Vast wind energy proposal could kill endangered birds

[XemaSab]

The Obama administration is evaluating a plan to allow a 200-mile corridor for wind energy development from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico that would allow for killing endangered whooping cranes.

The government's environmental review will consider a permit sought by 19 energy developers that would permit turbines and transmission lines on non-federal lands in nine states from Montana to the Texas coast, overlapping with the migratory route of the cranes.

The permit from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service would allow the projects to "take" an unspecified number of endangered species. Under the Endangered Species Act, "take" is defined as killing or injuring an endangered species

The government can issue permits to kill or injure listed species with no penalties or risks of lawsuits to developers who agree to craft conservation plans.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/07/14/us-wind-energy-cranes-idUSTRE76D76I20110714

[bananas]

1. Global warming will kill a lot more. nt

[FBaggins]

3. Exactly.

Should be a net positive in the long run.

With the added benefit that the cranes are only a tiny fraction of the species that will benefit.

[Kolesar]

2. How many birds live on a crunched mountain in West Virginia?

Not as many as there used to be.