Trump vowed to halt offshore wind energy projects on day 1

[bluemingidiot]

Donald Trump has vowed to immediately halt offshore wind energy projects “on day one” of a new term as US president, in his most explicit threat yet to the industry and the latest in a series of promises to undo key aspects of the transition to cleaner energy.

This is the latest in a series of promises to undo key aspects of the transition to cleaner energy.

“They destroy everything, they’re horrible, the most expensive energy there is,” Trump said of the wind turbines. “They ruin the environment, they kill the birds, they kill the whales.”

Trump, who has long complained that wind turbines ruin the view from his golf course in Scotland, has repeatedly railed against the US’s nascent offshore wind industry.

I don't know about whales, but wind turbines do kill birds.  "studies gave a wide range for the number of birds that die in wind turbine collisions each year: from 140,000 up to 679,000. The numbers are likely to be higher today, because many more wind farms have been built in the past decade."

But if Donald is so concerned about saving our birds, and I hope he is, I have a better suggestion for his attention on day one: "Collisions with vehicles are believed to be among the top five direct causes of bird mortality in the United States. A recent study estimated that between 89 million and 340 million birds die annually in vehicle collisions on U.S. roads."

The lights on wind turbines at night are awesome.

[bluemingidiot]

"There are no known links between large whale deaths and ongoing offshore wind activities."

www.fisheries.noaa.gov/new-england-mid-atlantic/marine-life-distress/frequent-questions-offshore-wind-and-whales

In Europe, where offshore wind has been developed for more than three decades, national agencies also have not found causal links between wind farms and whale deaths.

This sounds like something Biden would say.

[bluemingidiot]

OTOH

It was found that the Deepwater Horizon "oil spill has likely harmed or killed approximately 82,000 birds of 102 species, approximately 6,165 sea turtles, and up to 25,900 marine mammals, including bottlenose dolphins, spinner dolphins, melon-headed whales and sperm whales."

Even if actual figures are half these amounts, it is going to take wind turbines a long time to catch up

[Maura]

If wind turbines are killing so many birds, wouldn't it be reasonable to find a solution. Blinking lights, weird sounds,...

[bluemingidiot]

Those are being tried.

www.robinradar.com/5-technologies-for-reducing-bird-mortality-at-wind-farms

"Before construction, wind companies survey sites, and can place fewer turbines in areas most important for habitat, or leave those areas alone entirely. Scientists have found that painting one blade of a turbine black, which can increase visibility, can reduce bird fatalities by more than 70 percent."