In an era when global warming is increasingly seen as the number one problem facing the nation, and our president has said we are addicted to foreign oil, the last thing we need is legislation that would cripple the wind industry. Rep. Nick Rahall (D-WV) , a man known for his support of large coal subsidies and who once said about coal “For so many, filthy coal is a dirty four-letter word, these individuals, I tell you, have their heads buried in the sand.” (via) has just introduced a bill (H.R. 2337 full text of bill .txt file) that would place enormous, wrong-headed restrictions on America’s growing wind energy efforts. If enacted, the bill would severely hurt farmers, ranchers and other landowners who have – or want to have – clean, income-producing, wind energy turbines on their property.

Anti-Wind Energy Section of H.R. 2337, establishes onerous standards for siting, construction, monitoring, and adaptive management that must be satisfied by all wind projects to avoid, minimize, and mitigate adverse impacts on migratory birds and bats despite the fact that wind turbines cause less than 0.003% of human-cause bird mortality.

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