California Fried Wildlife - Granite Grok

California Fried Wildlife

Mike covered this a while back, (maybe he can add the link I can’t find here).  Massive solar farms kill tens of thousands of bird annually.  Workers call them ‘Steamers’ for the rapid evacuation of moisture, previously keeping the bird alive, that escapes as the critter is quick-fried in flight before the carcass drops to earth.

Recent news of this environmental “catastrophe” comes to us on an in-flight Bird Cooker in the Mojave Desert…

The facility has concerned environmentalists in the past, as its construction bladed over 3,500 acres of virgin desert. Being California, the state government required BrightSource to relocate a bunch of desert gopher tortoises to the tune of $22 million. The installation also endangers pilots flying the busy Los Angeles–Las Vegas corridor; they can be dazzled by the intense light.

It remains to be seen if regulators will stop the plant’s operation, but at least the world’s largest bug zapper should educate environmentalists and green energy boosters.

For too long, the public has been told that energy production is less a matter of physics than one of morality. Renewable energy like solar and wind are sold as “good” while reliable energy sources like oil and coal are “evil.” Methods like hydroelectric, nuclear and natural gas all were initially sold as clean and green, but became demonized the instant they turned a profit or revealed unintended consequences.

Massive solar farms have other environmental issues, typically ignored by the Green energy zealots, but not environmental zealots.   California is rich in both of these “natural” resources, which waste billions in taxpayer dollars fighting over the particulars in courts and through loans, grants, offsets, and other handouts designed to make these projects competitive with other forms of energy generation.

Irony? If someone tosses a few corn kernels through the big bright light we’ll have popcorn.

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