Of the many animals currently listed as being at varying levels of endangerment, some of the greatest attention has been paid to the largest raptors, including the California condor and the bald and golden eagles. The bald eagles have thankfully made a significant comeback in many parts of the country and the condor population has at least stabilized over the past couple of decades. But the golden eagles are in sharp decline. And yet, American wildlife officials are bringing fewer and fewer cases against people who kill golden eagles. Perhaps the reason for that is the fact that the golden eagles are increasingly being destroyed by wind turbines. And nobody seems to be interested in prosecuting the companies who build them in the birds’ native habitats and breeding grounds. (Associated Press)

Criminal cases brought by U.S. wildlife officials for killing or harming protected bald and golden eagles dropped sharply in recent years, even as officials ramped up issuing permits that will allow wind energy companies to kill thousands of eagles without legal consequence.

The falloff in enforcement of eagle protection laws — which accelerated in the Trump administration and has continued under President Joe Biden — was revealed in U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service data obtained by The Associated Press.

It comes amid growing concern that a proliferation of wind turbines to feed a growing demand for renewable energy is jeopardizing golden eagle populations already believed to be declining in some areas.

There are currently dozens of permits for new wind farms that have either already been approved or are expected to be put through. Wildlife officials estimate that as many as 6,000 golden eagles will be chopped up in the blades. There have been a couple of hundred permits for wind turbine construction that have been denied, largely because of local protests. But in some places, including New Jersey, controversial laws have been passed allowing the state to override local legislators and zoning boards and force through the permits anyway.

There is a definite pattern on display here. If you want to build an oil or natural gas pipeline and there’s a prairie fringed orchid growing within ten miles of the route or a black-footed ferret den anywhere in the county, you’ll be shut down in a heartbeat. But if you want to put up a wind turbine that will turn 6,000 of the remaining golden eagles into stuffing for pillows, you’re good to go, mate. These are the politics of convenience when it comes to liberals and conservationists.

Of course, we’ve seen the exact same thing happening to the “Save the Whales” movement which was an issue with broad bipartisan support for many years. Liberal activists in groups like Greenpeace have risked their lives to take ships and run them up against whaling vessels. And yet we have wind farm construction teams blasting the ocean floor with sonic booms that are driving the right whales to extinction. (There are currently only 70 reproductive female right whales believed to be left in the ocean.) But you barely hear a peep out of anyone about it and the wind farm projects move forward.

There’s a solar plant in California that incinerates up to 6,000 birds per year when they fly through the concentrated beam of sunlight it creates. Even the large farms of solar panels kill countless birds that mistake them for bodies of water and smash into them.

But don’t let any of that bother you. That’s just the tithe that must be paid at the altar of the Climate God. Any “approved” form of green energy must be advanced, no matter the cost to the environment or the failing power grid. Meanwhile, the left is still fighting tooth and claw to prevent new nuclear plants from being approved despite the fact that it’s a carbon-free energy source and they rarely kill any animals aside from some crabs that get stuck in their water intake grates. (Okay… one of them almost did kill a scuba diver once, but you get the point.) The hypocrisy on display is simply stunning. But you’ll never hear a word about it from the current EPA or the Department of Energy.