Friday, June 10, 2011

KILLING MACHINES

When driving east from San Bernardino, on what is now I-10, you were once able to view some beautiful California desert scenery with a majestic Mount San Jacinto in the background as you neared the vicinity of Palm Springs. That is no longer true.

When I first started out with the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department, I worked as a patrol officer in the Banning-Palm Springs-Indio area. At the time I really enjoyed the painting-like beauty of a colorful desert with its mountain backdrop. Today that once beautiful view is obscured by the San Gorgonio Pass Wind Farm of more than 3,000 wind turbines.

Forget the visual pollution. Of greater concern is the fact that, throughout the U.S., those wind turbines have become killing machines. They are killing countless birds, from the small variety to the majestic eagle. And yesterday I received a notice from Bat Conservation International that the bat population is being endangered because so many bats are being killed by wind farms.

I hope this makes all the renewable energy freaks happy.

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