Harvesting Energy
Eastern Oregon could hold the key to meeting the world’s green goals
According to the Eastern Oregon:
Envision a possible future for Eastern Oregon. Along with the rolling hills of wheat, fields of onions, potatoes or peas and cattle ranches, stands another potential crop.
Energy.
Rising high, hundreds of feet in the air, wind turbines stretch their giant feathering propellers. They hum with the activity of transferring wind motion to energy. Many of the turbines huddle together to form an expansive forest covering the landscape.
[Turbines]…harness and pull the energy in all directions. It moves the energy to local municipalities no longer dependent on foreign or out-of-state sources.
“There’s more than enough renewable energy opportunity in Eastern Oregon than is needed to meet all of our heating cooling industrial and transportation needs for the state,” said Chris Dymond, an energy analyst with the Oregon Department of Energy.
Unfortunately, radical environmental groups oppose, yes, even wind.
As wind power is becoming increasingly successful, radical groups oppose its expansion in the Columbia River Gorge’s shrub steppes because of potential danger to birds, including the golden eagle. In the Northwest it is reported that about 1.9 birds are killed per turbine per year. The Predatory Bird Research Group at the University of California, Santa Cruz conducted a three-year study of golden eagle mortality from wind turbines and concluded, “the population of golden eagles…remains intact.” According to Greenpeace, “Studies show that for every 10,000 bird fatalities, less than one is caused by wind turbines. For comparison, cats cause about 10 percent of bird deaths and nearly half are caused by collisions with buildings or windows.”
Fundamentally, why is this? Is it ignorance? Is it misguided benevolence? Why would an organization oppose renewable energy?
