The Government wants your wind.
The government has wasted millions and millions of dollars promoting the Greens' renewable energy agenda. This garbage has been foisted upon us via coercion, taxation, subsidies, and political favors. The clash over wind power, however, has been between the envirocommunists - who are clearly agitating for the elimination of private property rights - and the conservationists, who are worried that too many birds are taking it on the chin.
The envirocommunists have countered that, no, wind power doesn't really present a problem for wildlife. (See the June 2005 article from New Scientist where a "study" undertaken by an envirocommunist institute revealed the preferred outcome for environmentalists.)
Well lookee here -- Rep. Nick Rahall, chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee, wants to "strictly regulate" out of existence that which the government strictly regulated and subsidized into existence in the first place: wind power.
Congress has encouraged this renewable energy as oil prices have skyrocketed, creating incentives for the industry and promoting its benefits. But some lawmakers are concerned about the effects on wildlife.
Rahall’s proposal, included in a larger energy bill, would direct the Fish and Wildlife Service to publish standards for siting, construction and monitoring of wind projects so that they do not harm wildlife. Violators could go to prison.
“I suspect that wind projects are on a regular basis in violation of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act and the Endangered Species Act, yet no enforcement action is being taken,” he said at a recent hearing on the issue.
I'm sure that legislation like this won't be a breeze to pass off, whether it blows or not. In fact, I suspect that it won't matter which way the wind blows on this issue because the crosswinds of political pandering are starting to gust here and there, and are causing all sorts of mean-spirited squalls between competing special interests.
