Hello, I love Hawaii and that is why I submitted these comments . There is a lot at stake here for the future of Hawaii. The destruction caused by wind energy developments is forever.
These turbines have been installed in CA for decades. In Southern CA the historical range of the Condor was completely destroyed by this industry and now they are captive to permanent feeding stations in a small region. The golden eagle population has been decimated but as you will see in the comments, rigged research is hiding this fact.
Huge sprawling areas of So CA have been blighted. So what has been the net benefit from all this destruction? Southern CA is getting about 1/10 of one percent of their energy needs (includes transportation, manufacturing etc.) from these useless hulks. If the Department of Energy were not a corporate corrupted agency, they would disclose this sort of information to the public.
Jim Wiegand--Independent Wildlife Biologist
Redding, CA
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Na Pua Makani Wind project comments
by Jim Wiegand, November, 2016
There should be not be a Na Pua Makani Wind project due to the persistent pattern of fraudulent wind turbine mortality impact research, the lack of wind industry accountability and the impossibility of fairly mitigating any mortality impacts that will take place from this project. A wind turbine take of endangered species, will occur from this facility’s operation. From what I have learned about this industry, rigged research, agency corruption and non-disclosure agreements will conceal most of the carnage.
For this damage to the environment there will be mitigation. The problem is Wind industry mediation means compensation, fraud, bribery, and selling out for impacts that are being hidden. Any mitigation strategy should not in any way rely on the wind industry's contrived and rigged research. But since all wildlife studies by the industry have been rigged to hide impacts and the FWS has AVOIDED any meaningful studies related to turbines for several decades, there should never be any mitigation until this cover-up has been exposed.
All wind industry mortality studies are severely flawed and far from being scientific. The availability of carcasses to be found in any mortality study depends on the scientific methodology which includes frequent search intervals, search plot size, crippling bias, searcher efficiency, and scavenging rates.
For example in Maui, the Kaheawa Pastures wind energy facility (First Wind) on the island of Maui, wind turbines were built in the nesting habitat of the world's rarest goose, the Nene. As of 2014 this wind energy facility still has reported 18 Nene killed by the Kaheawa Pastures turbines with ridiculously small search areas and infrequent search intervals for 300 ft tall turbines. Search areas for these turbines should have extended out at least 450 feet, searches should have been daily and wind personnel bound with gag orders should never be allowed to touch carcasses during any study.
Of these 18 reported Nene fatalities, 11 were recorded during their Aug-April nesting season. This species lays 3-5 eggs and during their nesting cycle, the death of an adult will likely lead to a complete nest failure or the death of their offspring. So not only are the fatality numbers of Nene being under reported, their offspring were also being killed by these turbines and this mortality impact has been completely hidden.
On top of this entire charade, the fatality data in these mortality studies is being processed with bogus calculations and a Huso program that conveniently assumes that most of the wind industry’s fatalities are to be found within the industry's contrived tiny search areas.
After the first Kaheawa Pastures mortality study, First Wind even tried to get carcasses search areas greatly reduced. Imagine, the State of Hawaii has wind turbines that are killing endangered species and instead of expanding search areas, they asked to reduce them.
The truth is, search areas used as around these turbines were about 10 times too small and search intervals were to far apart, leaving plenty of time for wind personnel to remove carcasses. When taking into account the severely flawed study methodology used for Hawaii's wind turbine studies, it is very obvious that the real death toll of endangered species killed by Maui’s Hawaii's turbines is in the hundreds.
I have enclosed my comments made for a Lake Erie wind turbine project in Ohio. These comments are to be included as part of my Na Pua Makani Wind project comments because this information applies to this industry’s pattern of rigging research and it includes information exposing Interior Department’s collusion with the industry.
A New Administration
I am very much looking forward to a new Interior Department head and the appointment of a new Attorney General. Over the last 8 years I have been using my wildlife expertise to investigate into one of President Obama's pet industries. The wind industry.
What I have uncovered is that this is truly an arrogant fraud based industry that's been producing rigged studies for decades. As a result, the public has been lied to about the wind turbine mortality impacts, energy projections, net energy outputs and the potential of this industry to change the world for the better. This pet industry association has also completely corrupted the Interior Department.
During the campaign, Donald Trump made the following statement: “You know, they put you in jail if you kill an eagle. And yet these windmills [kill] them by the hundreds.”
This was just a partially true statement because the slaughter from wind turbines is far worse. This industry is killing eagles by the thousands and other species of raptors are being killed by the tens-of-thousands.
The Denver Eagle repository holds the truth about this wind industry slaughter. This truth along with the origin of the thousands of eagles being received each year, was covered up by new laws put in place by the Clinton Administration in 1997. All this was done so the wind industry could prosper.
After Donald Trump is sworn in, I am going contact the new Attorney General and new head of Interior Department. I want to see an investigation into the wind industry’s fabricated research, the rigged wind project impact mitigation taking place and the fraudulent wind industry related peer viewed studies that have been published.
If this new administration is truly willing to investigate I have the proof and knowledge to completely expose this terrible industry. My efforts could also save taxpayers many billions from these boondoggle dead-end projects and increase the funds needed for rebuilding this country.
From my efforts, I hope to see a rebirth of our totally corrupted Interior Department and USFWS, so there can be a resurgence of golden eagles and other rare species that have been decimated by wind turbines.
Jim Wiegand - Independent Wildlife Biologist
Redding, CA
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