is driven, rather than driving, hence the higher pressure is forward of the windmill blade.
Tip vortices will be the same, however, and their strength will depend on the amount of power being produced by the windmill.
Thanks. I thought too much about it and had it all screwed up. Had it muddled with low pressure in front of the movement of the blade and high pressure behind it: the plane of movement that is.
Utah isn’t “fly over” country to me. It’s a state filled with natural wonders and fantastic geography, paleo wonders and living flora and fauna.
To me, the coasts are flyover country, or no-go zones.
http://images.sodahead.com/polls/004540263/1411143087_10216_xlarge.jpeg
As a young man I spent my summers cleaning up America’s first congressionally designated national park for the preservation of a wild river system. The area had been logged in the late 19th and early 20th century to the point where all the hillsides were barren, then used as a dump by locals for decades. Originally it had been all pine forest, and has grown back as mixed hardwoods. Journals of the original settlers described pine savannas with trees so large that there was hardly any underbrush, and trees wide enough apart to drive oxcarts through. The rivers were silt bottomed, and forest floors 2 feet deep with pine straw. There are still a few old growth sections of pine, but not many.
Then came the loggers. Old black and white photos show a river system surrounded by miles of stumps, and log rafts being guided downstream. It was so bad, that in the 1920’s, if someone spotted a deer, it was front page news in the local papers. Erosion then allowed the rock from the hillsides to fill the stream beds, and created gravel bars.
By the time I got involved, the forests had grown back. But decades of DIY erosion control and inaccessibility to trash pickup had led to scores of old cars, appliances, scrap metal, tires and even kitchen sinks to be used, and had become an eyesore. I spent about 6 or 7 summers teamed up with scouts and church groups, pulling out the big pieces first, and by the end we were diving for shiny objects that were getting harder and harder to find (big scores were cold six packs from overturned novice canoers. Today those rivers are a testament to what America has learned about reclaiming and conserving resources, and is one of the most beautiful rivers I have ever seen.
http://www.markpeltonphotos.com/img/s3/v39/p259699111-3.jpg
https://exploretheozarks.files.wordpress.com/2011/06/welchspring01.jpg
https://fllog.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/f24_pulltitepano.jpg
https://urbanrangercorps.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/current-river-085.jpg
It is entirely spring fed, except for one small creek until it joins another river about 60 miles from its source. It is similar in geology to the Grand Canyon, in that it was a meandering river that cut into a rising plateau, making for deeply entrenched canyons.
As a nation, we have done such a spectacular job of cleaning up our messes, that the EPA now has to go after CO2, or become irrelevant.
Across the globe, true developed democracies despite their industry and need for more electric power, from Israel, to the US have cleaner environments than the countries under totalitarian systems. The environmental damage that occurred during the reign of the Warsaw Pact will take several more generations to clean up, IF it is done even then.
Can you tell the “developed democracy” from the “totalitarians”?
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-WMupH-VjOho/VCBt8KT5VGI/AAAAAAAABQU/NC_81-ZgHho/s1600/SUPERMURDER-RALLY-PIX2.png
An identical contrast can be seen in photos after Tea Party gatherings and after the Occupy demonstrations from a few years ago.
My sister-in-law volunteers as an information booth attendant for visitors to DC whenever there is a rally/event. The non-profit rotates volunteers to hand out city maps and answer questions, and they do not get to pick which rallies they work. So she has worked everything from pro-life to pro-choice, and unions to the Tea Party. She knew nothing about the Tea Party before she worked that rally (she is a very busy woman with a home based business). Last time I visited my brother, who lives just outside DC, my sister-in-law just gushed at how polite and friendly the Tea Party attendees were, she said she has never seen nicer people on the mall before, or since.
My brother’s family also witnessed Obama’s inauguration and the Beck rally, and said Beck’s crowd was not only more civilized, but larger.
Gator,
First, thank you for relaying your your sister-in-law’s personal story. Her experience has been witnessed many times all over the U.S. Yet the national media have hardly bothered to tell the public the the truth about the Tea parties. But why would they? They were complicit in purveying a politically-motivated hit job on the Tea Parties.
For years, Tea party gatherings have had conservative African-American speakers – all over the U.S. I have been to them. Yet most Americans (the non-political, left-leaning-to-moderate general public who get their news from CNN/NBC/ABC/CBS/PBS/HuffPo and Comedy Central) know nothing about the Tea Parties, and they think that the attendees are racist bigots.
Somebody filmed a racist’s booth at a political gathering, where he sold racist bumper stickers, and that made national news. Democrats planted fake racists for the cameras at Tea Parties and other political gatherings in 2010. The connection was made – the ‘Tea-Parties-are-racist’ message stuck. Most Americans know nothing about those Democrat plants, even though some were caught and exposed. The national media couldn’t be bothered with setting the record straight. Crickets. It was a false meme, purposeful and deliberate – a politically-motivated hit job.
The MSM were complicit in spreading propaganda. My blood pressure ticks up every time I think about it.
@Disillusioned
You can count on this happening at just about every political rally these days. There was a Bilderburger conference in Montreal. Protesters were protesting peacefully. Then fights broke out and cops were clubbing people. This was at the start of the cellphone photo/vid craze, so the agents provocateurs didn’t realize they were being filmed. And identified. Great payback.
gator69, where is that place? Nice shots.
“the EPA now has to go after CO2, or become irrelevant.”
The actual history of it is Enron. in 1990, Enron made $20 billion from cap-and-trade on sulphur dioxide. They tried to figure out what could replicate it. They hit on CO2, but couldn’t figure out how to demonize it. Enter Al Gore.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Current_River_%28Missouri%29
I recommend late April to Early may, or the last weekend in October. If you go during peak season, it is packed.
Stay in or around Eminence, or the Pulltite Campground…
http://www.recreation.gov/camping/pulltite/r/campgroundDetails.do?contractCode=NRSO&parkId=75221
… and for God’s sake don’t miss Alley Spring…
http://www.naturallyamazing.com/americasparks/2532.jpg
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ieB8vnFSIjs/SiRDDbkdfeI/AAAAAAAAAAU/E1hph1TyUiU/s400/5-21-09-10+Alley+Spring+%26+Mill.JPG
You will never regret it, and will likely return more than once.
Beautiful!
Fabulous.
How’s the fishing?
Good trout fishing at the source (Montauk Springs) and just downstream from it. The rest is not bad, but the water is so clear, you have to know what you are doing.
http://www.montaukpark.com/
Unseasonably wintry weather hits parts of Japan
NHK — APR 08
Many areas of eastern and northern Japan are seeing unseasonably wintry weather on Wednesday.
The Meteorological Agency says the chilly weather is being caused by a cold air mass. It says temperatures are expected to remain low throughout the day.
Snow and sleet fell in many areas in the morning in the Kanto Region, even in low-lying areas.
Weather officials say 2 centimeters of snow fell in Utsunomiya, north of Tokyo.
Snow was also recorded in central Tokyo. This is the first time in 5 years that Tokyo has seen snow in April.
– See more at: http://newsonjapan.com/html/newsdesk/article/112074.php#sthash.j2SNltqA.dpuf
In the 60’s I was a hardcore environmentalist that took on real issues of pollution. I won an award for learning scuba diving, wrapping a camera in plastic and making a super 8 film called “The Beer That Made Milwaukee Famous”. It showed the foam and disgusting refuse left in many Milwaukee creeks and rivers. My jacket had the old green American flag with the “E” symbol for stars. As a result, many of the water sources were cleaned up and now are healthy. That is a realistic approach to a clean environment. Not the money grubbing scams of today. My golden rule? Don’t crap in your house. The earth breathes and adjusts. It has “F” all to do with more taxes.
The environmental movement has produced tremendous successes. But with most of the glaring problems already addressed, some are trying to gin up the same level of passion for minor or non-issues.
I see some similarities with the Civil Rights movement. No, a cop shooting someone that assaulted him while high after committing a strong-arm robbery is NOT just like Selma. Too many people trying to re-live the glory days, not enough common sense.
EPA head Gina McCarthy testified before the Senate Enviornment and Public Works committee that these new CO2 regulations aren’t about pollution control. Of course they aren’t, any more than trying to regulate water vapor would be. I think the modern environmental movement is ignorant about the true achievements of the past environmental movement, or what a true environmental catastrophe even is.
The environmental movement has produced tremendous successes. But with most of the glaring problems already addressed, some are trying to gin up the same level of passion for minor or non-issues.
Question. What is a major non-issue? 😉
Global Warming/Climate Change?
Giant midgets?
CO2-centric man-made global warming/climate change is an acutely major non-issue.
Or a giant midget.
Giganism in midgets is serious issue.
Excuse me, Gigantism in midgets is serious issue.
I’m hoping for a cure, there is nothing sadder than a tall midget.
Oh I don’t know. My wife is 4′ 10 1/2″ and she is pretty darn happy. No signs of dwarfism but based on the criteria of her height she could be considered a giant midget.
“nothing sadder than a tall midget.”
Especially when you’re thinking of mental capacity.
On the major issue scale, simultaneous dwarfism and gigantism ranks right down there with CO2-induced, runaway global warming (that has been deep sea diving over the past 18 years).
Only one of these serious problems has attracted $billions for research, models and all kinds of expensive panaceas to fix it.
Both should be taken just as seriously as the other. ;-P
Really great post! I personally had no idea that Golden Eagles were being killed by windmills. This idea has legs, it will resonate…
Try and wrap you mind around the fact that if you took feathers from these sanctioned eagle-kills and gave them to someone in power you could find yourself in prison. Remember back in the 90s when someone gave an Indian head dress with an eagle feather in it to Hillary Clinton, she had them prosecuted.
I have mixed feeling about the Escalante NM. I like it, I’m leaving in a week and will spend about a month in and around it staying at some of the facilities and in Moab. But it ws implemented witout regard to the vast majority of the citizens views. In fact as I remember Clinton dedicated it from Arizona because the people of Utah were so angry at the back door deal. Something like this should take place in the sunlight and be subject to years of open discussion and consent of the governed. Also it was a fatal stab in the heart to many land owners in Utah who were simply robbed. So I will go and enjoy it, be happy that it is there and yet wish it had happened in a more democratic and honest way. I don’t like the government to govern against the people and we seem to be experiencing more and more of this.
Donations increased when the Audubon Society declared 314 bird species “on the brink” from climate change.
http://www.audubon.org/magazine/september-october-2014/a-storm-gathers-north-american-birds
No mention of wind turbines chopping raptors.
How do you know the so-called scientists who claim wind farms cause bird deaths aren’t just eco-stooges? Birds died before humans were ever on the planet — now you’re saying that humans are responsible for bird deaths? It makes no sense. I bet some of those supposed experts have flown in airplanes, which also kill lots of birds.
Since when is science ever “settled”?